He Takes What We Have and Makes Us Into Something More

09/15/2014

Well, beautiful people, it was an awesome week!  Things are starting to click with my new comp and our lessons have improved a lot.  And we were able to find some awesome new investigators this week!  We found a lot of people who are interested to listen to our message.  We actually had a lesson of almost two hours yesterday with a man, just answering his questions. And, WE FINALLY HAD PEOPLE THAT CAME TO CHURCH, wooooohooooo!  For the first time in three weeks we had two investigators come to church.  So it was a pretty good week.  I know we still have to improve things next week too, but we made some progress this week, so I was pretty happy.  

I was just reading the other day in Matthew, and the scripture was pretty thought provoking to me.  In chapter 15, verse 33, we have the story of when Jesus fed four thousand men with 7 loaves of bread and some fish.  But specifically in verse 34 was what called my attention.  When Jesus asks his apostles (translating here, not exactly what was said in English, I’m sure) “how many loaves do you have?”  He didn’t ask them to go find more.  He just asked them for what they had.  

I had a thought come into my head, something like, He only asks what we have.  I sat there thinking about this story and it really struck me as something that we can apply to our lives.  The apostles only had a few loaves and fish, and Christ only asked them for what they had.  We too, have only little that we can offer to Christ in comparison with what He gave us. Many of us have callings, difficulties, and things like that.  But Christ only asks for what we have, and all that we have.  As we keep reading these verses, we see that with the little resources the apostles had, He composed a miracle.  He fed all the people there and “all ate and were full” (v 37) and what was left over, filled seven baskets (v 37).  He took what they had to offer and multiplied it and made it into something miraculous, something beyond what the apostles were able to offer.  He not only fed the people, but there were left overs.

I sat thinking about this. Christ only asks for what we have, even all that we can offer him, our best.  And through His grace, He takes what we have and makes us into something more.  Through his grace we can receive divine strength beyond our own.  As we give our all, our might, mind and strength to Christ, He can take that and, through his grace, give us strength to do all that we need to do, even miracles.  We can receive strength to do all we need ¨to feed the four thousand¨ and not only that, we can receive strength to do more than necessary, even ¨to fill seven baskets.¨  That is His grace. I honestly can’t explain exactly how I was thinking.  But they received His help to complete what needed to be done.  But not just complete the task, there was more when they finished.  It’s the same with us.  As we give our all to Christ, He can take what we offer and help us with what we need.  But we can also receive strength to do more than just complete something.  We can prevail.  

I know Christ can do that. I know His grace is real.  I have seen it.  He has helped me in things that I can’t do, or where I was weak.  I know He lives and that He will come again.  I’m so glad I have the opportunity to be His representative.  I know that as we give our all to him, He will make us strong to do more than just survive, but to prevail.  I love this gospel, His gospel, and I know its true.

Love you all, and have an awesome week!

Elder Ollis