"We Volunteered For This"

In institute class yesterday, one of the teachers said that she volunteers for everything, even things she doesn't know how to do, and she testified that the Lord helps her as she goes along. President Monson has said, "Whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies." This reminded me of something I read recently--in her book, Light in the Wilderness, M. Catherine Thomas wrote about an important lesson she learned when her husband was called to be a mission president and she was completely overwhelmed:

 

"It was there that I learned that in challenging circumstances which the Lord requires you to confront, the secret is just to show up. Just show up to do the thing that needs to be done, and the Lord meets you there to expand what little you have to give."

 

This statement was profoundly moving to me as I've been called to raise a severely disabled child and I just don't know how to do it, and it's getting really, really hard as he gets heavier and stronger. Sister Thomas' observation was very comforting--I did show up, I did take this on, and the Lord will assist me.

 

But the institute teacher's comment that she volunteers for hard things kind of irritated me. There I was, thinking about my own challenges and sitting next to Stacy whose challenges far exceed mine. If there had been time, I would have said, "Some of us have hard things thrust upon us that we didn't volunteer for."

 

I shared this with Stacy in the car on the way home, and she replied, "But you and I DID volunteer for this. We volunteered for it a long time ago. We are more blessed than people who have to choose now between relaxing or volunteering for hard things."

 

Stacy turned our "burdens" into such a positive thing. The Spirit testified to me that what she was saying was true. She reminded me that we chose to come here and work through these problems because we knew it would help us to grow and return to our Heavenly Father. She made me appreciate the concept that because we volunteered for our challenges before we were born, we are spared the burden of having to volunteer for them now. And this perspective made me admire the institute teacher even more.

 

"Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones; And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born." Abraham 3:22-23

 

--Mindy