churchy...from the Mormon channel

I recently came across this article, and I love the message. How often do we pray and pray for something and not realize the answer is right in front of us? Answers don't always come in the ways we expect, but they do come. 

Choosing to Accept God’s Helping Hand

 

Agency is a gift we’ve all been given. It’s our ability to be able to think and reason for ourselves. But it’s not a gift we should take or use lightly. 

 

As Wilford Woodruff once said, “By virtue of this agency you and I and all mankind are made responsible beings, responsible for the course we pursue, the lives we live, the deeds we do in the body.”

 

Because God gave us this personal and powerful gift to exercise agency for ourselves, we are responsible for our own actions. One of those actions is choosing whether or not you’re going to accept God’s helping hand when He extends it to you.

 

God lends His help—in the forms of a warm, peaceful feeling to someone close to you saying what you need to hear—whenever you need it. All you have to do is ask for His help and then accept it when it comes, even if the format His help comes in isn’t what you were expecting.

 

This is exactly what happened to Heather. She spent part of her young adult life living a life of depression. Her family tried to help her, but nothing they said or did was helping. Heather felt ashamed for what she felt. And she’d spent countless times praying and asking Jesus Christ why He wasn’t there and why He wasn’t taking this away from her.

 

One thing Heather said she never wanted to do was see a doctor or be put on medication to help with her depression. But, one day, she went anyways. And while talking with a doctor, she said, “I feel like the Savior should be able to take this away from me. I feel like my prayers should be answered; that I don’t want this, and that He should take it away.” 

 

And then her doctor looked her straight in her eyes and said, “Whoever said I’m not the answer to your prayer?”

 

At that moment, Heather finally realized God was extending His helping hand in a way she wasn’t expecting,and she knew she needed to accept it to get better.

 

Agency is yours. The choices and decisions you make are yours. So as you choose, whether it’s a big life decision like who you should marry or a smaller one like deciding if you should go to that party or not, choose to ask for and accept God’s help in making your decision.

 

N. Eldon Tanner wisely said, “There exists this eternal law that each human soul, through the choices he makes, will shape his own destiny. Our success or failure, peace or discontent, happiness or misery, depend on the choices we make each day.”

 

God won’t lead you down the wrong fork in life. He will lead you down the righteous path that will fulfill His successful plans for you. He knows the direction you need to take, and faithfully choosing to accept His help will allow you to make good choices.

 

So rather than trying to take on this challenging world by yourself, choose each day to ask for and accept God’s helping hand. Choose to progress in a life of joy and happiness rather than living a life of sorrow alone.