It has been really hard not to get
discouraged. I went from an area that was doing amazing, and now I am
in an area that is struggling more. It has been so hard to see the Hand
of God in some things. But in other ways it is so apparent. Just this
past week Elder Jones and I were out tracting. We knocked on this
man's door, and he abruptly asked us "What do you want?" We responded
"Well, we want to make you happy." He responded that he didn't want
anything that we could give him and was quite rude about it as well. It was a very discouraging thing, seeing
someone like that completely reject any form of the gospel and God. But
the next door was a lot more rewarding. We were invited in to talk,
and we were able to get a return appointment to introduce the Book of
Mormon.
It
seems like life is a lot like that in almost every aspect of life.
Things start out hard, then you progress and plateau as you overcome
challenges and get used to things. Then change happens again, and you
realize that you are nothing at all. It is a lot like King Benjamin
said, that we are nothing in the sight of God, we are less than the
dust of the earth. Which is completely right. We can be disobedient,
ungrateful people, incapable of seeing past the edge of our nose to
realize that we are walking off of a cliff. It isn't until God trips us
just short of the edge that we realize that we were acting to our own
destruction. And then from there, we can either chose to get up and
repent and be grateful, or we can get made and blame God for a broken
nose and the pain from the fall, and then commit spiritual suicide
without a second glance.
I
just hope that even after people reject the gospel, God will continue
to provide a parachute to use after they fall off of that cliff.
If
we knew something that would save someone's life, to what extent would
we go to save that person, especially if it is someone that we love.
Now, if we know something that would save their soul, something that is
eternal, to what extent would we go to save that person, especially
when we know that they are family.
Love
Elder Peterson
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