Monday, February 25, 2013

The Atonement was made

The Atonement was made 

Ever and Always is offers amnesty 
from transgression and from death 
if we will but repent

Repentance is the escape clause in it all. 
Repentance is the key with which 
He can unlock the prison from inside.

We hold the key with our hands, and 
agency is ours to use it.

Boyd K Packer 

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Fear AND Change

Over the past few days I have been thinking a lot about change. I still maintain the opinion that change is a good thing.

 It helps you grow. It helps you progress. It helps you learn.

Thank goodness I'm not the same person I was two years ago, or even nine months ago. Thank goodness for progression.
Although change is undoubtedly a positive thing, it does bring with it a certain amount of uncertainty.

I think it makes you stronger.

For me, the future is a beautiful thing, however I have this thing called fear of the future. Maybe it's a fear of commitment. Maybe it's just that I've never experienced it so I don't know what to expect.

Whatever the case, it still scares me.

So today I went for a walk. I passed some deer crossing the road. They looked petrified. They stared me down, and the closer I got to them the more uneasy they became.
I have never seen fear take hold of an animal so quickly before in my life.

One of them wasn't even close, but the moment it saw me coming around the corner it started darting off in any direction it could think of in order to get away. I passed them, and thought to myself,

"Wow, I'm so glad that I don't live in that kind of fear".

 I have been living with fear of the future for a few years now but guess what, whether I like it or not, the future is coming right around the corner.

The future will forever scare me. The unknown is a frightening concept.

I can try to run off in any direction to get away from it, but it's still going to come.

Knowing that, wouldn't it be so much better to face it with faith rather than with fear?

God has said that faith and fear cannot exist in the same place. I love God, so I choose faith. I know that God is with me, and will be forever.

That is all I need to put one foot in front of the other, and follow my Savior, knowing that because of Him,
"there is always hope smiling brightly before me".

It's hard to sit back, and let it all happen. It's hard to wait. But knowing that God knows best, and that He has a plan for me,
one that equals happiness is what gets me through.

~TR