During my teenage
years, I had a strong desire to accomplish two goals in my life. First, I wanted to serve as a full-time
missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I’ve always had a passion for the messages of
Jesus Christ shared through this wonderful church, and I wanted to share that
passion while serving as a missionary.
My second desire was to have a family of my own. I’d often spend time thinking about what fun
it would be to teach my children, particularly sharing with them my passion for
the Resurrected Lord Jesus.
Yet, as the time
for me to serve as a full-time missionary drew near, I had some spiritual
experiences that led me to conclude that wasn’t where the Lord wanted me. So I spent a lot a time praying for guidance
and finally made the decision not to go on the mission I had been looking
forward to all my life. I still don’t
know if it actually was the decision my Heavenly Father wanted me to make, but
I trusted it was and acted in faith and prayer.
I knew that, because of my faith, He would make my decision the best it
could be for me, even if that meant correcting my decision.
For a short time
after that, I found myself feeling adrift and lost. I no longer had a purpose. What was I supposed to do? Who was I supposed to be? Where did I belong? I really didn’t know what to do next.
Then I received a
call from an army recruiter asking for an opportunity to meet with me and
discuss how the Army could help me. When
I heard the voice of the recruiter explaining the purpose of his call, my first
instinct was to scoff. I had absolutely
no desire to join the military. And,
even if I did by some miracle join the military, the Army not where I wanted to
be. Who would want to join the army when
the Air Force had all the best toys? If
I had to join the military, it would definitely be the Air Force. The Navy certainly sounded better than the
Army, also. They had all the beautiful
ships. The United States Army was one of
the last places I wanted to be.
Imagine my
surprise, then, when I found I couldn’t tell the recruiter I wasn’t
interested. Instead I found myself
making an appointment with him so he could visit me at home—home of all
places! “It’s okay,” I told myself. “He’ll come, you’ll tell him you’re not
interested, and you’ll move on with your life.”
Yet I knew that wasn’t true. I
knew my future was with the United States Army.
So it was that he came, we talked, and I found myself in one of the last
places I wanted to be.
This was truly a
trying test for me. I found it incredibly
difficult to make it through Basic Training.
The irony is Basic Training wasn’t even that difficult when I think
about it. Sure, drill sergeants yell at
you and make you do a lot of exercise.
But you know where you’re going to sleep, you know who you’re going to
be with the next day, you know by and large what is expected of you the next
day, and you know you’re going to get three meals of some quality between mediocre
and great. There aren’t a lot of
surprises and it’s really not that difficult.
But it was
difficult for me because I didn’t want to be there. I often found myself lamenting that I was in
the military instead of teaching that Christ the Lord lives. I hated that my life was going so much
differently than I had planned. I
plotted ways to get out of my current circumstances, and I prayed asking the
Lord to get me out of there and take me somewhere I wanted to be. I had full faith in Him, and I believed He
could make my life better than it currently was. I still believed He would make my life the
best it could be because I continued to trust Him and tried to do what I
believed He was directing me to do.
Irony struck
again. God did make my life better than
it was, just as I kept hoping for, but He didn’t do it by taking me out of the
military. Instead He did it by helping
me come to terms with my circumstances and seeing the good that could come out
of it. He started giving me
opportunities to speak with others around me about God. I suddenly found myself having opportunities
to share the messages of joy about my Heavenly Friend that I so desperately
wanted to share. And God carried me
through Basic Training. He carried me
through the advanced training specific to my specialty in the military. He carried me through a tour of duty in
Iraq. And, through it all, He placed
people in front of me who wanted to know what I knew about the Messiah.
A few years have passed since that time. Now, looking back, I can see so many large
impacts the military had on my life for the better. I have been able to grow from my time in the
military, and I know that I have my Savior Jesus Christ to thank for it. Because I had faith in Him, trusting and
believing He would guide my life for the best, He did.
From this I
learned that God can make you the best you can be no matter where you’re at if
you have faith in Him. You’re life doesn’t
have to follow your idea of the perfect life.
You can find yourself in places you don’t want to be. You may have to endure some trying times you’d
rather not endure. But if you continue
to trust and have faith in the Lord Jehovah, you will find God will help you
through the tough times and make them good for you.
The promise of
Jesus holds true. “”Come unto me, all ye
that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I
am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall
find rest unto your souls. For my yoke
is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew
11:28) If you come unto Christ, the
tough times won’t be so tough. When you
find yourself in places you don’t want to be in, He will make them good for you,
and He will help you through.
No comments:
Post a Comment