Prayer: My Daily Bread

Elder Christofferson in a Mormon Message that I just watched talked about a moment in his life where he was going through an economic crisis.  He was worried, confused, afraid, and stressed and did not know what the future would hold.  What did he do?  PRAY!  Instead of focusing on all the things in the future that he did not know, or all the things in the present moment that he did not understand, he focused on depending on God for his daily needs.  There are times of dark clouds of confusion or doubt when the only person we have to turn to is God.  But if we focus on living day by day, and depending on God for what we need to make it through today, our relationship with Him will be strengthened.  Our trial will turn into one of the most meaningful experiences we have had as through it, we have learned how to depend on our Father.

I REALLY needed this message today.  I've been feeling like I'm in a giant cloud of confusion and doubt where I can't seem to discern what is right and wrong anymore.  I've been focusing so much on what is going on around me, that I've lost sight of where I am, how I feel, and where I need to be.  Sometimes I get so swallowed up in my environment, or so focused on the storm, that I start to sink.  Right as I got home from the mission, the same storm was there, but I felt like I was walking on water!  I was looking to Christ with faith, trusting that I would receive everything I need.  But like Peter, I started seeing just how big those storm clouds were, just how loud that lightning is, just how much opposition I actually had around me, and I started to be afraid.  I started to look around me with more doubt than faith.  And I started to sink.  However, because God loves me, He is patient with me and gives me little nudges to get me back on track.  Now I've realized what has been going on, and I am determined to look again with an eye of faith.  Put my confidence in God instead of desperately trying to prepare myself for the storm by trying to anticipate what is going to happen when I really can't.  Doing that just feeds my fear and leaves me feeling vulnerable.  It leaves me with a lack of confidence, a hole in my heart.  I'm sick of being afraid, of letting myself sink, of letting the storms around me get to me. I've been feeling trapped by my environment, forgetting that no matter what is happening around me, with Christ, I can walk on water!  I've got to start walking with faith again.  

The only way that I can get back to my walk of faith is by doing what Elder Christofferson did.  I must focus more on my prayers.  I must just focus on one day at a time and trust that God will provide everything I need for today.  Instead of thinking about all the things that will happen tomorrow, this week, this month, in an unknown future, I can keep focusing on today.  I know that if I do that, I will remember that God is with me in every moment, and I will recognize Him more in my life.   I will grow my muscle of faith and even though the storms will still be there, I will be walking on water.

Love,

Rachel