"For with God nothing shall be impossible." (Luke 1:37)

Day #19

I am thankful for this scripture and just how direct it is.

"For with God nothing shall be impossible." (Luke 1:37)

I have to ask myself, do I put limits on God? I must also ask myself, is there something I need to learn by having God's help rather than just having Him do it?

I have thought about this a lot over the past several months as I have dealt with a very difficult problem that has completely altered my life. I have thought about why it would be great to have this problem miraculously disappear. And then I thought about how I have been forced to change various habits from learning to deal with the impact it has had on my life. I have felt God's love more often and openly than ever before as I have had to endure great pain. Through this, I have come to know that God truly loves us more than words can express. I am learning more about patience than I have any other time in my life. I am learning more about suffering and mercy than through any other experience.

If I were healed right now, would I be better and truly "healed" so that I am more committed and have more faith in God? Or would I just go right back to what I was able to do before, as if nothing had ever happened?

I am noticing what is possible when I am working with God. It's miraculous how changed I truly become with His help. Indeed, nothing is impossible with God.

Nothing shall be impossible with God.

God is giving me lots of opportunities to see things from a different perspective.

"...Become the sons (and daughters) of God" (Moroni 7:48).

Have you ever gone somewhere and had the "closed" sign up during business hours? Or how about "this website is down for maintenance", and you really need some help right then? Or have you ever, heaven forbid, gotten a busy signal on the phone when you have tried to call someone? It can be so frustrating! Well, guess what? I got two out of the 3 today. These things failed me. I am so grateful I don't need to rely on those things all of the time, but that I have a Higher source for the information I need and I can get by, for now, without the items from the store. To have instant access is incredible now a days. The pioneers had to clear their ground,  plow the earth, plant the seed, water and weed the garden, and then harvest the food. Then they had to preserve it all themselves. I can just go to the grocery store. I believe these modern conveniences are incredible miracles that we take for granted every day.


So, when I am frustrated with at little inconvenience of a "closed" sign or a website down for maintenance I must really put things into perspective. The right perspective is: "For with God nothing shall be impossible" (Luke 1:37). Ponder that one. Nothing shall be impossible with God. When life is difficult, and it will and does get difficult, remember that "He knoweth all things" (1 Nephi 9:6). He knows our needs. He knows our desires, whether they are good or bad, or whether they will help us or hurt us. And because He knows all things, sometimes we aren't given all things. "But all things come to pass in their time" (D&C 64:32). The challenge for us is putting our faith in God who knows exactly what is best for us. 


And what is best for us is to become something so incredible and so beautiful; it isn't anything that man could ever make up. It is to "become the sons of God; that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure (Moroni 7:48). That is an incredible and powerful doctrine. Christ wants us to become pure like Him. How? Through the"pure love of Christ"...which is "charity" (Moroni 7:47). If we "have not charity, [we] are nothing, for charity never faileth...Cleave unto charity (cleave means "to adhere, cling, or stick fast" or "to be faithful" (onlinedictionary)), which is the greatest of all" because everything else will fail- (see Moroni 7:46). Money will fail, people will fail, the law will fail, government will fail, but charity will never fail. And as we have charity, we will not fail. 


The blessing is, God wants us to succeed. He wants us to "become the sons (and daughters) of God" (Moroni 7:48). And the other blessing is that He will always "prepare a way for [us] that [we] may accomplish the thing which he commandeth [us]" (1 Nephi 3:7). Ask yourself, "Is any thing too hard for the Lord?" (Genesis 18:14) He wants us to become more than we can on our own. He will bless us with the gift of charity as we "pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that we may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ" (Moroni 7:48). Each day, as we seek to do His will, and set aside the "natural man" (Mosiah 3:19) we receive a little more of this beautiful gift of charity. I would like to think that I could have it all at once. But that isn't the plan. It wouldn't be for my "benefit", and "He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world" (2 Nephi 26:24). 

"And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." (Moroni 7: 45; 1 Corinthians 13:4-7).

As we "clothe [ourselves] with the bond of charity (D&C 88:125) we will become something more than we ever could on our own, ever find on the internet or at the store, that money could buy, or that a friend could offer us. Because nothing is too hard for the Lord, this I testify.