from DIETER F. UCHTDORF

God Will Do Something Unimaginable

1  |  Heavenly Father knows we suffer—and He will not abandon us. President Uchtdorf tells the story of the Saints finally escaping to Salt Lake and seemingly finding peace—only to have to undo all their work and be confronted by an army. Our lives feel like this sometimes, don’t they? We can be punched when we are down, and often punched again, perhaps again. 

But what if we were to widen our perspectives? If we look around, we will surely see our Savior, picking us up and tending to our wounds—every. time. we. fall. Often eternal perspective can make all the difference when facing adversity and learning how we can best grow from it. Of course, we must remember: an eternal perspective will not remove the adversity—but it will make us see we are not alone. And often, that makes all the difference. 

2  |  The righteous are not given a free pass to avoid the valley of shadow. Even if it seems like Sally-down-the-street has no problems, I promise you, she does. EVERYONE must face trial in their life, even (especially?) the righteous. God sees adversity as opportunity—a step we can take to become closer to who He knows we can be. “We all must walk through difficult times, for it is in these times of adversity that we learn principles that fortify our characters and cause us to draw closer to God.” Again, as President Uchtdorf illustrated throughout the talk: “God uses adversity to bring about His purposes.” The sooner we learn to trust Him, the better off we will be.

3  |  He will fulfill His promises. The words in this talk may initially seem daunting. Things are hard. They might get worse. Prepare now. But surprisingly, I was left with a feeling of peace--and an assurance of the faith that God knows me and wants to help me succeed. 

Life is crazy right now. And yet, He stands ready to walk the road with us, hand in hand. We must focus on the things we can do. We must strengthen our “personal religious behaviors” and muster our faith. God is at the helm--He will “watch over and shepherd you during these times of uncertainty and fear. He knows you. He hears your pleas. He is faithful and dependable. He will fulfill His promises.” Knowing these things can bring us calm in any circumstance. “The best days are ahead of us, not behind us!”

“We all must walk through difficult times, for it is in these times of adversity that we learn principles that fortify our characters and cause us to draw closer to God."

DIETER F. UCHTDORF

“God has revealed and will continue to reveal His almighty hand. The day will come when we will look back and know that during this time of adversity, God was helping us to find better ways—His ways—to build His kingdom on a firm foundation.”

DIETER F. UCHTDORF

INVITATION:

I think it's time for another heart dump?! Remember this from #confprepweek?? But we're going to take it a step further!

Grab a piece for paper, or find space in your journal, and make two columns. On the left, dump everything onto the page that is “burying” you, or weighing on your heart.

Then on the right, we're going to list what has been revealed to you because of the things you listed on the left. What have you learned? How have you seen God's hand? What new opportunities have come? What has it allowed you to look forward to? How have you been prepared for this time?

You can do this all at once, you can add to it throughout the week—up to you!! But what's important is that we are recognizing how the Lord is using the things you listed in the left column to reveal what you listed in the right—something truly unimaginable!

AFFIRMATION:

I am in my Savior’s watchful care—nothing takes Him by surprise. He has something truly unimaginable in store for me, if I but trust in His omniscient plan. 

IT'S TIME! Winter Issue No. 4 of The Collective is available TOMORROW, October 26th! Are you excited?? We're excited! SO much time, love, and effort has been put into this beautiful product and now you'll get to see it. Make sure you have your W+W Instagram notifications turned on so that you don't miss a beat. 

Just a 'lil reminder: Issue No. 3 “Upon the Rock” of The Collective can be found in digital format here, OR you can buy the physical format when it restocks with the new winter issue TOMORROW