Look Up!

I hate to admit it, but every once in a while I become that person who believes that there's no way something could work no matter how many people tells me it does. I become so engrossed in this thinking that I work to disprove the theory...by trying it a few times with the intention of being able to say "Yes, I tried it, and it didn't work for me." Kind of like MythBusters I guess. Now don't get me wrong, I don't get into this way of thinking often at all, but in the past when I have it turns out that typically I'm the one who ends up wrong. In fact...one of the first times I thought that this 'prove it wrong' theory would be a good thing to try it was at work...and I ended up learning my lesson. To the best of my knowledge the story is still being told to a new training class each week :-S Reco's anyone? lol.

I should have learned that time...but I didn't. The theory up for debate this time? All my life I've been told that if you go to conference with a question in your heart...if you pray about it before, sincerely asking for an answer, and commit to follow through afterwards...then someone will talk about it and you'll find your answer. This brought my mind to that 'MythBusters' point of view...how could there possibly be a way that, with 14 million people listening to conference, my question would be answered? So I decided this year to test it out...and you know what? Once again, I was wrong. I went with a question, and came out with an answer...a few of them actually. But somehow I still wasn't convinced.

Stake Conference was this weekend, and I thought that maybe I'd test it again...surely it couldn't possibly happen again? Really though, now I get it. I understand that somehow the Lord does find a way. Not only did I walk out with my answer again, but I heard many other things that I truly needed to hear, and it was wonderful!

I've had a rough month this past month (as you may have noticed in a few of my previous posts). Maybe those things that have been going on haven't seemed huge to others, but I have been truly feeling stressed over them...and not just each little thing, but the culmination of each of them to create a much larger obstacle. I think the worst part is when I'm trying to figure out the "Why" behind it all rather than just accepting what's happening and moving on.
On Saturday night Elder Carl Cook gave an incredible talk on this. He described a situation where he was caught 'looking down' and was instructed instead to try to "Look Up"...because then the situation would seem much brighter. There were a few quotes that he said that really impacted me...so I'll share them, and maybe they'll speak to you too!
He said "When we're asked to do things in our life that seem impossible have faith, and look up...it will all work out."
He also quoted a wonderful definition of Hope...
"Hope is an abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promises to you. It is manifest in confidence, optimism, enthusiasm, and patient perseverance. It is believing and expecting that something will occur. When you have hope, you work through trials and difficulties with the confidence and assurance that all things will work together for your good. Hope helps you conquer discouragement."

~Preach My Gospel manual pg 117

Elder Dallin H. Oaks also attended our conference, and gave a couple of incredible talks. My favourite quote given by him was this..."The Lord hears our prayers and answers them according to His will. It may not be the answer we want, but he always answers it...sometimes by just giving us the strength we need until we can see the wisdom of the trial..."

How incredible it was to hear that! So I'm turning over a new leaf...I'm going to do my very best, no matter the situation, to do whatever I can, and then trust the Lord's plan for me and have faith that it will all work out. I know it won't be an easy thing, and my trials will continue. I also know that I'm not going to be perfect at this right away...but I will just do the best I can and through it all I will continue to look up instead of down!