Last year in my quest for self-improvement and nearness to God I was asked to do a lot of scary things. One of the biggest things was to cut a lifeline I’d clung to: my job. Once I worked up the courage, hyperventilating as I wrote out my resignation email, I did just that. I let it go. It was no small thing because it was a phenomenal job with incredible pay, great co-workers and fun work. I was also finishing out a year of international travel abroad and nearly out of money. I had expected to go back to work all along. No money = get a job. No brainer, right?
This past Sunday we began studying the life of President Howard W. Hunter in Sunday School. As the lesson progressed I was really struck by the decisionPresident Hunter made to give up being a musician in a successful band, put his instruments in storage and pursued further education in order to set his life on the path that would best serve God and his family. It was a great and continual sacrifice in his life, one that pulled at his heartstrings to the very end. And yet he made the commitment and stood by it faithfully. Because of his obedience his life was blessed and he drew near to God, near enough to qualify him to eventually become the Prophet of the Lord’s church on earth. (I’m not advocating obedience for status or ladder climbing in the church, that’s NOT the point.)
I’ve been pondering that act and have come to a couple of conclusions:
-It WAS NOT a criticism of the job or of musicians in general. Music is important. Art is important. And there are those who have it in them, are called, to create things to beautify our lives. We need musicians, artists, doctors, inventors, lawyers, repairmen, truckers… professions of every kind!
-It WAS a statement of yielding oneself to God’s will, of divine potential and of recognizing that while Howard W. Hunter may have been a brilliant musician he felt he could not achieve the marriage, family and personal connection with God in that profession that HE had potential for in that profession. The world’s foremost astrophysicist may have won the top accolades and praise of the world, but God may yet have higher purpose for that person. We can always improve and God uses our life experiences if we will allow Him. We see this manifest in the example set by Senior Missionary couples and even Temple Workers, amongst others — anyone who sets aside their way of being in order to do something foreign to their repertoire in the service of God.
What we give up to become obedient, those things we lay upon the altar of the Lord, bring us closer to sanctification and the Lord supports us. Since quitting my job last year I have seen the miracles of the Lord poured down upon me time and time again, supporting me spiritually, financially, mentally and I have had everything I need and often the things I want – on the Lord’s schedule. Mostly I have had the nearness of the Spirit of God in my life and I know that I am and can be obedient to His will in all things, great and small.
What do you feel you need to lay upon the altar of the Lord?
I’m part gypsy, part homebody, all seeker of truth. I love my Heavenly Father, family and traveling. Auntie to Payton, Leah, Morgan, Macy, Gracie, Ainsley, Audrey, Norah, Quinn, Avery & Rhys.
I’ve traveled around the world. The place I want most to go now is back to my Father in Heaven.