Talk on Faith

A couple weeks ago I gave a talk in church about FAITH. I thought you guys might enjoy reading my notes:

The Apostle Paul teaches us that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). The Prophet Alma tells us that if we have faith it means that we “hope for things which are not seen, which are true” (Alma 32:21). In True to the Faith we learn that “Faith is a principle of action and power…You show your hope for something that you cannot yet see.”
Did you notice a similar phrase in each of those definitions? They all said something along the lines that one has faith in something not seen.

Our faith should be centered on our Savior, Jesus Christ. We have faith that He atoned for our sins, that He knows and understands everything that happens in our lives. We have faith that because of Him and His Atonement we can one day live forever with our families in the Kingdom of God. We have faith that He is in control – that even though we cannot see our future, He knows all, and we can trust in His promises. Alma 36:3 teaches us that, “whosoever shall put their trust (or if I may say, ‘faith’) in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day.”

When I think of faith, I think of the scripture found in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.”

For me, the most difficult part about having faith is having faith in things I cannot see, like the future – in particular, my future.

I wonder if any of you can relate to what I currently struggle with:
I have been a faithful member of the Church my whole life. I’m by no means perfect but I feel like I have done my best to do everything my Heavenly Father has asked me to do.
Despite the fact that I continue to do my best, I have never felt more alone or lost. I constantly ask myself what am I doing with my life? I have goals that I’m trying to work towards but I feel as if they are completely out of my control. I feel like I’m in the middle of a maze in the dark. I can’t see behind me and I cannot for the life of me figure out what I’m suppose to be doing or where I’m suppose to go.

I read a talk given by President Uchtdorf entitled, “Continue in Patience.” He said, “Often the deep valleys of our present will be understood only by looking back on them from the mountains of our future experiences. Often we can’t see the Lord’s hand in our lives until long after trials have passed. Often the most difficult times of our lives are essential building blocks that form the foundation of our character and pave the way to future opportunity, understanding, and happiness.”

How many times in my life have I experienced this? Like only a million times! I think about the experiences that I had on my mission and while I was going through them I’d think to myself, “why is this happening?! I’m doing everything I can so why do I feel so lost and confused?!” And only looking back on those experiences can I see what Heavenly Father was doing to me in helping define who I am.

How many times have I learned that being righteous doesn’t exempt me from hard times? And how often do we see that in the scriptures? Take Joseph for example: here is a righteous young man who is hated by his brothers, eventually sold as a slave, then when things start to look good, Potiphar’s wife gets him in trouble for keeping the commandments and gets him thrown into prison. By this point I’d have thrown in the towel and been done. But Joseph continues to have faith in the Lord and the Lord rewards him for his obedience and he has the opportunity to work for the Pharaoh and ends up being the key to saving his family from famine. And all of the sudden everything is clear to him and he sees and understands why all those trials had to happen.

My favorite movies are ones with happy endings. There always seems to be a pattern in these movies: the main character is just living their lives, they have hopes and dreams for the future, things they are working towards. All of the sudden something goes wrong or gets in the way of their hopes and dreams. Sometimes things get better but usually things get worse. And when the main character is just about to lose hope – a miracle happens and then everything turns out and their hopes and dreams come true. As I watch these movies I always wonder why the character is so full of despair. If they could just hold on for a little bit longer, everything will turn out alright. It’s because I can see what they can’t. Also because I’ve been the movie already and know how it ends.

But I wonder if Heavenly Father is like this sometimes with us. He can see what we don’t see. He has the bigger picture. We don’t know what the future has in store for us, but He does. We just can’t lose faith in Him and His promises. Because Heavenly Father always keeps His promises. True to the Faith teaches us that, “When trials come, faith can give you strength to press forward and face your hardships with courage. Even when the future seems uncertain, your faith in the Savior can give you peace.”

Having faith in the Lord isn’t always easy – because we can’t see what He can. But I can testify that as we trust in Him, and continue forward in faith, that the Savior will give us peace, and everything will turn out alright.

I looked up the word FAITH in German and was surprised to see that the dictionary had two words to define FAITH: the first one is Glaube. Which is the literal translation for Faith. The other word is: Vertrauen. Which in English means: confidence, trust, faith. Faith is having trust and confidence in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ that they will fulfill their promises.

Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us. They want us to be happy. They want to grant us our righteous desires. They want us to fulfill our hopes and dreams. What is important and matters to us, is important and matters a great deal to Them. They want the very best for us. In fact, they KNOW what is the very best for us. I have trust and confidence that what happens in my life, happens that the time most beneficial to me in helping me grow into the woman that Heavenly Father and Jesus want me to be.

I have faith “That all these things shall give [me] experience, and shall be for [my] good” (D&C 122:7). “Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, even so will he clothe you, if ye are not of little faith…But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself…” (3 Nephi 13:30, 33-34).