Trust Talk

This morning, I read President Marion G. Romney's October 1977 talk, "Trust in the Lord." In it, he shared several stories about people who put their trust in God and found that God is trustworthy. Such examples included David, the shepherd boy who slew Goliath, and the two-thousand stripling warriors of the Book of Mormon.

Then he shared a story that President Thomas S. Monson shared back when he was "Elder" Thomas S. Monson.

In the mission presidents’ seminar last June, Elder Thomas S. Monson told of the great faith and trust in the Lord of Randall Ellsworth, a missionary who, in Brother Monson’s words, “was crushed under that devastating earthquake in Guatemala, pinned for, I think, twelve hours. Found himself totally paralyzed from the waist down. Kidney functions, not present. No hope to ever walk again. … 

“He was flown to … Maryland and … interviewed in the hospital by a television reporter. The television reporter said to him, ‘The doctors say you will not walk again. What do you think, Elder Ellsworth?’ He said, ‘I’ll not only walk again, but I have a call from a prophet to serve a mission in Guatemala, and I shall go back to Guatemala and finish that mission. ’ … 

“He exercised twice the [requirement] outlined by the doctors. He exerted his faith. He received a blessing from the priesthood and his recovery was miraculous. It astounded the physicians and the specialists. He began to be able to stand on his feet. Then he could walk with crutches, and then the doctors said to him, ‘You may return to the mission field if the Church will permit you to go.’ He went. We sent him to Guatemala. He returned to the land to which he had been called, to the people whom he dearly loved. 

“While there he was walking, proselyting a full schedule with a cane in each hand. [His mission president] looked at him and said, ‘Elder Ellsworth, with the faith that you have, why don’t you throw those canes away and walk?’ And Elder Ellsworth said, ‘If you have that kind of faith in me [take the canes].’” He put down the canes and has never used them since. (Mission Presidents’ Training Seminar, June 1977, tape recording, Missionary Department.)

As inspiring as those stories are and were, I can't help thinking that it doesn't always work like that. Not everyone gets healed or delivered, notwithstanding their trust in God. I know that God always blesses those that put their trust in Him, but those blessings don't always come immediately, or even in this life. I've heard that "faith in God includes faith in His timing," and I know that a lot of people struggle with that. I guess I struggle with it, too, in a way.

I need to learn how to trust God and His perspective. I need to learn that as long as I trust God, things will work out somehow. I need to learn how to increase my faith. Apparently this "Trust talk" idea didn't work out as well as I had hoped.