Doubt your doubts before you doubt your FAITH

Beautiful day @ the San Diego Temple!

Hey everyone!

Every single day I just become even more and more amazed at how amazing and loving our Heavenly Father is! This week I really learned a lot about how mindful God is of ALL of us and everything that we are going through. Remember how I said last week that usually baptism weeks are the most chaotic weeks ever filled with several fiery darts from the Adversary? Well, last week we didn't get any of that. I think Satan was a little delayed in shooting off those darts because they definitely hit this week!

But I KNOW that my faith was really strengthened this week because of those fiery darts, even if they were poorly aimed.  The adversary works in very sneaky and cunning ways. He knows each of us by NAME & the potential that we have to become like our Heavenly Father. He remembers who we were before this life & because of that, remembers our strengths AND our weaknesses. So he tries to do anything that he can to try and get us to forget who we are. To forget the amazing Plan that our Father has for us.  He places seeds of doubts into our minds. He brings so much noise & chaos into our lives and into our minds to distract us from the peaceful path & simple direction that our Father has given to us in this life so we can return to live with Him once more. If we don't watch ourselves, it's sooo easy for us to slide from that path. To lose sight of the direction that we want to head towards. To lose our focus of the main purpose of why we even came to this Earth to begin with.

This week I learned the hard way a few of those things. I realized that once I let a SIMPLE and SMALL doubt take root in my mind, the flood gates would open and Satan would pour out a hundredfold more of those doubts into my mind. It almost felt like I was caught up in a whirlpool....my mind was spinning and I could no longer find the direction I needed to be facing. I felt like I had no control and was starting to lose hope of that feeling ever going away.

Honestly, I felt like the Apostle Peter. He was always so willing to do what the Lord needed him to do & had one of the firmest testimonies of the Savior. But at times, he would let those little doubts get into his mind. He would lose focus of the Savior. There was one instance, where those doubts almost caused him to lose his life. In Matthew chapter 14 it says,

22 ¶And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.
23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.
24 But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.
25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.
26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.
27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.
28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.
30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.
31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
32 And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.
33 Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.

Jump for JOY if you LOVE being a Missionary!

Like Peter, I felt like I was filled with so much joy as I kept my eyes and focus on the Savior. But after awhile, I started to pay more attention to the "waves" around me which caused me to fall into that dark abyss. I became afraid and felt like I couldn't keep my head above the water anymore.

Have YOU ever felt like that before?

I know there are times in each of our lives that we will experience something similar to Peter. But what I have been able to learn, is that just like Peter, I can call on my Savior to rescue me. I can stretch my hand out towards Him. And I KNOW that I can always rely on my Savior to tenderly grab my shaking hand and rescue me from the tumultuous waters. But I also know that YOU can do so as well! That YOU can be saved from your despairs and sorrows, your fears and doubts.

In the words of another one of my favorite hymns,

He answers privately,
Reaches my reaching
In my Gethsemane, Savior and Friend.
Gentle the peace he finds for my beseeching.
Constant he is and kind,
Love without end.

Christ will ALWAYS reach our reaching. He will ALWAYS be there to remove our doubts and fears. He can help us to find the direction that we need to go towards and will ALWAYS bring us the peace we need. He will be there for us during our own personal Gethsemane's and will give us the strength to overcome anything in our path!

I know that to be true.

xoxo Sister Morgan

SURPRISE! I chopped off my hair :)

District Meeting w/ the Zone Leaders!