Our Path is Essential to Our Story
A year ago I was writing a blog about new beginnings. A year ago I was SCARED about starting this new job as a paralegal (LOL, right???). I was leaving the known and going into the unknown.
I'm looking back over the past YEAR(ish) and am just in awe over all the angels in my life who CARRIED me through all of it - the new job, the LSAT stress, the applications, the waiting game, the eventual acceptance letters that made it all worth it.... All because a year ago I decided to listen to the promptings of the Spirit.
Since the pandemic broke out, I have had to change my temple routine. I try to drive to the temple once a week, just to be on the grounds. I have become very attached to the Draper temple during this time. A few weeks ago as I sat in my favorite spot outside the temple, I was reflecting on prayer and revelation.
I am a firm believer in both. Due to the events of the past year of my life I have wondered a LOT about past revelations I've received, as well as how prayer really works. There have been a few revelations in my life that seem to contradict the current path I am on. And, yet, I am on this path BECAUSE of other revelations I've received.
How does that work?
It has been a huge conversation with Heavenly Father and myself the past several months. Wondering how all of this will work out. What my future is going to look like. Who I'm about to become.
Is this how my path always looked? Was I always 30, heading off alone to law school, leaving all my friends and the comfort of the life I have, just to go fight to protect women's rights? I reflect back on a blessing my dad gave me in February of 2015 quite often. I was looking for a new place to live, and in the blessing it said I was going to meet someone in my new ward who would help me find my next job. For the longest time (4 years) I didn't know what that meant, and then last year I was prompted to reach out to my old Relief Society president who happens to be an attorney and who was one of the first people I met when I moved into this ward back in 2015. Isn't that funny? Several years before I would need to know why, God was letting me know He had a plan. He was letting me know things would work out - and, it took YEARS to have that fulfilled, yes, but it was still fulfilled.
Last night I finished watching the Lord of the Rings series with some friends. I have watched that series dozens of times, including the commentary/bonus features. This time around a thought went through my head that I'd never considered before - all of the Fellowship set out to take the ring to Mordor to destroy it, but only TWO of them ended up at Mount Doom. The rest of the characters were sent off on different paths - paths that were ESSENTIAL to the story line. Paths that helped them grow, even though they were scary and dangerous. Paths that took them completely out of their comfort zones. They didn't give up just because the path they started out on disappeared. And, in the end, they all contributed to Frodo and Sam being able to destroy the ring. They were able to fulfill the mission they set out on - just in a completely different way than they originally anticipated.
What if they had given up on the mission after Frodo and Sam went off on their own?
What if they spent the rest of the journey talking about how they wished they were on the same path as Frodo and Sam, and complained about what path they were on?
What if I forgot about promptings and revelations I received, just because they didn't happen immediately?
What if WE dwell too much on the paths that others are on and don't realize OUR path is essential to OUR story?
Do you remember last year in January when I posted this blog - The Most Impossible Route? The blog was based on the following Spiritual prompting I received -"Cassandra, have you ever thought that maybe I'm taking you on the most impossible route so that you can see that nothing is impossible for me?"
I've been thinking about that prompting a LOT since that day.
I think the coolest thing is seeing how God can make ANY path OUR path. He can take us the most impossible direction and still give us the blessings we've been promised, AS LONG AS we follow Him. I'm constantly in awe over how much love I feel from my Father in Heaven. I'm constantly humbled by realizing how much God cares about the path that I'm on; that He takes the time to answer my sometimes very demanding prayers. That He is so kind and loving to me, even though I STRUGGLE and QUESTION a lot. I'm so grateful for the revelations and promptings I'm constantly receiving; for the blessings that are given to me, even though I'm so imperfect; for the tender mercies showered on me daily, even though I don't appreciate them as much as I should.
One of the things I love most about Heavenly Father is that He is not afraid to take us off the path we are so confidently going down and push us past our limits, all to prove that NOTHING is impossible for Him. That we are WORTH His time. That He loves us.
So, yeah, I'm really struggling right now with all the good-byes and the new life adventure I'm about to embark on. And, yeah, I'm crying a lot thinking about starting over again, all alone. And, yeah, maybe my life isn't where I thought it would be, and I have a lot of questions about that. BUT, I know more now than ever that God loves me and has a plan for me. And that, yes, that plan is full of a lot of hardships and struggles, BUT, it will all work out, because God provided us a Savior, and Christ provides His Atonement. And I can't imagine going through all of this chaos without that knowledge.
I'm looking back over the past YEAR(ish) and am just in awe over all the angels in my life who CARRIED me through all of it - the new job, the LSAT stress, the applications, the waiting game, the eventual acceptance letters that made it all worth it.... All because a year ago I decided to listen to the promptings of the Spirit.
Since the pandemic broke out, I have had to change my temple routine. I try to drive to the temple once a week, just to be on the grounds. I have become very attached to the Draper temple during this time. A few weeks ago as I sat in my favorite spot outside the temple, I was reflecting on prayer and revelation.
How does that work?
It has been a huge conversation with Heavenly Father and myself the past several months. Wondering how all of this will work out. What my future is going to look like. Who I'm about to become.
Is this how my path always looked? Was I always 30, heading off alone to law school, leaving all my friends and the comfort of the life I have, just to go fight to protect women's rights? I reflect back on a blessing my dad gave me in February of 2015 quite often. I was looking for a new place to live, and in the blessing it said I was going to meet someone in my new ward who would help me find my next job. For the longest time (4 years) I didn't know what that meant, and then last year I was prompted to reach out to my old Relief Society president who happens to be an attorney and who was one of the first people I met when I moved into this ward back in 2015. Isn't that funny? Several years before I would need to know why, God was letting me know He had a plan. He was letting me know things would work out - and, it took YEARS to have that fulfilled, yes, but it was still fulfilled.
Last night I finished watching the Lord of the Rings series with some friends. I have watched that series dozens of times, including the commentary/bonus features. This time around a thought went through my head that I'd never considered before - all of the Fellowship set out to take the ring to Mordor to destroy it, but only TWO of them ended up at Mount Doom. The rest of the characters were sent off on different paths - paths that were ESSENTIAL to the story line. Paths that helped them grow, even though they were scary and dangerous. Paths that took them completely out of their comfort zones. They didn't give up just because the path they started out on disappeared. And, in the end, they all contributed to Frodo and Sam being able to destroy the ring. They were able to fulfill the mission they set out on - just in a completely different way than they originally anticipated.
What if they had given up on the mission after Frodo and Sam went off on their own?
What if they spent the rest of the journey talking about how they wished they were on the same path as Frodo and Sam, and complained about what path they were on?
What if I forgot about promptings and revelations I received, just because they didn't happen immediately?
What if WE dwell too much on the paths that others are on and don't realize OUR path is essential to OUR story?
Do you remember last year in January when I posted this blog - The Most Impossible Route? The blog was based on the following Spiritual prompting I received -"Cassandra, have you ever thought that maybe I'm taking you on the most impossible route so that you can see that nothing is impossible for me?"
I've been thinking about that prompting a LOT since that day.
I think the coolest thing is seeing how God can make ANY path OUR path. He can take us the most impossible direction and still give us the blessings we've been promised, AS LONG AS we follow Him. I'm constantly in awe over how much love I feel from my Father in Heaven. I'm constantly humbled by realizing how much God cares about the path that I'm on; that He takes the time to answer my sometimes very demanding prayers. That He is so kind and loving to me, even though I STRUGGLE and QUESTION a lot. I'm so grateful for the revelations and promptings I'm constantly receiving; for the blessings that are given to me, even though I'm so imperfect; for the tender mercies showered on me daily, even though I don't appreciate them as much as I should.
One of the things I love most about Heavenly Father is that He is not afraid to take us off the path we are so confidently going down and push us past our limits, all to prove that NOTHING is impossible for Him. That we are WORTH His time. That He loves us.
So, yeah, I'm really struggling right now with all the good-byes and the new life adventure I'm about to embark on. And, yeah, I'm crying a lot thinking about starting over again, all alone. And, yeah, maybe my life isn't where I thought it would be, and I have a lot of questions about that. BUT, I know more now than ever that God loves me and has a plan for me. And that, yes, that plan is full of a lot of hardships and struggles, BUT, it will all work out, because God provided us a Savior, and Christ provides His Atonement. And I can't imagine going through all of this chaos without that knowledge.
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