Fear Not, Little Flock

Doctrine and Covenants 6:33-35

33 Fear not to do good, my sons, for whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap; therefore, if ye sow good ye shall also reap good for your reward.
 34 Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail.
 35 Behold, I do not condemn you; go your ways and sin no more; perform with soberness the work which I have commanded you.

This is by far one of my all time favorite scriptures.  I can't even describe how much it helped me in the mission.  In a difficult companionship situation, I found myself feeling trapped in my own fears.  Every time I would shine or love or give or do good, my companion would react in a negative way.  It was a competition for her, and she tried many things to stifle my light.  Sometimes it worked.  I reached a point where I was afraid to be myself, to shine, to do good.  

In my moment of intense fear, God guided me to this scripture.  Through it He told me that I did not need to be afraid to do good.  Isn't it crazy that the fear of doing good can be more powerful than the fear of doing bad?  It was for me.  It makes sense though because as we do good, we can become a powerful influence to spread the light of God.  And who would be angry about that?  Satan.  Who would start to attack?  Satan.  That is exactly what he did.  I learned on my mission that the way that Satan can get to me is through using the fears of other people to attack me in different ways.  He was using my companion's fear of inadequacy or lack of confidence or whatever it was to get me to stifle my light.  

However, the promises of God got me through those attacks and helped me to become a whole lot stronger than I was then.  He says, "fear not, little flock."  I can feel the love of Jesus Christ in that statement.  He'll take care of me.  I am a little sheep in His flock and He loves me.  Then he commands me to "do good" even if "earth and hell combine against [me]."  It takes so much courage to do good, because the opposition becomes greater.  But He promises that if we are built upon His rock, the opposition cannot prevail.  That promise got me through a lot of attacks, a lot of companionship situations, a lot of opposition.  Sometimes it felt like the opposition was winning.  Sometimes it looked like that.  But God reassured me that He knew that I was fighting with all I had, and even though I was weak, I was His little lamb, and He didn't condemn me, but allowed me to go my way and "sin no more."  He helped me day by day to overcome the obstacles that so easily beset me, which enabled me to perform the work that He had commanded me to do.  God is so good!

By far my favorite part of the scripture is the last two verses about Jesus Christ:  

36 Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.
 37 Behold the wounds which pierced my side, and also the prints of the nails in my hands and feet; be faithful, keep my commandments, and ye shall inherit the kingdom of heaven. Amen.

I know that if we look unto Christ in every thought, we can overcome our fears.  We can fight our doubts.  Christ knows that it is not easy for us.  He doesn't expect us to overcome our doubts and fears in one second.  But He does expect us to constantly turn our hearts and minds to Him when they start turning towards our fears.  Life is a constant turning back to Christ.  Many things get us to look away.  Yet we know because of the wounds that pierced His side, and also the prints of the nails in his hands and feet, that if we are faithful and keep His commandments, we can have eternal life.  We can become whole.  Even though we will have a constant battle here on earth, and we may feel afraid sometimes, Christ overcame the world.  He died for us, which means the good already won, and the opposition is weaker than the good.  If we look to Christ, we cannot fail because we will be built upon His rock.  We won't be perfect.  All that Christ expects us to do is to look unto him.  Just keep turning our heads to Him when they start to stray.  He will forgive us and guide us to Him every time because His arms are always extended towards His little flock.

I know that God loves us and that we can do anything in Christ.
I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I love you, and I can't wait to see you on Friday!

Rachel