Then spake Jesus saying, "He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." John 8:12

Thursday, September 17, 2015

August 31: Don’t just ask for answers; BE the answer

When we get home at 9, we don’t change into our pajamas or eat or get on the internet or listen to music. We thank God for the health and safety we enjoyed that day, pray for His inspiration, then sit at our desks. We pull out the binder with the names of all the church members and investigators in our ward, and plan for the next day. It awesome because even though we’re tired, because we have fresh in our minds what it is we want to accomplish the next day, and we plan it all out. When I wake up in the morning, I am excited to visit and help the people we are going to see that day. You don’t have to be a missionary to do this. We can all do it. When the alarm rings in the morning and you’re super tired, it’s exactly what you need to you out of bed.

So this week we were planning like normal, when my companion say Yessenia’s name and said, “It’s been awhile since we’ve seen Yessenia. Wanna go visit her?” We planned to visit her the next day and sent her a text, asking if she’d be home at 5. The next day, we got to her house and knocked on the door. She opened and told her they’d just diagnosed her with cancer. The night before, she had been praying and asking the Lord for help and comfort, and in the middle of her prayer she heard our text arrive.

Aunt Kate gave me one of the quotes that has motivated me since Day One of my mission:  “The number of prayers we say may contribute to our happiness, but the number of prayers we answer may be of far greater significance,” President Uchtdorf.

It is one of the sweetest feelings to know that the Lord has used you as an instrument in His hands. We should ALL be instruments in His hands, not just missionaries. I know that if we really want to be, He will give us thousands of opportunities to be the answers to others’ prayers. There’s no shortage of need in the world. There’s a shortage of those willing to seek divine inspiration to help fulfill those needs. I literally love the prophets and apostles of our days, because they are literally the Lord’s spokesmen. They have worked so hard all their lives to be sensitive to the Lord’s still small whispers. President Monson once said: “I always have tried to live in such a way that when the Lord needs an errand run, he says, I know Tommy Monson will do it.”

I invite you all to make that one of your highest priorities, too.

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