Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence
Elder Holland BYU 1999
(http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=795)
One amazing talk here. Have you ever had a time in your life where you prayed & prayed about something, received an answer, went forward & yet it seemed like everything in the universe was fighting against you trying to have it not work out? It can be so frustrating & it can make us question our answer to prayer. "This opposition turns up almost anyplace something good has happened... don't give up & don't give in. Certainly don't give in to that being who is bent on the destruction of your happiness. He wants everyone to miserable like unto himself [misery loves company!]. Face your doubts. Master your fears. 'cast not away therefore your confidence.' Stay the course and see the beauty of life unfold for you.
I love this counsel & know it is true. After praying about something and then having the adversary fight against I always think to myself, "Well if Satan is wasting his time trying to get me to give up someday when I work through all of the ups and downs of this I must have something big in store & a difference to make!" It always helps me to keep pushing forward and not give up. I had a friend once tell me something I will never forget. She said if there's ever a Sunday where she just doesn't want to get up [yay for 9 AM church] and feels like she is having a hard time making herself get to church she thinks so herself that there must be something important she is going to hear today that Satan is trying to stop her from going. She uses this to boost her attitude and spend her Sunday engaged waiting to hear that special message just for her. What a wonderful way to overcome negative thoughts.
The more I get to know myself the more I realize how much Satan tries to get in my head with feelings of doubt, fear, or inadequacy. But as Elder Holland brings up in this talk, "there may come after the fact [after revelation etc] some competing doubts [satan!] and some confusion, but they will pale when you measure them against the real thing. Remember the real thing. Remember how urgently you have needed help in earlier times and that you got it. The Red Sea will open to the honest seeker of revelation. The adversary does have power to hedge up the way , but he cannot produce the real thing. He cannot conquer if we will it otherwise. Exerting all our power to call upon God, the light will again come, the darkness will again retreat, the safety will again be sure." I find it interesting here the importance of remembering. Why are we so often counseled to keep journals, study the words of the prophets both new & old, & to study our ancestry? I believe it is to help us always remember because remembering those experiences will help us be strong and overcome opposition. This last time I read the Book of Mormon I highlighted every time it said the word "remember." I didn't count but let me tell you, it says it all the time! I think its the tendency of the natural man to be forgetful. It's easier sometimes than making the effort to remember but remembering will give up strength. Remember will give us faith for the future.
The second lesson Elder Holland presents is that along with the process of revelation and in making important decisions in our lives "fear almost always plays a destructive, sometimes paralyzing role."And how does Elder Holland respond to this? With my favorite line from the talk: "What about that which has already happened? What about the miracles that got you here?"..How soon we forget.. Some days we will be miraculously led out of Egypt - seemingly free, seemingly on our way - only to come to yet another confrontation, like all that water lying before us. At those times we must resist the temptation to panic and give up. At those times fear will be the strongest of the adversary's weapons against us." Don't you dare give up. That's the answer. Remember what the Lord has done for you in the past. Remember that like the children of Israel He wouldn't lead you this far just to give up on you. Some times you may have to take a different path than you planned such as Alma going to Ammonihah or the children of Israel crossing through the red sea but either way the Lord will open up a path for you. "Nobody ever crossed the Red Sea this way but so what? There's always a first time for everything. God will always help provide us a way just like the old primary song "I know the Lord will find a way He wants me to obey!" "Trust in that eternal truth. If God has told you something is right, if something is indeed true for you, he will provide the way for you to accomplish it.
I always remind myself of this when things get difficult. I feel like this talk was written in a personal letter to me. Instead it was given in a 1999 BYU devotional and I am so grateful that the Lord knew what I would need to hear 15 years later along with many others along the way I'm sure. Trying & starting new things can be hard. SO hard. Right now I have a lot of "starting&trying new things" going in my life and Satan works tirelessly to try and get me to give up. But jokes on him because he just reminds me that there must be something special in store & all my hard work will pay off. I know I say this all the time but I am so grateful for Josh who always helps me over come the doubts and fears that Satan sends my way & I know as we pray to the Lord He will help us as well.
"I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and min angels round about you, to bear you up." D&C 84:88
As we strive to follow our Heavenly Father's will for us he will walk with us. I love the way Elder Holland ends his talk & how I will end mine. "Fear ye not, And when the second and third and fourth blows come, fear yet not... The Lord shall fight for you. Cast not away therefore your confidence." ♡
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