I can´t believe that it was a year
ago today that I gave my farewell. That seems like a lifetime ago and yet at
the same time it feels like it was just last month. Time is a crazy thing out
here.
Something cool happened this week.
There is a place in our area that we always walk in that has always just seemed
so familiar to me but is could never figure out why. This week I remembered
that when I got my call to Spain I was so excited that I randomly picked a
picture of Spain to put on the background desktop of my laptop. It was just a
random area of Spain, not anything famous or anything, and now....that little
picture is where I work. That was a tender mercy for me. The Lord knows folks. He
definitely knows.
This week my companion and I had to
give a lesson about hope to the other missionaries in a conference. After
studying so much about hope I realize how it truly is the anchor of our souls. When
we lose hope, we lose everything. Hope is trusting that the Lord will fulfill
his promises with us. It´s trusting that as we do our part, He´ll do his. It´s
having that belief that all trials will be for our good and that if we´re being
obedient He will bless us greatly.
My mom sent me an awesome quote by Richard
G. Scott that I absolutely love. I don´t have the quote with me but it goes
something like ¨Sometimes just when everything seems to be going right, the
challenges come. Sometimes they come in doses but when those challenges come
and they are not consequences of disobedience they are evidence that the Lord
believes that you are ready to grow.¨ I´ve lived that quote a million times
over on the mission. There are moments when everything seems to be going
perfectly and then in an instant everything falls apart but I will never lose
the trust I have in the Lord that everything is in his hands and that it is all
for my good. The Lord will never give us things that we can´t handle. So be
grateful when trials come because it just shows how much the Lord loves you and
how much trust he has in you because he feels like you are ready to grow and
come closer to him. That´s something that has been engraved into my heart. When
challenges come, be grateful. When we are comfortable in our lives that´s when
we stop growing and sometimes begin to decline. We have to keep moving forward
with a firm conviction that the Lord will richly bless us for our faith during
our trials. Every unjust and unfair thing will be made right in him. We just
have to be patient.
I testify from experience that as we
have trust in the Lord and a firm hope that everything will be ok in the end
that the Lord will make our burdens light. Mosiah 24:14-15 has become a firm
part of my testimony. I have felt of the relieving power of the atonement. There
have been times in my mission where a mountain of challenges have seem to come
all at once and that there would be no way to deal with everything. I can´t
count how many times that has happened but every time I have tried to put all
of my faith in trust in the Lord and do the best I can and he has carried me.
At times when I should have been curled up in a ball in my bed sobbing my eyes
out, I was out looking for people to teach with a smile on my face because the Lord
truly lifted the burden so much that I didn´t notice I had it. It´s something
that I will never be able to explain but I testify that the Lord can literally
carry our burdens so that they don´t weigh us down. That doesn´t always mean
that he´ll take them away but it rather means that he´ll carry us through and
teach to do it with a grateful heart. It´s amazing!
The atonement has carried me every
single day of my mission. Every single day. There has never been a single day
of my mission where I haven´t desperately needed the atonement in my life. It
has carried me until now and it will continue to carry me until the day that I
kneel at the Savior´s feet. So when everything seems dark, and you find
yourself losing hope, just remember that the Lord will never let you down and
that through him you can find the greatest joy that you´ve every experienced. I
love you all and I’m so grateful for all of your love and support to my family
during these last few weeks. Miracles happen and the Lord is in control. ¨Be
still and know that I am God.¨
In the end everything will be ok and
if it´s not ok, it´s not the end yet.
Hermana Israelsen
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