GREAT things

I've had my head deep into the scriptures lately, in a really good way. My subject study has been a little all over the place, and yet somehow each day somehow fits really nicely with the previous. There has been one over-riding theme that has come up, and it's been really cool.

It all started with this passage:

"By small and simple things are great things brought to pass." (Alma 37:6)

Whenever I've considered this thought before, I've always focused on the "small and simple things" part. It helped me realize that the seemingly insignificant steps I'm taking might all actually amount to something one day. It helped me be okay with baby steps.

But this week it was the latter portion that jumped out at me: "great things brought to pass." Instead of thinking small, I started thinking big. Really big. I realized that with enough faith, and through the power of God, anything truly is possible. And it is possible in my life, not just those inspirational stories that happen to other people.

Then my scripture studies took me on a journey through verses about power. God's infinite power, and the access I can have to it. And if I have access to God's infinite power, then my own possibilities truly are endless. And great things will be brought to pass in my own life.

Think of truly being able to harness the power of the Almighty. Think of what He could do through me? It's true that, on my own, all I can handle are the small and simple things. But with God? He could use me to move mountains.

Isn't that exciting? It's given me a whole new outlook on day to day living. A scripture scholar I truly admire advised looking for "if...then..." statements in the scriptures. "If" I do [x], "then" God promises [y]. As I read about being furnished with power from on high, the if part was actually simple. There is a circle of study, prayer and revelation. If I study God's word and pray for understanding, then God reveals his mysteries and endows me with power. Then I take that understanding and search again in my studies, then pray again, and once again revelation flows. These cycles are like a spiral winding upward toward Heaven, with each circle rising higher and higher. As I am raised higher, my will starts to align with His will, and that, my friends, is when truly great things are brought to pass.

So from now on, I'm thinking big. I'm daily preparing myself, and committing to be an instrument in the Lord's hands. I feel like I'm soaring to a higher plane of understanding and it's so exciting!