Week 35.... The Man and the Rock!!!

 I don’t have much time this week, but I did want to share this with all of you…

                                                           

                                                        The Man and the Rock

There was a man who was asleep one night in his cabin when suddenly his room

filled with light and the Savior appeared. The Lord told the man He had a

work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The

Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might.

This the man did, day after day. For many years he toiled from sun up to sun

down, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the

unmoving rock pushing with all his might. Each night the man returned to his

cabin sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.

Seeing that the man was showing signs of discouragement, Satan decided to

enter the picture placing thoughts into the man's mind such as; "You have been

pushing against that rock for a long time and it hasn't budged. Why kill

yourself over this? You are never going to move it? etc."

Thus, giving the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he

was a failure. 

These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man even more. "Why kill

myself over this?" he thought. "I'll just put in my time, giving just the

minimum of effort and that will be good enough." And that he planned to do

until one day he decided to make it a matter of Prayer and take his troubled

thoughts to the Lord.

"Lord" he said, "I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my

strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have

not even budged that rock a half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?"

To this the Lord responded compassionately, "My friend, when long ago I asked

you to serve me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push

against the rock with all your strength, which you have done. Never once did

I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And

now you come to me, your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But,

is that really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your

back brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, and your legs have

become massive and hard. 

Through opposition you have grown much and your abilities now surpass that

which you used to have. Yet you haven't moved the rock.

BUT YOUR CALLING WAS TO BE OBEDIENT, TO PUSH AND TO

EXERCISE YOUR FAITH AND TRUST IN MY WISDOM,

this you have done. I, my friend, I will now move the rock.

Author Unknown

I just wanted to send this to you and bare my testimony. I know that the Lord has called us to push on the Rock. He has not called us to move it by ourselves. There are times in our life, (or in our missions) where we are going to feel discouraged, where we might get knocked down, or maybe spit upon, we might have doubts enter our mind... Why am I not succeeding, why is this so hard? But in that very moment, in that moment when we are on the edge of breaking... The Lord will lift us up. In the moment we are closer to Christ than we have ever been before. I know the Lord helps us through our trials and afflictions. I know because I have seen it in my life.  God knows we are strong enough to battle through. I am still a guy of analogies of football. I love to think of the football field again. I think back and remember there were times when we were late in games, where we couldn’t give anymore, let alone breathe. All of us gasping for air. But we were still called upon to give it our all... give all our heart might mind and strength to the team… to pull out the victory. I know as children of God we are here fighting against the adversary. We are in the 4th quarter. We can’t breathe, we can’t move, but God has asked us to give it our all. I know one day, after we have given it our all.... our every last ounce on energy... we will be successful. WE WILL HAVE WON THE WAR!!!! We will have won the game, with as many as our brothers (investigators, members, friends, family, etc) on our side. I am so grateful for this fight that we are in. I am so grateful for all the trials we have in our life... because it is just another opportunity to show our Character, another opportunity to strengthen our testimony. I testify that God will not let us fail; we will not be tempted more than we can handle. If Christ is our focus and our foundation we will not fall. We will receive power through the Atonement of Christ to overcome all of Satan’s temptations. I know these things to be true and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.