Melanie Kennelly’s devotional talk, “Connect God’s Power and Trust Him,” explains the importance of knowing that our Heavenly Father knows more than we do and there is power in trusting the plan He has for us. Kennelly is the online quality assurance director at BYU-Idaho.
There are many times in our life when we don’t know what is ahead, but we can trust the Lord, she said. He knows more than we do about what is best for each of us. Kennelly expressed the importance of keeping, as she likes calling it, a trust bank.
“It starts with small stuff like we can’t have a huge crisis and think that at that time we’ll trust God,” she said in a BYU-Idaho Radio interview.
She explained that every spiritual experience or every time we have a prayer answered, our trust bank grows.
“Even if you take it back to a child and saying that simple prayer and having it answered, like help us find our keys and it gets answered, that adds something in the trust bank,” she said.
At the beginning of her devotional address, she talked about how there are so many important decisions and questions we are all trying to figure out. It can seem overwhelming and impossible at times, but if we live the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we can access His power.
“Everyone experiences speed bumps, rough weather, and sharp turns,” Kennelly said in her talk. “But as we look to Heavenly Father and access the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ, we become the sons and daughters of God and He gives us power to perform miracles, both large and small.”
Kennelly shared her experience being able to graduate with a bachelor’s degree and later a master’s degree. It seemed very difficult at the time because she was a stay-at-home mom. During the time she felt she needed to get her bachelor’s degree she had newly born twins. The task seemed impossible, but she knew that is what the Lord wanted for her.
Not knowing how the sacrifice was going to pay off she continued to walk by faith. Sometime after she received her master’s degree she became a single parent and her education is what opened the doors to working at BYU-Idaho, which was a great job for her to sustain her children.
“The timing of my promptings and what I was guided to do didn’t make sense at the time,” she said. “But as I put my trust in the Lord, accessed his power, and followed the plan he had for me; he greatly blessed my life.”