Letter 71: Weakness

So this week, I was reading during my personal study in Jacob chapter 4 in the Book of Mormon, and a scripture stuck out to me. It’s in verse 7.

7 Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we may have power to do these things.

So. We all have weaknesses. Let’s just set that one down on the table. Whether it’s that you can’t lift very much weight (me), you sometimes don’t understand what people are saying to you (me), or maybe it’s that you’re deathly afraid of strangers (used to be me). So whatever your weakness is, it’s not there just to trip you up. It’s there to lift you up. Let’s take a look at the scripture here.

First. God shows us our weakness. He points out where we’re lacking. That seems a little backwards for a merciful, loving God. Showing us where we are weak. But let’s look at the rest of the scripture. He shows us our weakness so that we know that we have to rely on him. Hmm… And that through the realization of our humility before God, he can help us to ‘have power’ to do things.

So, what’s the overall message of this scripture? It’s that we are weak. We’re human. We’re fallable. But this is only to help us. We’re weak so that we learn to trust in God. A favorite scripture mastery of many people is in the book of Ether 12:27. Where if we come unto Christ, he will show us our weakness, so that weak things can become strong unto us. I prayed and asked Heavenly Father to show me my weakness. Where am I lacking as a missionary, and as a person? And I received the answer through a series of events yesterday, and I learned that I need to learn to be a better leader. I was a District Leader back in Redlands, but I really didn’t know how to be a leader. But, now, looking at examples here in the ward, and King Benjamin’s example in Mosiah 2, I have the tools I need to make that change.

I think God’s incentivizing (is that a word in English? It is in Portuguese) me to become a better leader, because one of my goals is that I want to be companions again with my MTC companion, Elder Kimball. He’s one of the best missionaries I know–hard working and a natural leader. In order for me to be his companion again, I will need to learn how to be a leader, and quick. But these skills will help me throughout the mission and in my life. They say that the mission is forever, and the things you learn here are what you need to know for your future life. So I’m looking towards this with new light, new hope, and new knowledge of my weaknesses, just to help me.

The email was kind of stream-of-thought this week, but just know that I know that this church is true, and I’m in this ward, with this companion for a reason. It’s just a scavenger hunt to figure out why.

OH! And the D family way back from Yucca Valley got baptized this week!! Yay!  See letter 40 for the beginning of the story:  https://elderconnorweeks.wordpress.com/2014/06/27/letter-40-we-found-them/

The D family from Yucca Valley, California. Connor and his companion felt inspired to knock on their door when they were visiting a member of our church.

Love,

Elder Connor Weeks