Faith: One Day At a Time

Today has been hard. I would put it into words for you, but I can't... I already tried to in my journal and it didn't work as well as I would like it to. I'm trusting that it's one of those journey's that will make sense to me later, while right now just embracing the fact that I just don't even understand all that Heavenly Father saw in my heart today.

When I go through painful situations, I try to do my absolute best to prevent it from happening again. Why would I want to go through it twice or multiple times when once was hard enough? I believe I only made my situation worse because I wasn't just dealing with how I felt in the moment, I was so worried I would feel this way over and over again which would lead me with no hope in all that I want most in life. Now is this true? NO! With Christ, there is ALWAYS hope. But in that difficult moment I became so overwhelmed with my future. 


What would life look like if we took it one moment at a time? 

How would our thoughts and our actions be different if we focused on THIS day?

Would our attitude and faith change if we were to put 
the energy of our hearts on this very day?


Elder D. Todd Christofferson tells a story: 

"In the 1950s my mother survived radical cancer surgery, but difficult as that was, the surgery was followed with dozens of painful radiation treatments in what would now be considered rather primitive medical conditions. She recalls that her mother taught her something during that time that has helped her ever since: “I was so sick and weak, and I said to her one day, ‘Oh, Mother, I can’t stand having 16 more of those treatments.’ She said, ‘Can you go today?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Well, honey, that’s all you have to do today.’ It has helped me many times when I remember to take one day or one thing at a time.”"

3 Nephi 13:34: "Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient is the day unto the evil thereof."

Being concerned about many days at a time can very quickly lead to negative thinking. Our futures, and the trials and evils we feel we will encounter therein can overwhelm us and become so discouraging that somehow the faith we have worked so hard for becomes buried in worry and anxiety. There is enough to worry about in just one day's time, and it's our trials and worries that often bring us to seek out God. It is vitally important we seek out God on a daily basis. Can you imagine as we worried about many days at a time and He took away those worries all at once what that would be like? Would we seek out His loving guidance and direction daily if we had all the answers? Would our relationship be as close and as strong if we didn't have a constant need for Him?

We will have very difficult days, on those days we can use them to learn more about ourselves, about our faith, about our strength, and about our relationship with our loving Heavenly Father and His beloved son, Jesus Christ.  On the good and happy days, we should make the choice to live it to the fullest! We should take the time to do the things we know we should do that we won't have the strength for in our weak moments. Just like a squirrel collects nuts and stores them for later, we too must collect the blessings and the tasks that we only can experience on our strong days, that way we will have them to look back on when we need them the most. 

Thomas Carlyle said "Our main business is not to see what lies dimly in the distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand." As we practice having a positive belief that Christ knows our names and walks by our side even when we don't see or feel Him, our faith will grow brighter and brighter. It may seem like a slow process, but why do you think Heavenly Father decided to break our mortal experience into days, so we could take it step by step at a time, choosing to seek Him more often through prayer and His word for divine help. Day by day you will find how close to Him you've grown and that you can get through every single trial with Christ by your side. 

Don't let all the days attack you, 

live in this day, and this day alone 

and blessings will pour!



Watch this CES Fireside "Give Us This Our Daily Bread"

By Elder Chistofferson January 2011