Into The Fire

      "Learning by faith and from experience are two of the central features of the Father's plan of happiness. The Savior preserved moral agency through the Atonement and made it possible for us to act and to learn by faith."

David A.Bednar

Both Mark and I received assurances that our union was approved by God. The assurances were powerful and real. Now we moved ahead but other questions were not so easily answered. Should we finish college? Should we get jobs? Should we start a family? I wished for easy answers and received none. 

     There are three aspects to Learning by Faith. Receiving assurances by God to proceed, moving forward in faith, and looking back and seeing evidence that God was with us. I was afraid to act. My fears were based in a primal need for financial security. My parents lived through two world wars, one as children and one in their middle years.. They knew hunger, destruction and death personally. When my father got to America he saved half his paycheck every week. He never incurred debt. I was taught by example to acquire more than needed in savings.

I received another assurance, which I have continued to receive in the last 50 years, that we would have sufficient for our needs.

It was a flash of light and I cannot deny that it was real. But, I did not trust that light. Many of my worries and anxiety in life were based on learning to trust this knowledge. I wanted more than sufficient for my needs. I wanted excess and that was not part of the promise. 

As I look back at the evidence accumulated over seven decades I know that God was true and faithful. I was the one who needed to show my faith by acting in faith.

Faith as the assurance of things hoped for looks to the future. This assurance is founded upon a correct understanding about and trust in God and enables us to “press forward” (2 Nephi 31:20) into uncertain and often challenging situations in the service of the Savior.

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