I am Emily Mather. I have heard it said that we as
individuals are the sum total of what we have seen, heard, said, and done in
our lives. Thanks to many teachers, leaders, and family members, I have seen so
many people serve me and my family, and I have heard countless testimonies that
make me who I am today. I am so grateful
for the family, friends, and leaders that have taught me high standards and
pointed me in the right direction so many times as I have grown up.
As many of you may know, I attended Brigham Young University
in Provo this past year (2012-2013) studying nursing, and I have been home for
about a month now. In October, when the announcement was made that girls could
now serve missions at age 19 instead of 21, I didn’t think much of it as far as
I was concerned. But eventually, everything in my life seemed to point me
towards a mission as I felt like something was missing in my life; I knew school was where I needed to
be at that time, but I also felt like
the Lord had more in store for me. I wanted to make sure that I was choosing
this for the right reasons.
My mind began to open up to the idea that I was needed
elsewhere; Heavenly Father needed me to join the work of spreading the
happiness that the gospel brings to those that have been prepared for me
personally. Eventually, I finally made the decision to serve after many prayers.
I asked the Lord what He would have me do at this time. When I received the
answer that I should serve a mission, it was then that I realized how scary
that could be! Away from my family, anywhere around the world, spending 24/7
with a companion that I know nothing about, learning a new language, where my
goal is to talk to everyone and teach about our church. But I received this
answer in my heart, and I knew the importance of obedience. I love what our
prophet President Monson said about obedience in this past April General
Conference:
There
is no need for you or for me, in this enlightened
age when the fullness of the gospel has been restored, to sail uncharted seas
or to travel unmarked roads in search of truth. A loving Heavenly Father has
plotted our course and provided an unfailing guide – even obedience
At first I felt that I was taking a step into the dark,
asking the Lord to lead me where He would have me go. Actually, I still feel
that way sometimes! But I do know that as I, like any of us, choose to trust
the Lord and trust that He will give me more light and knowledge as I obey, I
am blessed with more light and direction in my life. Initially, I found myself
thinking of all of the reasons that I should not serve a mission. It was such a
long time away from my family, I would graduate later, and so on.
BUT as soon as I decided to open up to the idea and turn my
will over to the Lord, my prayers become more sincere, and I felt guided. I realized that my Savior has experienced my
confusion and sadness, and He constantly asks me to simply obey, and as I do, I
am changed for the better as I follow the course he has plotted for me. The
trials and decisions in my life are not random or coincidental – they have been
designed for me to grow and learn how to make the right choices.
With this time at home without assignments due and tests to
take, has given me more time to think about the call I have received to serve a
mission and how obedience will play a role. I have many questions, concerns,
and exciting thoughts running through my mind at any given time! It is hard to
know how to feel emotionally as I prepare to dedicate 1 ½ years of my life in
service of the Lord. The question that constantly comes to my mind is: What
kind of missionary do I want to be? Growing up, I have seen so many
missionaries come home more mature, and humble – they glowed as they spoke. I loved hearing stories about the impact
they’d had on people’s lives as they taught he gospel and brought families
closer together. I thought that missionaries simply came home like this – that
everyone did. But I am realizing how wrong I was!
I have come to realize that I will get out of my mission what
I put into it. I have the choice what kind of missionary I want to be, and in
turn the person I want to become after my mission and from then on in my life.
I read an incredible talk from a mission president to his missionaries called
“The Fourth Missionary” and it goes into depth about the characteristics and
consequences of different types of missionaries. This article takes the concept
of obedience one step further, comparing the two missionaries, both of which strive
to become better, are obedient, and serve faithfully, but one of the
missionaries does something that makes all the difference in his mission. He
fully surrenders his will to the Lord.
As someone set apart to represent the Lord, it is my goal to
strive to be obedient to God’s commandments and to obey the mission rules, but
I want to make it a goal to take that one step further. I will not simply do
what the Lord wants me to do because he wants me to do it, although that is a
commendable thing to do, I want to be obedient so that my nature and character
will be changed. When we slowly strive the change our nature in increments, we
will not have any desire to do anything contrary to what Heavenly Father would
have us do.
I love what the author of this letter wrote, he says: “ The purpose and central blessing of this
life is change. It is to be changed to become more like Jesus Christ. It is to
incorporate into your character, the qualities of His character. This process
of change, this process of becoming, is the object of the gospel.”
This quote has powerful meaning that I had never thought
about before. As I strive to obey with full purpose of heart, I will change. As
a missionary, I will be teaching others the importance of coming unto Christ
and letting him mold them. I cannot teach others the concept of changing,
becoming, and evolving unless I am willing to do the same. I need to constantly come unto Christ myself,
and seek his will in my life. This way, I can testify to others of the change
it can make in their lives.
This applies to so many areas in our lives! It does not just
apply to me while I am preparing to preach the gospel. This is the “object of
the gospel”. So, I challenge you to make a conscious effort to be obedient, but
do not stop there. You may change your behavior to live the way the Lord would
have you live, but do not stop there either.
Focus on BECOMING and CHANGING. Take the attributes of Christ for your
own, and illuminate your life and the lives of others as you align your will
with God’s will. Your light of Christ will become brighter and brighter as you
obey because you will discard some of your old characteristics and take on
Christ’s. I challenge you to do this with me.
This concept of changing goes hand in hand with the single
greatest expression of love that the world has ever witnessed. This is the Atonement
of Jesus Christ. Because he came and suffered for our personal sins and
weaknesses, there is nothing in this life that he has not experienced
firsthand. He has seen and experienced it all, and He knows that as we obey the
Lord, life will be easier in the end. But we cannot do this by ourselves. Rather than taking “be the best you can be”
as a motto for our lives, we should listen to Christ when he says “Let me make
you all that you can be”. Christ can only do this when we come to Him with real
intent to do what he asks with full purpose of heart. By letting Christ change
us, we are showing our love and acceptance of His sacrifice for us.
The scripture that I chose for the theme of my mission is
Romans 8:38-39. This scripture has helped me understand how the atonement
applies to my life. It says “For I am
persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any
other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord”
I believe that God has given us the gift of obedience because
he loves us. I believe that God gave us
Christ so that we could be saved from our sins, and so that you and I could
draw upon his strength in difficult times. Nothing out of our power can
separate us from this love found through the Atonement of Christ. As long as we
are obedient, and come to the Lord with whole purpose of heart, we can find
this love in our lives. What an incredible blessing. The Lord is always ready
and willing to show us His path, but we need to LET Him change our nature. We
must be willing. We need our hearts, minds, and actions to be one in purpose –
all aligned so that the Lord can sense our sincerity and change us.
There have been times in my life that I have prayed to seek
the Lord’s direction, but I was not ready to fully surrender my will. I think
that we have all possibly reached a point in our lives when our prayers consist
of all the things we want to the Lord to bless us with and we speedily close
with “thy will be done.” But I testify to you that as we do the simple tasks
the Lord has asked of us: praying sincerely, reading scriptures, serving others
– that we will feel the spirit work within us to align our will more with the
Lord’s. I saw this as I prayed about going on the mission. I was holding back
at first as if saying “Lord, I don’t really want to do this, but I will if you
REALLY want me to, I can” And once I found myself more exactly obedient and sincere,
my prayers consisted more of “Lord, what would you have me do? Where would you
have me go?”
I want to extend another challenge to you, to do this same
thing with me. Think of some way in your life that you can maybe think less of
what you want to do or what you think you should do, and think more about what
the Lord would have you do. Pray about it! Pray for strength and acceptance for
the answers you might receive. We have been promised that if we choose to obey
and constantly direct the desires of our hearts toward Christ, that we will in
turn receive His attributes. By obedience and real intent, life in the long run
is easier and we will be able to live with our Heavenly Father and our families
for eternity.
It is my testimony that God loves us. Because he loves us he
has provided a guide that we may return to Him. He has given us His son. I know
that I am not perfect, and I know that I am nothing by myself – I am weak. But
with God’s strength I can become the woman that He intended me to be. I know that Christ’s atonement is real, and
that He knows me. He has felt my sorrow, guilt, pain, happiness, and he can
certainly make me a better person. All
he requires of me is my heart. I will always make mistakes, but as I continue
to build a relationship with Christ, I will trust His will and I can be
changed. I can testify that obedience is a door that opens SO many other doors!
When we obey, we are following the Lord’s path, and find a source of POWER. The
Lord is on our side when we faithfully obey, and we will discover the blessings
he has in store for us. We can partake of the blessings of the atonement as we
show the Lord our willingness to repent and obey. I know that happiness comes
in this gospel as we obey, because the Lord can bless us when we do so. I cannot WAIT to share this happiness with the
people in Madrid, Spain!
No comments:
Post a Comment