Lord, I Believe

Hi Family in Friends!

 

I'm so sorry I didn't get a chance to write you all last week. With Martin Luther King Day, I was emailing on an iPad and its hard to type as fast as I usually do on a computer! #StateSideMissionProblems

 

Yes, I've decided that if missionaries had Twitter, the first thing I'd do is start a hashtag (or conversation) about state side mission problems. Basically, they are first world problems from a missionary standpoint. For example, the following ridiculous things we actually said by me or my companion this week:

 

"Our dinner appointment is in an hour and I'm not hungry." #StateSideMissionProblems

"We have dinner appointments every day this week and I'm trying to start a diet." #StateSideMissionProblems

"This 30-second walk from the door to the car is freezing!" #StateSideMissionProblems

 

Basically, we here in Georgia are having a blast! The highlight of the week would probably be teaching Diane again, because I got to apply something I learned from my personal studies to her life. (Diane is the miracle lady from the Kitten Miracle... she has a kitten that looks just like my cat.)

 

We had an appointment with Diane, and when we found her she was really really craving a cigarette. She was really struggling. We found out she started smoking when she was 13, and this is a 50 year addiction!

 

I've been reading Jesus the Christ, which is basically a commentary written on Christ's life and role. It was talking about the father of the boy with the devil in Mark 9. The father says, "IF thou canst do anything, have compassion on us." It was almost like he was doubting the Lord's power. The Lord replies, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." To which the father of the child says, "Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief." I always thought that last statement was so contradictory- "I believe, but help my unbelief?" But what I discovered this week is that the father is referencing belief in 2 different people- the Lord and himself. What he is actually implying is, "Lord, I believe Thou has all power, and can do anything, but I don't know if I believe in ME."

 

That hit me like a ton of bricks. It is so easy to think the Lord can accomplish anything. But it's so hard to believe that He can accomplish anything through US. We are His hands. If the Lord is going to work miracles through us, we have to believe in ourselves.

 

As we were teaching this to Diane, this helped her realize that she needs to believe that she can quit smoking, that she can be relieved of this addiction. Rather than relying all on the Lord, we also have to rely on ourselves. "Pray as if it all depends on the Lord, work as if it all depends on you."

 

I hope that this spiritual nugget can help you as much as it helped Diane. I know it has helped me a lot too, because I know that it is really hard as a missionary to believe that you are even making a dent in anything. Is knocking on that door really going to do anything?

 

But as our Stake President referenced this weekend, there were 2 hobbits on an impossible journey to destroy an inanimate object, and they wondered the same thing. "Are we really accomplishing anything?" But their journey, and faith in each other and their cause, kept them going and ultimately saved a nation from darkness. (If you haven't guessed it yet, I'm referring to Lord of the Rings: Return of the King)

 

So now I will echo the words of my Stake President and Gimli the dwarf: "Certain death- little chance of success- What are we waiting for?!?"

 

Have a great week!

 

Sister Laser

Starrs Mill where Sweet Home Alabama was filmed