Today, I got to go to church. My beautiful mother gave the lesson. She has taught me so many lessons throughout the years and reminds me constantly about Heavenly Father's plan for me. In today's lesson, she was talking about how we are taught that we come to this life to be tested. In fact, the scriptures tell us that the righteous are tried and tested.
Tests can have a very negative connotation. They make some people scared and anxious. Some people become very competitive and compare scores with neighbors. Other forget everything they ever learned as soon as they look at the daunting paper or computer screen in front of them.
I got thinking about this "test" idea. It occurred to me that this test of life really has only ONE question. It is a question that we get to answer over and over again. That question is this:
WILL YOU CHOOSE GOD?
Will you choose God in times of prosperity? Will you give the glory to Him and use the temporal gifts that you've been given for good, or will those goods become a false god that you begin to "worship?" Will you choose to give the glory to God or will you choose to glorify yourself (we know how that turned out in the premortal life...yikes).
Will you choose God in times of trial? I've had to face this many times. In times of trial especially, we tend to turn toward God or away from Him (blaming Him and feeling anger toward Him). In my own life, my own test has included: Will you choose God when your Father-in-Law dies? Will you choose God when your husband has a health crisis and needs major surgery? Will you choose God when expectations are not met and your heart is shattered into seemingly a million pieces? Will you choose God when your daughter is burned and the scars remain as a constant reminder of a traumatic event in your life? Will you choose God when you think that you cannot take another step forward?
Once you choose God, He can mold you. He can make you into something more than you could ever imagine. He can take those "stumbling" blocks and turn them into "stepping stones." He can bring joy, happiness, and peace into your life regardless of outward circumstances. You can use the Atonement of His Son every time you feel that you "fail" the test of life. He gave us His Son so that we CAN pass the test. We can learn! We can grow! We can become better! We can truly CHANGE! It's all because of God and the gift of His Son.
Another great thing is that we can choose now! We can choose that, come what may, we will choose God. We will choose Christ. We can make a conscious decision that the first thing we do in any circumstance will be to thank God, turn to Him, invite Him in, ask Him what we should do, ask Him to lead us in each situation, ask Him for the peace that passeth all understanding, let Him strengthen you, let Him use you! Choose Him!
President Thomas S. Monson said, "If we choose Christ, we will have made the correct choice."
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| See lds.org for this and other great pictures depicting Christ |
May we choose God and Christ and thus become their chosen ones. May God bless all of us in our journey of life and may we always pass the true test of life.
Much love! 💖
Heather
Wonderful. This is a great reminder. In a book I read recently God asked only one question of us after we die. What did you do with what I gave you? No way to blame life circumstances, or blame bad experiences or hardship on why we didn't choose him. It was what did you do with what I gave you. I keep that in my mind driving me to stay aware of what I am doing or not doing. What are my feelings and intentions? This is the same. Do we choose God? In everything we find ourselves involved with in life. Thank you for sharing .
ReplyDelete:) Yes! You are spot on!
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