Trusting in the Lord

Recently I have decided to take stock of my life, really see how things are going. As I have done so I have come to realize that I rely too much on my own strength and wisdom. I have found that I have not been asking for the Lord to help me through my trials or even provide me with daily guidance. Elder Bednar gave a speak during the General Conference in October of 2004 (shortly after being called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles) titled In the Strength of the Lord. I can only imagine what he was going through at the time, the newest member of the Quorum asked to talk to millions and give them spiritual guidance and direction (by comparision many of my trials seem small and insignificant). After admitting that he was very scared and nervous he shared his reliance upon the Lord and spoke of the Lords ability to make us strong and to help us through our trials. In his talk Elder Bednar spoke of leading the transition of Ricks College to BYU - Idaho and his total reliance on the Lord for direction. I have no doubt that the Lord directed him as he helped with this momentous step in the schools history, but I also know that the Lord has helped me with many things that seem small, almost unimportant. 

The Lord provides this help in several ways. The scriptures are full of accounts in which the Lord lent his strength to his servents to help them through struggles and trials, he promises that through him our weaknesses can become strengths (Ether 12:27). There are many accounts in which the increased knowledge and guideance provided through revelation resulted in successes both large and small. There are many other ways that the Lord helps and protects us but recently I have come to a stronger understanding that there are conditions to receiving these blessings. 

Although the Lord may give this guidance, revatlation, and protection to any of his children we should always strive to be worthly for him to provide us with the blessings. Along with our obedience to the lord there are many times that the Lord waits for us to ask for his assistance. This is where I fall short, too often I feel that I should rely upon my own strength; that asking for guidance from the Lord shows weakness or a lack of drive to face my own challenges. Sometimes I feel that my struggles are not importanat enough to ask the Lord for guidance or strength and so I go through my life without asking for help. But the Lord is always ready to assist us as we work through our challenges, he wants to see us succed, he wants to guide us down the straight and narrow path to return to live with him and often it is the small, everyday choices that will help lead us there. I need to work on relying on the Lord and allowing him to provide the blessings he has in store for me. 

One last thought, as I mentioned earlier the Lord can provide provide these blessings to anyone he see fit, that also means that there may be times (even when we are worthy) that He may not grant our desired blessings. We must remember that the Lord has his own time table and his own design that we may not understand. As Joseph Smith was told while in the Liberty Jail "Thine adversity and thine afllications shall be but a small moment. And then, if though endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high, thou shalt triumph over all thy foes"(D&C 121:7-8)