Counsel with the Lord

I was once asked by a friend, a couple months back, if I would go to the same college as him; at this time I have already attended a year at UCLA, so repeatedly I told him that I was going to UCLA. This went on for a time until one day he asked me if I would pray about it. My immediate thought and response was "no", why should I pray about it? I attended school already, enjoyed it and wanted to go back to UCLA. Almost immediately after I responded, he wanted to know why I wouldn't. As I thought, I realized that my only reason why I did not want to pray about it was because I had my mind set on going back to UCLA. In my desire to go to UCLA, I did not want to pray in case God would tell me differently.



The scriptures teach us we need to "counsel with the Lord in all [our] doings" (Alma 37:37), and it was at this point in the story that I realized my mistake. Why would it matter to me if the Lord told me not to go back to UCLA, I am suppose to "trust Him with all [my] heart and lean not unto [my] own understanding." This would then allow Him "to direct [my] paths" (see Proverbs 3:5-6). I needed to set aside my own desires for what the Lord knew would be best for me, so I prayed about it, I asked Him, if I should go to UCLA, to let me know if I should not go there, and sought his guidance. I had to humble myself and trust that whatever my Father in Heaven told me would be for my good.

It is easy in our lives to put our desires before that of God's will. We make excuses as to why our will is the right way and why we don't need to seek guidance from our Father in Heaven. Often it seems like God will tell us to do something we don't want to do, and so the idea comes that if we don't ask him, we don't need to do it. We allow our pride to get in the way of our progression in life, to become the people God knows we can become.

Think about Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. Where would we be if Christ instead of saying "nevertheless not my will, but thine be done." (Luke 22:42)? On a later occasion, he told his disciples that "[he] came into the world to do the will of [his] Father, because [his] Father sent [him]" (3 Nephi 27:13). Even Jesus Christ, had to put God's will before his own.

It may seem hard at times, but as we counsel with the Lord and seek to do His will, he will lead us to green pastures to lie down and beside still water (see Psalms 23:2). As a missionary, I ask people to ask God if there are more truths that He wants them to have in their life. God wants us to be happy, and our ultimate happiness comes from being obedient and following God's counsel. We should all seek God's guidance in our lives, as we do so and follow that guidance, we will become the person God wants us to be.