Last night, after attending church in the morning and a mid-single’s FHE activity in the evening, a friend and I stopped and picked up a pizza and sodas from a gas station and went back to her place and chowed down.
I have typically taken a very staunch stance on keeping the Sabbath day holy. I have not always been great about filling the day with spiritually uplifting activities, but I have been good about not shopping/eating out/going to the grocery store on Sunday (with the except of when I’m traveling). But last night, after resisting the urge to break the Sabbath for a minute, I quickly decided it wasn’t that big of a deal. I didn't do this because of any sort of peer pressure, but rather it was a conscious decision I was fine making. And in the moment I didn’t feel bad about it.
Later on in the night though I did start to feel bad about what I had done. Not because I think I did the worst thing ever by grabbing food on Sunday, but because I felt like it’s a sign that maybe I’m starting to slack a bit in my spiritual strength/growth. It’s a concern I’ve been having for a while now and I felt like this was a blatant sign of that. And it's something I told myself I do not want to do again.
And now the challenge...
I have been very blessed in my life with good friends. Heavenly Father has put amazing people in my path that truly help me to be a better person. One of those people reached out to me this morning and asked if I wanted to do a 30 day challenge with her.
Of course I asked for more information before I could say yes to anything (#commitmentphobe).
My friend shared with me a link to a Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults that was given earlier this year. About 21 minutes into the broadcast Sister Wendy W. Nelson, the wife of Elder Russell M. Nelson, gave the following challenge.
“Would you be willing to try an
experiment for 30 days?
Daily kneel and thank your
Heavenly Father for the scriptures. Tell Him the one question you most need to
have answered that day. Plead to have the Holy Ghost with you as you read. Then
open your scriptures anywhere, and read until you find the answer. Try it for
30 days and see what happens.”
I’m not going to lie, this challenge scares me a lot. Not
because I don’t believe it will work, but because I’m scared to have to try and
live the answers I will receive. But I also feel like this challenge, and the
specific timing it was brought to my attention, is a direct answer from my
Father in Heaven about the concern I’ve had about where I am spiritually. And
it’s His way of helping me with this concern.
So tonight will be night one of the challenge. I don’t
know what I’m going to ask about yet, but I have decided I will keep a journal of my
questions as well as the answers I receive.
Click here for the link to the broadcast details. Both
the talk by Sister Nelson and the one President Nelson gave were amazing.
Read/listen to them both! And if you feel like you could benefit from this
challenge, I encourage you to give it a shot. My friend and I we will be
sending each other a daily text – either saying something like “I got my answer”
or giving more details if we feel it’s appropriate to share. I find it super
helpful to be accountable to someone for challenges like this. So, if you want
to do this and be accountable to someone I can be that person for you.
Let me end with a quote from President Nelson’s talk that
I love,
“Prophets see ahead. They see
the harrowing dangers the adversary has placed or will yet place in our path. Prophets
also foresee the grand possibilities and privileges awaiting those who listen
with the intent to obey.“
I hope that over the next 30 days I will be able to “listen
with the intent to obey” the direction I receive and become closer to the
person I am meant to be.
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