A Very Hard Post

What were some of the challenges you have had to deal with?

Okay, so this is going to be hard to write, challenges aren't what I usually like to write about. Especially since I'm kind of in the middle of a really hard time right now, so I tend to try and think happythoughts to make it through my days. A few weeks ago I gave a talk about Obedience, and it felt to me like that's what I needed to share in this blog post. Here it is!

Good morning brothers and sisters. My name is Lindsey Mulberg. I used to be a Smith, if
you don’t already know me, and if you’re wondering why you’ve never seen me before it’s
because I’ve been serving in the Nursery for the last 4 months. I am also very nervous, so forgive
me if I say the same thing two or three times.
The topic I’ve been asked to speak on is Obedience - A Law of Heaven. Before starting, I
want to give a little disclaimer - I am in no way perfect at this. My goal is to give this talk and
come off encouraging, not preachy or condemning.
I want to begin by sharing a story given in a conference talk by Elder Von G. Keetch. He
tells of a time he visited Australia, and he notices some surfers on the beach. They seemed very
upset about something, and when he walked over to talk with them, they said all the big waves
they’d come to Australia to surf were beyond a net and buoy barrier a few hundred yards off
shore. The net made it impossible to surf the big waves, confining them to the smaller waves
closer to the shore. As Elder Keetch and the surfers were talking, an older Australian man
walked over and handed them a pair of binoculars. Through the binoculars, they saw something
they couldn’t see from the shore- sharks, feeding all among the reef, just outside the buoys. As
the man walked away he said, “Be grateful for the barrier- it’s the only thing protecting you from
being devoured.”
As I read this story, I realized something. I’m not perfect, but I’m usually pretty good
about being obedient, following the guidelines set by leaders and commandments from God. But
how often have I thought, “I really wish I didn’t have to use this money for tithing”, or “This
dress is so cute, sometimes I wish Church standards were different”, instead of being grateful.
Our church leaders are literally called to be “seers”- they have spiritual binoculars with which
they can see the sharks and set boundaries that keep us safe. In a talk by L. Tom Perry entitled,
“Obedience to Law Is Liberty”, he says, “The commandments... are loving counsel from a wise,
all-knowing Heavenly Father. His goal is our eternal happiness, and His commandments are the
road map He has given us to return to Him, which is the only way we will be eternally happy.”
How beautiful is that? Reading that was such a wonderful reminder that Heavenly Father’s main
goal is our happiness. If we keep that in mind while obeying even the hardest commandments, I
think it will open our mind to the big picture. It reminds me of Hymn #314. The first verse reads,
“How gentle God’s commands! How kind his precepts are. Come, cast your burden on the Lord
and trust his constant care”. I know when I trust in God, and trust that the reasons He asks of me
what he does because He loves me and wants me to be happy, it makes it so much easier to want
to follow Him.
As I was preparing, I also read a little from Joseph Smith about obedience. The quote I liked
most was when he said, “To get salvation we must not only do some things, but everything
which God has commanded.” I don’t remember quite where, I think maybe at a youth conference
or EFY, the speaker was talking about setting goals and daily improving yourself. Someone
asked him how to know what we should be working on, and he said, “Choose your favorite sin
and that’s what you should work on”. When he said that, I realized that I’m really good at being
obedient to the laws that are easy for me - don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t commit murder, etc…
But I started wondering if I was letting myself be content with that and ignoring the things I’m
not as good at, like keeping my choice of music or movies clean, keeping the Sabbath day holy,
or the commandment I always forget about - “thou shalt not covet”.
The last thing I want to share, and the one that I’ve felt is most important for me to share
has to do with the story of Lehi and his family. Being at the beginning of the Book of Mormon,
I’m sure most of us have read about Lehi plenty of times, but you get to hear about him again.
Lehi was a very righteous man, called to preach repentance in Jerusalem. I’m sure he wasn’t
thrilled to go tell people they were wicked and needed to repent, but Lehi followed the Lord.
What happened to him? He was met with threats, and would have been killed had the Lord not
warned him to leave Jerusalem. And so, as it says in 1st Nephi 2:3-4, “he was obedient unto the
word of the Lord, wherefore he did as the Lord commanded him. And it came to pass that he
departed into the wilderness. And he left his house, and the land of his inheritance, and his gold,
and his silver, and his precious things, and took nothing with him save it were his family, and
provisions, and tents, and departed into the wilderness”. Once they were in the wilderness, I’m
sure Lehi and his family were exhausted and probably a little lost, having left everything they
had to follow the Lord, but it didn’t stop there. Next Lehi was commanded to send his sons back
to Jerusalem to get the plates, and then again to get wives. They travel longer in the wilderness,
without homes and at times without food. Finally Nephi is commanded to build a ship, and after
a long and treacherous journey, Lehi and his family finally arrive in the promised land, the land
Lehi was told had been saved for his family and posterity to inherit and prosper on. And then,
about 2 years after they arrive in the Promised Land, and between 12-30 years of leaving
Jerusalem, Lehi dies.
The reason I wanted to talk about Lehi is this - so often we hear people say, “If you are obedient,
you’ll be blessed!” And we read the scripture in D&C 130:20, “There is a law, irrevocably
decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated –
and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is
predicated”. And we think, okay I’m paying my tithing and going to church and fulfilling my
calling and reading my scriptures, etc. etc.., life is going to be good! Everything is going to be
nice and just work out! Maybe it’s just me who thinks that way, but hopefully I’m not alone. But
sometimes, actually a lot of times, we are obedient to everything we know, and we do everything
we know how to do, and life is still hard. Sometimes, we are like Lehi – we’ve done everything
the Lord commanded us to do, and we’re wandering around the wilderness, living in a tent with
kids who fight all the time and not knowing what or when you’re going to eat again. I don’t
know if it’s just me that needs to hear this or if there is someone else out there, but the if you are
stuck in a wilderness and feel like you are wandering, God has not forsaken you. He sees your
obedience and your faith and He loves you more than you can comprehend. Your obedience,
now more than ever, is proving to Him and to yourself that you are meant for bigger and better
things if you just keep going. God has promised blessings we can’t even imagine if we hold on
and endure with faith.
My favorite conference talk of all time comes from Jeffrey R. Holland in the April 1999
conference. There’s a really great Mormon Message made from it that if you haven’t seen, you
need to go look it up after church today. I watch it probably 4 or 5 times a year. He tells a story
of when he and his young family were driving across the United States to go to graduate school,
and their car broke down not once, but twice in the same spot for reasons they couldn’t figure
out. What a beginning to a long, long journey. Years later, he drove by the same spot with his
wife, and thought of the troubles of that day. He says, “In my mind’s eye, for just an instant, I
thought perhaps I saw on that side road an old car with a devoted young wife and two little
children making the best of a bad situation there. Just ahead of them I imagined that I saw a
young fellow walking toward Kanarraville, with plenty of distance still ahead of him. His
shoulders seemed to be slumping a little, the weight of a young father’s fear evident in his pace.
In the scriptural phrase his hands did seem to “hang down.” In that imaginary instant, I couldn’t
help calling out to him: “Don’t give up, boy. Don’t you quit. You keep walking. You keep
trying. There is help and happiness ahead—a lot of it—30 years of it now, and still counting.
You keep your chin up. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to
I know that our Heavenly Father loves all of us more than we could ever imagine. I know
our prophets today give us counsel and guidelines that maybe don’t make sense right now, but I
know that they see what we don’t and that there are blessings beyond measure in store for us. In
the same talk from Elder Holland he says, “Some blessings come soon, some come late, and
some don’t come until heaven; but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they
come.” I am so grateful for this gospel that gives us direction and hope in a world without either.
I bear my testimony that if we are obedient and trust in God, we will be happy and will return to
live with Him again. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.