The Lord has a Plan for Us!

How I loved this talk! 

We have told everyone we moved to Louisville so Brother could go to VIPS – and what a blessing that has been for him and us – but it’s not the whole truth.

I’m sure I would not have had enough faith to come here without confirmation from Heavenly Father that this is what we needed to do - not with the trails that were to come…

I remember sitting in the Celestial Room with Jason.  I was so afraid to move, to leave, even with all of the promised blessings that VIPS would mean for Alex – that’s a lot of change!  But Jason sat beside me so confidently. “We need to do this.  We aren’t progressing here anymore.” he said. I knew he was right.  I knew it was the will of God.  I knew that we were going to move – and my heart filled with terror.  Lots and lots of change. Doctors, therapists, schools, family, friends, cities, everything!

While living at the Turpins while our house was having difficulties closing, I took Husky on many walks and I thought deeply about following the Lord on big things.  Big things like adopting Joy, adopting Bella, adopting Alex, and moving to Kentucky– all were huge and all were life changing.  We were never the same afterwards. I wondered why things are often so hard when we follow promptings.  I thought of Lehi responding to the Lord to leave with his family.  I thought of Sariah, following her husband.  We judge her for murmuring against her husband when her boys were lost (or so she thought).  Really? She only murmured once?  Awesome job woman!  I thought of their life.  Never again would they have what they had in Jerusalem.  No corner grocery store for Sariah to pick up a couple of things.  No more mornings gathering the family's water and talking with her friends – or maybe she had servants for that - well, no more of those either! Life in the desert for eight years. Childbirth in the desert twice.  Watching her sons obey and then disobey.  The hope and the despair that must have caused.  Watching her sons fight and try to kill each other.  The long ship ride over.  The terrible storm, the disobedience where she and Lehi just wanted to give up and slip into their watery graves.  Then land!  But nothing was there.  Sariah, the city girl/woman had to become the nature girl/woman.  Building a home again and then finally passing away, far away from her native home. They listened to the Lord.  They obeyed, but it wasn’t easy – ever.  I thought of Joseph Smith.  Nothing was ever, ever easy for him. Mobs, persecutions, being ripped from his family, and finally being killed.  And what of Emma?  Nothing was ever, ever easy for her. But they obeyed.

So this talk, this talk speaks to me  - A LOT!

It’s little things like this that hit me upside the head with how kind Heavenly Father is to me.  I’m amazed at His patience with me.

(Click below – it’s awesome!!)

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/the-lord-has-a-plan-for-us?lang=en

His final two paragraphs:

I know that the Lord has a plan for us in this life. He knows us. He knows what is best for us. Just because things are going well does not mean that we should not from time to time consider whether there might be something better. If we continue to live as we are living, will the promised blessings be fulfilled?

God lives. He is our Father. The Savior Jesus Christ lives, and I know that through His atoning sacrifice we can find the strength to overcome our daily challenges. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

(Just a disclaimer – I am in no way likening moving from Texas to Kentucky to either what Lehi and Sariah or what Joseph and Emma went through.  Just the principle that while obedience brings blessings it does not guarantee ease.  The end.)