Our Unexpected Journey Toward the Promised Land

0:00 / 0:00

"Our Unexpected Journey Toward the Promised Land"

Staci Peters

July 20, 2004

Brothers and sisters, I have been looking forward to this day for many months now and I feel so grateful and honored to be here. A number of my family members, including my sister, have been students here and my uncle works in the administration, so this campus has been special to our family for many years. Sometimes I can’t get over how blessed we are to have a university such as this where we can discuss not only intellectual pursuits, but the weightier matters of the spirit. Isn’t that an incredible blessing? I am so thankful for the spirit you have brought with you and I pray for the Spirit to bless you with whatever answers and direction you have come in search of today.

As I’m sure you are aware, those who are invited to speak to you in this devotional setting are asked to seek the Lord’s direction in determining the topic to be discussed. This is a very unique and special opportunity and I want you to know that it is a responsibility I take very seriously. I assure you that never has a group of people been prayed and fasted over with more intensity than you have been in these past few months. One of the best parts of that experience has been my impression of the Lord’s great love for each of you as well as His mindfulness of your concerns and challenges.

As I have sought the Lord’s inspiration, I have continued to recall a particular Sunday night during my senior year at BYU in Provo. Thankfully, my BYU experience was fairly spectacular overall. But on this particular Sunday I had a full-blown meltdown. Graduation was around the corner and it was dawning on me that in spite of my careful planning and diligent study - not to mention very persistent scrutiny of my patriarchal blessing - my future was rather unsure. I had expected to reach that point in my education having found my husband and a wonderful job that I would enjoy until I had children. But the truth was that I didn’t have so much as a date for that Friday night, let alone an eternal companion. Nor did I have a wonderful job to look forward to - in fact, with no real prospects in my field I was beginning to consider something in another area entirely. The reality was distilling on me for the first time that life doesn’t always go as we plan - even when our goals and desires are righteously motivated.

Now I want you to know that I had general faith that all would be well, but to be honest I was looking for something more concrete - something along the lines of a detailed game plan for the following 10 years or so delivered by an angel who would then sit patiently and answer all of my questions. (Somehow in my hour of need this didn’t seem like too much to ask.) But no such plan arrived. I had counseled with my roommates, Family Home Evening brothers, friends, teachers and members of our bishopric but I still didn’t have the answer I was looking for.

It was time to call in the big guns: my parents. They were living overseas at the time and I had hesitated for weeks to make that monumentally expensive phone call on my student budget. However, I decided that this was an emergency and I dialed their number four or five times zones away. I’m quite sure I woke them up, and after patiently listening for awhile, my mother said (with just a hint of exasperation in her voice), “Staci, you are not going to be able to plan every step of your life tonight. Stop worrying about it. You’re a righteous young woman. You’ve just got to prepare yourself and then step out into the dark. Things will work out.” That was the most disappointing and expensive advice I ever received from my mother! I had expected my parents to rescue me with the details I wanted so badly to hear, but they did not - and wisely so. In the days following our conversation, the message became more and more clear. Peace slowly overtook my anxiety. And in the intervening years I have come to understand what she was really talking about. I was focused too much on that which I could not necessarily control, and not enough on preparing myself for the opportunities that were already in the process of unfolding under the Lord’s careful direction. As it turned out, the Lord was preparing an opportunity for me that I never in my wildest dreams could have imagined for myself - it was completely beyond my field of vision (although interestingly, very much in line with my desires). To this day I regret the time I wasted worrying about things the Lord had so very well in hand.

As you sit here today, each of you has in your heart some idea of what you want to do with your life and where you would like to arrive at the end of it. You are at a crossroads in your personal journey to your own, individual promised land. That promised land is really a symbol of the intersection of grace and works - the things you are working hard to righteously achieve combined with the Lord’s divine enhancements that will ultimately lead to your chosen destiny. The decisions you are making now are of eternal consequence - the significance of which is not lost on you, I am certain, just as it was not lost on me that Sunday night just a few years ago. I have felt impressed that perhaps some of you have similar concerns about the journey that lies ahead and I would like to share with you five keys to aid in that journey that, if put to use, will see us safely to our promised land:

Recognize and cultivate your righteous desires

Prepare for the unexpected

Accept adversity

Practice patience

Be active in the Church

I echo President Hinckley’s message of hope spoken to young women just a few months ago:

You have the potential to become anything to which you set your mind. You have a mind and a body and a spirit. With these three working together, you can walk the high road that leads to achievement and happiness. But this will require effort and sacrifice and faith…you will be expected to put forth great effort and use your best talents to make your way to the most wonderful future of which you are capable (“Stay on the High Road,” Ensign, May 2004, p. 113).

How right he is! Our leaders have told us time and again that we are living in the most challenging times in the history of the earth. As Elder Dallin H. Oaks pointed out in our most recent general conference, we are certainly in the last days. There has perhaps never been a generation upon whose shoulders rests more responsibility - and accountability - than yours for bringing about all the events that will prepare the earth for the Savior’s return. In the same general conference, President Hinckley said, “We of this generation are the end harvest of all that has gone before. It is not enough to simply be known as a member of this Church. A solemn obligation rests upon us. Let us face it and work at it. We must live as true followers of Christ” (“The Dawning of a Brighter Day,” Ensign, May 2004, p. 84). How does that make you feel? And how do you reconcile that great responsibility with the plans you have in motion for your life?

Let’s talk for a moment about the desires of your hearts - for they are what your personal promised land is made of. Perhaps some of you are looking forward to serving a mission. All of you are certainly looking forward to graduation. Some of you are preparing to marry in the temple. Others of you have already taken this step and are in the season of raising a righteous family. In addition to the many righteous desires that we have in common as members of the Church, each of us has some very personal desires concerning the unique contribution we want to make to this world with the set of gifts and talents we have been given. You may desire to design an important building that will stand for generations, to provide life-saving medical care, to create art that uplifts the soul, to coach a sports team and inspire your players to greatness, to lead a company to great financial success so you will have the means to bless others - all of these can be noble and worthwhile - and even righteous - pursuits. As long as we are living in such a way as to be under the influence of the spirit, these desires and interests have a divine origin and they are to be cultivated with the intent to do good and to build up the kingdom of God. Let me not gloss over the beginning of that statement: as long as we are living in such a way as to be under the influence of the spirit. I cannot overstate the value of obedience when we are navigating the way to our promised land.

As early as the second chapter of 1 Nephi we read in verse 20, “And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper and shall be led to a land of promise.” This is repeated time and again throughout the Book of Mormon and the rules have not changed. Life is hard enough when we are doing our best to follow the Lord. We cannot afford the uncertainty and the misery that unrighteousness brings. When we fail to follow the Lord’s commandments, our spiritual insurance policy is canceled. “If ye do not what I say, ye have no promise” (Doctrine and Covenants 82:10). But, as Nephi reminds his rebellious family members in 1 Nephi 7:13, “if it so be that we are faithful…we shall obtain the land of promise” (emphasis added). It’s really that simple.

In speaking to a group of students at BYU in Provo a few years ago, President Hinckley said, “You ’re good, but it’s not enough to be good. You must be good for something!” Doesn’t that just sound like him? He’s right – our greatest happiness is to be found not only in being good, but in doing good. I love the scripture found in Doctrine & Covenants 6:8. In it, the Lord says, “if you desire, you shall be the means of doing much good in this generation.”

Regardless of the inspired plans we make for our life, we do well to undergird those plans with a desire to “be the means of doing much good,” with a willingness to leave the particulars to the Lord, for that is where spiritual safety and true happiness lie. We must learn the spiritual balance of cultivating our righteous desires and allowing the Lord to put those desires to use in perhaps an unexpected way.

I love the story in the fifth chapter of Luke of the Savior teaching up in Galilee, sitting in Peter’s fishing boat speaking to the people seated on the hillside next to the shore. When He finished teaching, He instructed Peter to row out to the deep and let down his nets for a catch of fish. (Now remember that Peter was a fisherman by trade. He was working in his chosen field, doing what he had been trained to do and, presumably, what he had desired to do.) Peter said, “Master, we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing, nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net” (Luke 5:5). What happened? Their net caught so many fish that it started to break. Has the Lord ever asked you to let down your net in a place that seemed barren to you? What was your response? “Master, I’ve been there, done that and didn’t get anything out of it?” Or, “at thy word I will let down the net?” I have been asked to let down my net in some very unexpected places and have always, ultimately been grateful for the results, even when they were as unexpected as the opportunity. I invite you to consider what might happen in your life if you allowed the spirit to direct you to “let down your net” in an unexpected place – in your education, your professional life, your personal development – and perhaps most importantly in searching for a companion. The Lord will invite us to let down our nets in unexpected ways and unexpected places, always for our profit and learning. It is my testimony that when we accept the invitation willingly, as Peter did, miracles happen.

A wise person once said, “Prepare yourself and the opportunity will come.” In anticipation of a future we do not always expect, the Lord often places interests or abilities within us to prepare us for opportunities He has in store. It is then up to us to develop those interests. Let me give you an example:

When I began my junior year at BYU I had a schedule full of music classes, a religion class and a physical science class I had been putting off for a couple of years. Two or three days after the start of the semester I literally woke up one morning with an overwhelming feeling that I should register for a Russian class. This made absolutely no sense. I had already taken an upper division Portuguese class and then tested out of my language requirement for graduation. Taking a Russian class would do nothing to further my specific educational goals. Although I had a significant interest in Russia, I had never been there, nor had I any hope of going. At the time, the Berlin Wall was still standing and the Soviet Union was intact. But for a day and a half the feeling would not leave me, so I researched the possibility of adding the class. It so happened that Russian 101 was a 5 credit hour class and there was no way I could add 5 more credit hours to my load. The class met daily and would require a great deal of independent study in addition to class hours. But I knew that for whatever reason I was to take that class. So I re-arranged my schedule, bought the text and a copy of the Book of Mormon in Russian, and began to immerse myself in a new language, a new alphabet and a new culture. I did not by any means become fluent in my semester of study but learned enough to engage in a very simple conversation.

Just one year later, the Iron Curtain fell with the collapse of the Berlin Wall and I found myself unexpectedly in Helsinki, Finland on a tour with the BYU Young Ambassadors. International travel had been made available to Soviets for the first time in years and I was astounded to discover that our audiences were in large number, Russian speaking. I will never forget two young women, Tania and Viola, who walked right up to me on the street one morning and, in Russian, indicated that they were on vacation from St. Petersburg. They asked who we were, where we were from and what we were doing there. How they sensed I might be able to understand them must have been a miracle. Using Russian I never dreamed I would have the opportunity to use, I explained that we were musicians from the United States, representing Brigham Young University of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I invited them to our show that evening. They accepted enthusiastically, asking for my address so I could tell them more about who we were and what our Church was all about. I was grateful for the fluent full-time missionaries at the show that evening who could pick up where my sketchy Russian left off. But what if I had not followed that prompting a year before? Tania and Viola might never have had an opportunity to hear the gospel.

My Russian has grown a little rusty since then, but I have no doubt that the Lord will call upon me to dust it off and use it again. And perhaps more importantly, that experience planted an unquenchable desire in my heart to learn to bear my testimony in as many languages as I possibly can. I’m hoping that if I prepare myself, the opportunities will come. And since that experience in Helsinki over ten years ago, I have had similar unexpected experiences in other countries with other languages. Isn’t it amazing what the tiniest prompting or interest or desire can lead us to?

I urge you to be aware of them and to nurture and develop them with a spirit of open-minded willingness to use the fruits of your studies and pursuits in the Lord’s service. His plans for us are always more wonderful than our own. Listen to what Nephi says about building the ship that would take his family to their promised land: “Now I Nephi, did not work the timbers after the manner which was learned by men, neither did I build the ship after the manner of men; but I did build it after the manner which the Lord had shown unto me” (1 Nephi 18:2).

Now the “manner of men” may be the very, very best we can do. But what about the best God can do? The Lord has said, “my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” (Isaiah 55:8). When we engage in a partnership with the Lord as we make our journey, we are able to take advantage of His omniscience and His omnipotence - His vision and His power. Doesn’t it make sense to let the one who can see everything do the leading?

It is important to remember that even when we are doing our best to live righteously, develop our divinely ordained talents and gifts, and accept the Lord’s invitations to do things His way, we will still experience times of uncertainty and adversity. How will we react? Because our spirits crave peace, it is tempting to panic when our vision is limited for a time. But a few years ago I heard a statement made by Elder Boyd K. Packer that has made all the difference for me. He said,

It was meant to be that life would be a challenge. To suffer some anxiety, some depression, some disappointment, even some failure is normal. Teach our members that if they have a good, miserable day once in a while, or several in a row, to stand steady and face them. Things will straighten out. There is great purpose in our struggle in life” (Ensign, May 1978 p 93, emphasis added).

That sounds a lot like my mother’s advice, doesn’t it?

How does it make you feel to hear those words? To me, they are profoundly comforting. If we are doing all we can to live the commandments (there’s that important caveat again) and challenges arise, we would do well to say not “what is wrong?” but “what is right?” What divine purpose is being accomplished here? Peace comes when we learn to trust that such a purpose exists and are willing to submit to the tutoring that such experiences offer.

I am amazed at the story of the Jaredites who crossed the sea on barges lit by stones that had been touched by the finger of the Lord. The story of those stones used to be my favorite part of the Book of Ether until a few years ago when I discovered an eye-opening truth taught in Chapter 6. Starting in verse 6, we read “And it came to pass that they were many times buried in the depths of the sea because of the mountainous waves which broke upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind” (emphasis added). It doesn’t sound like a very comfortable journey, does it? You’ll recall that the Lord had instructed them in Chapter 2 to build air holes in both the top and bottom of those vessels. They must have known from the start that they were in for a journey that would leave them literally upside down from time to time. But here’s the verse that gets me every time, verse 8: “And it came to pass the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land” (emphasis added). Isn’t that incredible? All that adversity was to propel them to their own desired destination. I can’t help but wonder if they knew all along what the fierce wind had been for, or who had caused it. Back in verse 5, we read “the Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the water towards the promised land.” Have you ever felt the force of a “furious wind” on your journey? I promise you that you will from time to time. I pray that we may all remember that such adversity may be the very force required to impel us to our promised land.

The truth is that in spite of the afflictions which are by definition part of this mortal journey, the Lord’s direction and our obedience to it does make the journey easier to bear. Remember Lehi’s family in the wilderness before their “promised land” arrival. Nephi says that when they needed to plant seeds, “we did follow the directions of the ball, which led us in the more fertile parts of the wilderness” (1 Nephi 16:16). When they needed to hunt for food: “I did go forth up into the top of the mountain, according to the directions which were given upon the ball. And…I did slay wild beasts, insomuch that I did obtain food for our families” (1 Nephi 17:30-31). The Lord didn’t take them out of their wilderness, because the wilderness was part of the plan. But He blessed them while they were in it as long as they remained faithful and obedient.

Some of our greatest challenges come in dealing with our unfulfilled expectations. Not only do unexpected things occur in our lives, but often those things we do plan on do not occur in the time or the way we had hoped. Speaking as one who has not yet married, I know a little about this. Sometimes when our expectations are frustrated, we are tempted to give up and sit down on the bench rather than stay in the game and patiently explore an inspired, alternative path.

In speaking of patience, Elder Neal A. Maxwell has spoken of the importance of not just waiting for promises to be fulfilled, but waiting well. He says, “Patient endurance… is more than pacing up and down within the cell of our circumstance; it is not only acceptance of the things allotted to us, it is to ‘act for ourselves’ by magnifying what is allotted to us” (“Endure It Well,” Ensign, May 1990, p. 33). I sure hope the Lord never catches me pacing.

Each time I struggle with an unfulfilled expectation, I work my way through the scriptures under the topic of Patience in the Topical Guide and Index of the standard works. I keep at my bedside an old spiral notebook with pages of hand-written impressions that have come as I have searched these scriptures again and again. One of my favorites is found in the first chapter of the Book of James in the New Testament. This chapter is famous for its fifth verse, which was the catalyst for Joseph Smith’s prayer in the Sacred Grove. You know the scripture: “if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God,” and so on. The Joseph Smith translation of the three verses that precede it are, to me, some of the most beautiful doctrine in the scriptures: Starting in verse 2, we read: “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into [many] afflictions; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing” (James 1:2-4).

I know, brothers and sisters, that these words are true. In Alma 9:26, we learn that part of the Savior’s glory is his patience. It is indeed a divine virtue and the path of patience leads to a completion of our spiritual development that we can scarcely fathom. And it brings with it the fulfillment of every righteous desire that we may be, as James says, “perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

I love the invitation of Paul to the Hebrews to be “followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Hebrews 6:12). Patience paves our path to the promised land.

May I offer one last invitation to you as we consider the journey that lies ahead for each of us? This comes from the deepest part of my soul, the part that grieves time and again when loved ones separate themselves from the Church, for whatever reason. I invite you to make a commitment to yourself and to your Father in Heaven and to your future children today that no matter what challenges, adversities, temptations or doubts come into your life or into your heart, you will not walk away from the Church of Jesus Christ. Walking away from the Church of Jesus Christ is walking away from Jesus Christ. Too many of us convince ourselves that we can remain close to the Lord without remaining close to His Church and that is a lie.

In our most recent General Conference, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said,

This Church is the Lord’s vehicle for crucial doctrines, ordinances, covenants, and keys that are essential to exaltation, and one cannot be fully faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ without striving to be faithful in the Church, which is its earthly institutional manifestation…For the fruit of the gospel to blossom and bless our lives, we must be firmly attached to Him, the Savior of us all, and to this His Church, which bears His holy name (“Abide In Me,” Ensign, May 2004, p. 32, emphasis added).

Sometimes in life our burdens become great - too heavy, it might seem, to for us to bear. Satan’s solution is to convince us that the proverbial straw breaking our back is our activity in the Church - our callings, our home and visiting teaching assignments, our daily scripture study and prayer, Family Home Evening, and temple attendance. He whispers so subtly that we would fare better without such heavy lifting as the gospel of Jesus Christ requires. And Satan’s doctrine of deceit is capped by the lie that our covenants are the weightiest thing we carry. He suggests that we abandon those covenants in order to lighten our pack so we will have the energy to move to his version of “higher ground.” The idea that shedding the protective armor of our covenants will make life easier to bear is a lie. It is precisely the keeping of our covenants that makes it possible for us to bear our burdens by binding our hearts to the only One truly capable of bearing them - our Savior. Without our covenants, we are left to our own strength, just as the Nephites who left the Church, were defeated in battle and lost their promised land:

And because of this their great wickedness and their boastings in their own strength, they were left in their own strength; therefore they... were afflicted and smitten, and driven before the Lamanites, until they had lost possession of almost all of their lands (Helaman 4:13).

You will recall the story told in the 24th chapter of Mosiah of the people of Alma who were slaves to the Lamanites. The scriptures speak of the great persecution that was heaped upon them and call their afflictions “great.” Do you remember what the people of Alma did in the face of such affliction? They did not forsake their covenants, but “[cried] mightily to God” (Mosiah 24:10). And what was the Lord’s response? He made it possible for Alma’s people to bear their burdens. This kind of divine assistance is not available to us when we walk away.

Sometimes the choice to separate oneself from the fold of the Good Shepherd comes in response to weariness from fighting a persistent temptation or weakness. I think one of Satan’s favorite tricks is to stand over us while we are experiencing a temptation and whisper to our hearts that the temptation is part of our identity, so scripted into our souls that we couldn’t possibly overcome it. That is a lie. He makes us feel exhausted as we fight these temptations and tells us that we would feel so much relief if we’d just quit fighting. He tells us to be true to ourselves, which is right, but then tells us the weakness is who we truly are. And that is a lie. Our weaknesses do not define us, they refine us. And they exist to make us humble and to lead us to Christ. Remember it was the Savior who said, “I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them” (Ether 12:27).

Please resolve to keep your covenants and be active in the Lord’s Church at all costs. Work out your challenges within the safety of your covenants. As we read in the Doctrine & Covenants 90:24: “Search diligently, pray always and be believing and all things shall work together for your good if ye walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith ye have covenanted one with another.”

A counselor in our ward Relief Society recently spoke to our graduating Laurels to welcome them into the organization. Recognizing that they would be transitioning into various student and singles wards over the summer, she said so very sincerely, “wherever you go, please be active.” Her words were simple, but I echo them to you today. Wherever you go, please be active. Immediately attach yourself to your local Church unit. Don’t wait for them to find you. Ask to be put to work in the ward. Ask for a home or visiting teaching assignment. Offer to speak in sacrament meeting or to be on call as a substitute teacher in the Primary.

When you report for duty in the Lord’s kingdom, you will find your righteous desires being fulfilled in wonderful, unexpected ways. Sometimes we are afraid to report for duty because we’re afraid the Lord will assign us to a part of the vineyard we’re not interested in or that we’re afraid of or we don’t have time for or that is simply not the area we had planned on. Why do so many of us assume that the Lord’s will for us is so different from our own desires? Alma testified, “I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire” (Alma 29:4). This is not always immediate or literal, but the spirit of it is certainly true. Remember, as father Lehi taught, we “are that [we] might have joy.”

While it may feel like we are surrendering to the Lord’s will from this side of the veil, I believe He is the keeper of our eternal will, the will we had when we could see with an eternal perspective. We are all here to prove ourselves worthy of a destiny we can no longer fully recall. But our lack of remembering in no way diminishes the brilliance of that destiny, nor can we let it diminish our desire to obtain it. Our Father in Heaven remembers what we cannot and His work and His glory is to help us become not only who He wants us to be but who we pleaded with Him to help us become.

Remember that your righteous desires are worthy, that if you cultivate them with an eye single to the glory of God that you will be given opportunities to use your talents and abilities to do so much good, even in unexpected ways. As you accept adversity and allow patience to have her perfect work, remaining faithful to Christ and His Church, you will ultimately be “perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” The Lord says,

I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led (1 Nephi 17:13).

I testify that the grace and power that is available to each of us through the Atonement of Jesus Christ is sufficient to lead us through this mortal journey to our individual promised land and to eternal life with our Father in Heaven and our Savior. May you be blessed in your journey, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.