Endeavor to believe

Endeavor to Believe

by Emily Freemman

Behold and hearken, O ye…
whose prayers I have heard,
and whose hearts I know,
and whose desires have come up before me.
Ye endeavored to believe the blessing which was offered unto you;
but behold, verily I say unto you
there were fears in your hearts…

D&C 67:1 & 3

I know this fear.

There are moments when it has found a place in my heart and held fast there with a cold, icy grip.  Clinging with an intensity that seems to freeze my ability to look past the worry.

My mind can get lost in that place.

In those moments there is no room for belief, or for hope, or for faith.

Fear has a way of crowding out all of those things.

I learned a lesson on fear this past week.

The lesson began as I read the first words of an email from my missionary son,

“I guess I should probably tell you I got hit by a car this week.”

Immediately my mind went to worst case scenario because my heart filled right up with fear.

It was in that moment when my heart was all filled up with fear that he began writing about the miracle.

The miracle that happened after the accident when the firetruck had returned to the station and the ambulance pulled away.  After he and his companion had returned home to their apartment early on that fall morning.

For just a minute think what you would have done after just being hit by a car…with a sore knee and a sore stomach.

He writes, “We had gone back to the apartment so I could change my clothes and such and I knew that the only way to help my new companion would be to go out and work hard. So my knee was hurting a little bit but I said let’s go back out and I was just praying the whole time that the Lord would take care of my knee so I could keep working and help him out. It was way cool, because as soon as we got around the corner from our apartment, my knee and stomach stopped hurting, and that was a miracle of the Lord. Then I remembered in my setting apart blessing how President Lew said that I would be able to work every day on my mission and I knew that the Lord would take care of me and I would be able to keep going and keep working.”

There was no fear in that heart of his…just belief.

I couldn’t help but notice that it was after he committed to press forward, after he got around the corner, that the miracle came.  He set aside what might have held him back and believed in the power of the Lord.

His belief, and his willingness to act upon that belief,

allowed the blessing that had been offered in his behalf to come to fruition.

Because he endeavored to believe.

 “doubt not, fear not…” D&C 6:36

Believe

Endeavor to believe

“Let not your minds turn back…” D&C 67:14

My goal for the next few weeks is to act upon what I believe.  

To actively move toward the blessings that have been offered.

To lay aside fear, and cast away doubt.

To believe.

“And then you may return to bear record, yea, even altogether,

or two by two, as seemeth you good, it mattereth not unto me…” D&C 62:5

O Thou who has given us so much,

mercifully grant us one thing more

a grateful heart.

George Herbert