People seem to think life will get easier in the future, like when they graduate high school, graduate college, get a real job, get married, have a family, etc. The list goes on and on. The reality is it really doesn't. You become stronger to deal with situations, but the situations themselves start to become more complex. And you realize that you have no idea what you're doing.
Let me give you an example.
I just finished living a year and a half as an LDS missionary and volunteer English teacher in Outer Mongolia. The end of the line. The place parents threaten to send their kids to if they don't behave. And it was wonderful. I loved it a lot. And I'm not going to lie, it was difficult as well. The pollution in Ulaanbaatar was really tough at times, and the cold is not fun to go out in and the food...didn't always agree with me. But I got stronger because of my experiences there. And the thing is, all the time when I was out there, I thought, "when the mission is over, my life will become easier. I'll have the Internet again. I'll have a smartphone again. I'll be able to be by myself and not have a companion at my side 24/7."
Oh, that was the dream.
Then I came home. And I realized that my problems didn't lessen; they changed. I was suddenly stuck into this situation where my best friend was getting married to this guy I didn't really know but thought he was cool and my other friend supposedly throwing her life away to a less-than-amiable spousal choice and family struggles and school and work... and oh, I had to create an income now. I had to adult. I still do. And it scares the heck out of me. It seems like I still wake up and wonder how I'm going to actually do what I need to do and rise up to the occasion. Or maybe I'm just going to shrink away and hide and hope it all blows over.
But that's halting my progress.
That's damning myself.
And I've already promised myself that I will not shrink to any occasion I'm given because I know I will become a better person if I rise up to meet its challenge.
I'm not going to lie, that truth scares me too. I'm sometimes scared of what I could possibly become. Of my own potential.
But that isn't faith; that's fear. And that will still halt my progress if I let it control me.
So I won't. I can't.
Because I know that I am a child of God and that means something truly deific. It means that I, too, have the chance to become like my Heavenly Father. I can become a God. I just have to trust in Him that He knows what He's doing with my life and that I will not fail so long as I obey His Word.
I must not shrink.
*****
If you want to read something that helped me understand this whole concept, there's an amazing article about it from a man named David A. Bednar. He is a remarkably brilliant man that I admire a lot. Check out this link about not shrinking to fear:
https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/article/ces-devotionals/2013/01/that-we-might-not-shrink-d-c-19-18?lang=eng
Let me give you an example.
I just finished living a year and a half as an LDS missionary and volunteer English teacher in Outer Mongolia. The end of the line. The place parents threaten to send their kids to if they don't behave. And it was wonderful. I loved it a lot. And I'm not going to lie, it was difficult as well. The pollution in Ulaanbaatar was really tough at times, and the cold is not fun to go out in and the food...didn't always agree with me. But I got stronger because of my experiences there. And the thing is, all the time when I was out there, I thought, "when the mission is over, my life will become easier. I'll have the Internet again. I'll have a smartphone again. I'll be able to be by myself and not have a companion at my side 24/7."
Oh, that was the dream.
Then I came home. And I realized that my problems didn't lessen; they changed. I was suddenly stuck into this situation where my best friend was getting married to this guy I didn't really know but thought he was cool and my other friend supposedly throwing her life away to a less-than-amiable spousal choice and family struggles and school and work... and oh, I had to create an income now. I had to adult. I still do. And it scares the heck out of me. It seems like I still wake up and wonder how I'm going to actually do what I need to do and rise up to the occasion. Or maybe I'm just going to shrink away and hide and hope it all blows over.
But that's halting my progress.
That's damning myself.
And I've already promised myself that I will not shrink to any occasion I'm given because I know I will become a better person if I rise up to meet its challenge.
I'm not going to lie, that truth scares me too. I'm sometimes scared of what I could possibly become. Of my own potential.
But that isn't faith; that's fear. And that will still halt my progress if I let it control me.
So I won't. I can't.
Because I know that I am a child of God and that means something truly deific. It means that I, too, have the chance to become like my Heavenly Father. I can become a God. I just have to trust in Him that He knows what He's doing with my life and that I will not fail so long as I obey His Word.
I must not shrink.
*****
If you want to read something that helped me understand this whole concept, there's an amazing article about it from a man named David A. Bednar. He is a remarkably brilliant man that I admire a lot. Check out this link about not shrinking to fear:
https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/article/ces-devotionals/2013/01/that-we-might-not-shrink-d-c-19-18?lang=eng
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