Increasing Faith; Waiting Upon the Lord
As I have been thinking about this blog post, I was reminded of some of my biggest take-aways from serving my mission. There were two things that kept coming back to my mind over and over again, but I wasn’t exactly sure how I would connect the two. But as we know the Lord works in mysterious ways and last night as I stood in line for a funnel cake at Lagoon I was pondering my talk, and I quickly was tuned in to the conversation happening behind me.
There was one older woman talking to a young woman. The older one was expressing her frustration with the Lord. She expressed how she couldn’t listen to one more talk in sacrament meeting or one more relief society lesson where whomever was teaching would speak of how they were miraculously healed because of their faith. She felt that she had the faith to move a mountain. She knew no one else with greater faith than herself. The woman had been suffering through some physical pain for a long time now, she had faced many treatments and every time she told herself, “it’s okay this will be the last time.” But it hasn’t been the last time and she hasn’t been healed.
I wonder how many of us feel the same way as this dear sister. How many of us have been suffering physically, mentally, emotionally, or maybe spiritually and we feel our faith is so sufficient, but we are still suffering.
Today I hope to share experiences that will hopefully increase your faith in those times of suffering.
First I think of the Saviour, he who suffered more than any. He who had more faith than any. “His preparation began in the premortal life as He waited upon His Father, saying, “Thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever.” Beginning in that moment and continuing today, He exercises His agency to accept and carry out our Heavenly Father’s plan. The scriptures teach us that through His youth, He went “about [His] Father’s business” and “waited upon the Lord for the time of his ministry to come.” At the age of 30, He suffered sore temptation yet chose to resist, saying, “Get thee behind me, Satan.” In Gethsemane, He trusted His Father, declaring, “Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done,” and then He exercised His agency to suffer for our sins.
Through the humiliation of a public trial and the agony of crucifixion, He waited upon His Father, willing to be “wounded for our transgressions … [and] bruised for our iniquities.” Even as He cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” He waited upon His Father—exercising His agency to forgive His enemies, see that His mother was watched over, and endure to the end until His life and mortal mission were finished.”
What did the Saviour do when he was suffering and not being healed? He waited upon His Father. Alma teaches us “faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.” Then Moroni teaches us “dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trail of your faith.” When we feel that we have the faith to move a mountain, but we are still not healed, I would say… increase your faith and wait upon your Father.
I want to tell you about a girl named Su. Su is 23 and had been going to church on and off in a small town called Stevenage, England for a little over 4 years. She had meet with missionaries a couple times over the years but something always cut it off. Her sister had gotten baptized just a week or so before we met Su. Su attended her sister’s baptisms and the missionaries once again got her to agree to meet them, except she didn’t lived in Stevenage anymore. She lived in a little place called Hemel Hempstead which was in our area. They called us and gave us her number and we set up a time to go see her. We instantly knew she was what you call a “golden investigator.” She knew more about the church than anyone I had ever taught. She had the gospel library app and read the Book of Mormon several times a week. Her only concern was that she didn’t know how she would make it through reading all the Teachings of the President's books, because “there are so many.” We saw Su at least 3 times a week until her baptism 4 weeks later.
She was so excited. I have never seen anyone so excited for their baptism. She came out of the changing room literally skipping around the church. The bishop from Stevenage, the first ward she attended, was even coming to baptize her. Baptisms in Watford were always held after church, so we walk in for church with Su and the chapel is abnormally cold. A member of the bishopric informed us that the heating wasn’t working that day and suggested that we might want to keep our coats on.
We sat down in the chapel and thought nothing more of it. During the opening hymn for sacrament meeting that same member of the bishopric came and sat on the end of our row. He whispered in my ear for a bit, then he returned to the stand. I turned to my companion, Sister Wright with wide eyes and said, “The heating isn’t working, which means the boiler isn’t working, which means there is no hot water for the baptism.” She responded, “Well what do we do??” “I guess we boil water.” Was my response. Brother Andrews, the member of the bishopric returned back to our row and told me the bishop wanted to postpone the baptism. I looked at him and said, “No. We will not postpone the baptism.” He didn’t ask questions, went and talked to the bishop again, and came back to us and told us there would be an emergency meeting in the bishop’s office right after sacrament meeting.
If you ask Sister Wright and I, that was THE longest sacrament meeting of our lives. I don't think either of us have prayed more in the course of one hour than we did that day. Sacrament meeting ended and we went into the bishop’s office. It was us, the elders, the ward mission leader, the bishop, a member of the stake presidency, Joseph, and Su. We opened with a prayer and then the bishop explained the whole situation. He laid out two options: we can push the baptism back or Su can be baptized in cold water. He then looked at her and said, “Su, what would you like to do?” With no hesitation, not even an exhale, she responded, “I’ll be baptized in cold water.”The bishop, I think a little shocked at her answer, said, “what if the bishop from Stevenage gets here and doesn’t want to get in the cold water?” Again not a second of hesitation before one of the elders, Elder Mecham, declared, “I’ll get in.” Su with a head nod said, “Then Elder Mecham will baptize me.”
Bishop then looked at me, I already feeling very divided in faith, and asked if I would offer the closing prayer and I did. Personally, I don't think I have ever said a more, what's the word, maybe blunt, vocal prayer in my life. I exhorted with all my energy of heart that Heavenly Father would perform a miracle, that each and everyone of us would have the faith sufficient to witness a miracle, and that we could all be united in this great cause.
Of course this story would be great if it just ended there, but this is the Lord’s work. No sooner had we said amen to the closing prayer than the same Brother Andrew's opened the door to the bishop’s office and said “The boiler is working.” Su was baptized that day in warm water. I have often looked back and pondered on that experience. I cannot say for certain, but I often wonder if God’s plan never was for Su to get baptized in cold water, or if He just wanted to test each of our faith as we waited upon our Father.
This is a great story, it is uplifting and edifying. We learn many examples of great faith, faith that President Packer described it like this: “There is another kind of faith, rare indeed. This is the kind of faith that causes things to happen. It is the kind of faith that is worthy and prepared and unyielding, and it calls forth things that otherwise would not be. It is the kind of faith that moves people. It is the kind of faith that sometimes moves things.” But what are we going to do about it? How are we going to develop that kind of faith?
I would say that we look to our Saviour who while suffering said, “Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done,” In order to increase and develop our faith we must align our will to the Father’s and the wait upon Him.
Elder Robert D Hales said, “Does this mean we will always understand our challenges? Won’t all of us, sometime, have reason to ask, “O God, where art thou?” Yes! When a spouse dies, a companion will wonder. When financial hardship befalls a family, a father will ask. When children wander from the path, a mother and father will cry out in sorrow. Yes, “weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” Then, in the dawn of our increased faith and understanding, we arise and choose to wait upon the Lord, saying, “Thy will be done.”
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