Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in HIM. Wherefore, let us be faithful to him. (1 Nephi 7:12)
Wow! What a twelve-step verse—specifically Step Three! The Lord is able to do all things for us, according to His will. The Lord. The Lord is able to do all things for us. How much plainer can it be said? It is the Lord (our Higher Power) who has the power to do all things for us.
Not just some things.
All things.
In these words I hear foreshadowing of King Benjamin’s testimony that God has all power and all wisdom, both in heaven and in earth.
Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend. (Mosiah 4:9)
But there are two conditions we must be willing to embrace.
First, He will do all things “according to his will.” That means He will do things in His own way, in His own time, not in the way or at the speed we think He should do them.
Second, He can do these things only if “we exercise faith in him.”
If you’re like I was before finding and practicing Step Three, you’re probably puzzling, “How do I do that? How do I exercise faith in Him?” In Step Three, I learned that this exercise of faith was something far more personal than just obsessively trying to do everything right in order to earn His help.
I learned it was accomplished by turning my entire life (all of its events and circumstances, good and sad) and my will (Oh, that was hard!) over to the Lord.
What does it mean to turn my life and will over to the Lord?
I means I have to accept my life—as it had been in the past, as is in the present, and as it might yet be in the future. I have to welcome life on Life’s (God’s) terms.
I have to trust that there is a loving, benevolent Heavenly Parent keeping track of me and my life. Even when difficult challenges arise, I trust that those challenges come to me because they are absolutely necessary for me to learn and grow in ways that I uniquely need.
I have to learn to let go of my negative interpretations and/or judgments against God, believing instead that His reasons or motives for allowing evil to exist in this world are benevolent and necessary.
I have to trust that He knows exactly what He’s doing—even when, especially when, it makes no sense to me.
~Colleen H.
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