Just remember: Have faith

I work as a custodian on campus. Let me tell you, it gets quite boring vacuuming the same buildings for 4 hours five days a week. Thankfully my boss allows us to use our iPods.

For a while I listened to music. That got kind of boring though. All it does is add a soundtrack to your thoughts.

Then I had the brilliant idea of listening to audio books. I would go to the library and check out books on cd, rip them to my computer, and load them to my iPod (after listening to them I would of course delete them). That was great for a while. I always wished that I had more time to read, so why not double task and listen to books while scrubbing toilets?

After a while though I had gone through the Provo library's skimpy collection and was kind of bored of listening to silly books anyways. So that's when I had the idea to listen to old General Conference talks. I found a podcast that went back to like 2004 and started listening.

One day when I was listening, I heard a talk by Elder Dennis E. Simmons that was entitled "But If Not..." from April 2004. It was one of those talks that kind of grabbed me by the ears and was something I needed to hear. I forgot about it for a time, but earlier this month I remembered it and found it online to read. I would recommend it as a good read for anyone.

I love scriptures and quotes about faith. I think that faith is one of those principles of the Gospel that is so basic that it is often overlooked. Most of us are like, "Yeah, I have faith." But do we really?

In Elder Simmon's talk he says, talking of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, "They knew that faith is more than mental assent, more than an acknowledgment that God lives. Faith is total trust in Him. Faith is believing that although we do not understand all things, He does. Faith is knowing that although our power is limited, His is not. Faith in Jesus Christ consists of complete reliance on Him."

Faith isn't merely just a belief in something. It is an active process in which we must thoughtfully engage. It isn't enough to say that we have faith in our Father or our Savior. We must show that we have faith in Them and Their works. We must live as if we have faith.

Two of my favorite quotes about faith are as follows:

"Faith in God includes faith in God's timing." Elder Neal A. Maxwell

"Faith builds on the past, but never longs to stay there." Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Such simple words, but they mean so much. I won't expound on my thoughts and feelings about those two statements. You take a moment to stop and think about what they mean to you. That will be more useful than knowing what they mean to me.

Another thing that Elder Simmons said was this:
"Men accomplish marvelous things by trusting in the Lord and keeping His commandments—by exercising faith even when they don't know how the Lord is shaping them."

The Lord knows you and has a plan for you. Don't ever forget that you are His child and He loves you and wants what's best for you. Have faith that His hand is shaping and guiding your life. Everything that happens to you is for a reason, the good and the bad. Remain faithful and I truly believe that everything will turn out for the best in the end.