Sunday, December 12, 2010

Permission Granted....

Have you ever gone to church and felt the messages were catered to your needs? Today was one of those days for me.

You can hear the same lessons over and over, but then one day they click. Today that happened for me. It clicked. Believing I will be okay is not only exercising faith, it is also obeying what I have been told.

The talks were on obedience and faith. Sunday School was on Daniel and his faith to stand firm in his belief, even when the situation looked impossible to overcome.

One of the talks was from a recently returned sister missionary. She told of a man she had taught, who very much wanted to be baptized, but he was living with his girlfriend. He could not be baptized unless he chose to change the situation, so the sister missionaries spoke with him about it. He decided to ask his girlfriend and roommate to marry him. The next day the sister missionaries got a phone call from him... he asked and she said no. Now what to do?

The sister missionaries again told him that he could not be baptized while he lived in his present situation, so did he have enough faith to change it? His present financial situation was that he could not meet his needs on his own. But he wanted to be obedient, so he decided to move forward and pray for guidance. He would move out, but he didn't know how.

The next day, the sister missionaries received another call from him. He was calling from his bank. He had received, that day, a check from a lawsuit that took place 3 years earlier. A check he was neither waiting for nor expecting. The amount of the check was enough to sustain his needs for many months. His prayer was answered because he had chosen to be obedient even when he didn't know how he was going to proceed.

That story couldn't have been more catered to me. I am stressing and tense over my own financial situation, and my situation isn't as dire as his was. I am keeping myself from relaxing, even though I have received my answer from the Lord that He is aware of my situation and has a plan in motion to take care of me. I have not been behaving like I believe Him. I have not been obedient. I did not realize until today that my weakness of faith was a result of disobedience.

I think I got the permission I was looking for... from the right source.

To let go of the worry and stress would be to be obeying the promptings of the Spirit. So, exercising faith is more than just believing... it is obeying.

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