The Power of Obedience

               

                Recently married, Brooke and I made a mutual goal to go to the temple once a week. We lived in the Avenues of Salt Lake City and were only about 3 blocks from Temple Square so the goal was even easier. We held to our goal for several months and the blessings were great.

                At the time I was studying at the LDS Business College downtown. I had classes from 7 in the morning until about noon every day of the week. I worked the swing shift from 2:00 pm to 11:30 pm Tuesday through Saturday. The temples of course weren’t open on Sunday or Monday. We would usually go Saturday morning since I didn’t have school on the weekends before I had to go to work. So my days usually consisted of going to school, rushing home to eat some lunch and study for an hour and then head 30 minutes to Sandy in time for work, then getting home at midnight just to start it all over again the next day.

                On one particular week we couldn’t make it to the temple on Saturday morning. I knew if we didn’t make it on Saturday there just wouldn’t be the time in the week to go. On Monday while in my institute class my teacher mentioned priorities. He talked about putting the things that mattered to the Lord first in your life and the things you felt mattered last. If the Lord saw it fit that they were also important they would work themselves into your life just fine or fall out of place just as easily, and both ways you would be better off for it. Often time we spend time worrying in life about things that just don’t matter as much as we think they do and the things in life that really do matter get pushed to the side and forgotten. As he told us this I thought about the Temple and how we failed to go that weekend. Discouraged because of my schedule I didn’t think it was possible for us to go mid-week and keep our goal. Oh, and did I mention I had mid-terms this week!? I thought about what he said for the rest of the day and well into Tuesday. That night I decided that we should go to the Temple the next day. It just so happens that ALL my tests fell on the same day! They were going to be in class on Thursday. Without missing a beat I put my trust in the Lord and put it aside and went to the Temple, not sure when or how I was going to study for these exams. The plan was to use the 2 hours between work and school from noon to 2:00 to go and to leave straight from the temple to work.

                We went to the temple and the experience was great! It felt so good to have kept our goal for another week without fail. Once the session got out I rushed to work. I thought to myself that I would just cram for the tests as soon as I got home. Well once I got home that lasted about 30 minutes until I passed out. I woke up the next morning in a panic. I had not studied for my tests and they were today! I did all I could to find time at a stop light to look over a question or two, and to read while going up the stairs class. As I sat down in my first class the anxiety settled. I wasn’t sure why but the words of my institute teacher kept ringing in my head. As the teacher stood up the first words out of her mouth were “I had a crazy night and wasn’t able to print the tests so we will have the exam next week!”  Astonished at what I just heard, I knew the promise rang true. I must have been dazed as I went to the next class because I couldn’t remember how I got there, but to my surprise it was as if I was in an episode of Groundhogs day. That exam was cancelled too! In fact each and every test that day was cancelled due to some reason or another. To this day I have never had an exam postponed or cancelled but for some reason that day all of mine were, and that reason was because I put the Lord first and my priorities last. The important things feel into place and the not so important things fell out.

                Obedience is the key to happiness. Don’t let pride or life get in the way of it. We are not on this earth to work, save money, take mid-terms, and pass through the motions of everyday life. We are here for one thing only, and that is to make it back to our Heavenly Father once more. He has given us the recipe to be successful in this task; all we have to do is follow it. I know He lives and is aware of our circumstances. He knows what is to come and what is best for us, shouldn’t we listen to him then?