Who's up for another random analogy from the life of a Tennessean missionary aka, me!?! Ok here goes, last night we were driving back from our last appointment, we were out in the country taking the twisty back roads home. It had been raining off and on, and it also has been warming up... hallelujah!!! BUT the combination of those two things created a dense fog that rolled in from seemingly no where. We were driving along and all of the sudden hit a patch of fog and the feeling that resulted was eery, definitely uncomfortable, and kind of on edge. Our dear sweet Corolla's lights are not very good as is and let me tell ya it most certainly does not have fog lights so all we could do was take it slow and watch the lines on the road as closely as possible. What was strange to me is there would be a huge patch of fog and then it would clear for a while and then we'd hit another bend in the road or go a few hundred yards and hit another patch. There was no predicting it, all of the sudden you were completely surrounded by it.
At one point as I was straining to see the lines in the road I said "How in the world would you get through this stuff without lines in the road?!" The thought of that made me literally sick to my stomach. Those lines were the only thing that was helping us make it through the winds and curves and bends and straightaways. I knew the lines ran behind us because I had seen them before and I trusted they were going to be in front of us as long as we kept focused on them instead of looking around and trying to navigate on our own. A few moments passed and I then said, "There has to be an analogy in all of this." And there was! There is! You see, sometimes in our winding journeys of life fogs roll in... Trials, difficulties, hard times, expectations of the world, leave us surrounded by a fog which can be eery at times, definitely uncomfortable, and on edge. No one likes to be confused or feel lost. And sometimes out of seemingly no where we feel that way. Much like our drive through the country we will be traveling through life and things are clear and then time passes, some distance is gained and all of the sudden we find ourselves in another patch of trial and hardship that cannot be predicted... so what gets us through? How do we navigate out of it? By focusing on the lines! The line upon lines and precept upon precepts of the Gospel. The basics of prayer, scripture study, and keeping the commandments. Yet I would also say another interpretation of what the lines in the road in this analogy represent is that they are: our experiences with Jesus Christ...
I will elaborate. I have had some thick fog roll in at random times this past week. We will be going along great and then all of the sudden hit a patch of difficulty that surrounds us and leaves us discouraged, confused, lost, and on edge. And I will tell you this much, there was one day that the only thing, the ONLY thing that got me through it, was remembering that Christ has helped me before and He will do it again. Like those lines I knew that He has been guiding me in the past, and I know if I keep looking for Him, keep focusing on those guiding experiences then I will see that He continues to guide me. Continues to guide each of us, but the moment that we look away and try to do things on our own, by our own navigation is the moment we get caught up in the fog get caught up in the "mists of darkness." It's like Peter walking on water, when his focus changed, when he looked at the storms around him instead of the Savior before him, he sunk. We've all felt that way. We've all been overwhelmed, feeling like we're sinking. But I know and I can testify that there is no such thing as too far gone, there is no such thing as too lost to be found, there is no such thing as too deep of waters. Christ goes the distance, Christ finds the lost sheep, Christ walks on water. He'll help us, and when we look for Him, when we reach out and up to Him we'll find He was already right there ready and willing to help and guide us only if we are ready and willing to receive that guidance.
And guess what? This morning when we woke up it was a bright an sunshiney day, we didn't know that was going to happen the night before when we were surrounded by fog. But it did it got better, the light came and it feels warm and happy and free. And that's life. Sometimes we get surrounded by mists of darkness and fogs of hardship and feel scared, confused, and on edge. But "joy cometh in the morning," there is always a new day ahead and when the sun shines we feel safe, aware of, and happy. But we have to have both to be able to fully appreciate the good. How would we know how good a clear bright day is without ever experiencing what a dark foggy day is like? We can't. So the reality is they are both going to happen, but decision that is ours to make is how are we going to respond? Will we focus on the lines, focus on Christ and keep a hope for the sunshine that lies ahead? Or will we give into the darkness and the fog and the confusion and become gloomy and sad and down? The beauty of this life is that we get to choose everything about life. Including and especially our reactions to what happens to us.
How many times have my dad's words echoed through my head over the years
"Only you can choose. Only you can change. And only you can make your situation better."
So let's choose happiness! Let's choose to focus on Christ, remember that He has guided us and will guide us, let focus on the lines and precepts of the Gospel! And let's trust and have hope in a bright future ahead!
To wrap up I want to share a couple of fog to sunshine, gloom to glory experiences we had this week.
On the particularly trying day we were out in the country contacting people who had formerly met with missionaries, many of them were not there and one house had even burned down and been abandoned so they were definitely not there. I sat behind the wheel on our way to yet another house feeling a little saddened, a little downtrodden, a little confused, and otherwise discouraged. I hit a foggy patch. That is when I prayed in my heart and put my trust in the Lord and reminded both He and myself that He has helped us before, He has guided us before, and I have faith He can and will do it again. As we prayed as a companionship we asked specifically that we could set up a return appointment for this week with this family. Guess what, they answered and agreed on the day we asked them for. In that moment the fog dispersed and sunshine shone.
It was a rough morning yet we were scheduled to go and have a lesson with a woman who comes occasionally to church but has a lot of health problems which prevent her from coming more regularly. She loves missionaries and adores when we come over. She had requested a month ago that we get a conference issue of the Ensign for her, I had my mom send one over, and we have been faithfully bringing it to church to give to her but she hasn't been. So we took it over with us and read from it with her. As we went to leave she hugged us with tears in her eyes and thanked us for taking time out of her day to come and spend time with her. It meant the world to her, and it changed my world. Gloom turned to glory and gratitude. From something so simple.
We were confused why our angel lady that I shared about a couple of weeks ago never reached out to us. Then one night wr found ourselves at a dinner appointment at a member couple's home that she had mentioned knowing. We were talking with this couple about the Book of Mormon and a challenge our stake President had given us to write our testimony in a Book of Mormon and give it to a friend in the coming year. They said they used to have a stack ready to hand out and they had given their last one to a man a couple of years ago. As they described who he was his story sounded familiar to us, we asked if he happened to be the son of our angel lady. And it was, we told them that we had been guided to her house and she had told us about her son and they were so excited. They said that she was formerly a member, and when we asked if they would be willing to write their testimony in a Book of Mormon for her and her husband they were ecstatic. We plan to go and deliver it to her and check in and see how she is doing. There again even in fogs of confusion there is sunshine to be found ahead!!!!
I know that Christ does guide us and He watches out for us. I know that no fog is too dense and no time is too dark that can separate us from his outreach and love. I am grateful for this knowledge and for the opportunity to share it with so many that we talk to each day.
I hope y'all have a blessed and sunshiney week!!!!
Love,
Hermana Hall
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