Be Persistent

"Gee, Brain. What are we going to do tonight?  The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world."  Day after day, week after week, these 2 little rodents kept at it.  One day the world would be under Brain's control.  If there was an award for being persistent, it would go to these 2.

Being persistent is something I have either a) really gotten and beaten to a pulp or b) non-existent (or asked just once).  Certain things were easier to be persistent about, like asking my mom if I could go hang out with a friend or when dinner was.  Just ask my mom, being persistent wasn't an issue.  But, when it comes to asking our Heavenly Father, I was lacking. 

I was in the habit of asking maybe once or twice for something, but not much past that.  God loves us.  If you have gotten anything from reading my blogs, I hope it is that simple truth.  Because He loves us, He wants to hear from us.  He wants to know the desires of our hearts.  He wants us to ask Him for things.  The infamous James 1:5 says it all.  "1If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."  If we have a questions or lack "wisdom," we can ask God and He will give us the answer.  No question is a dumb question to Him.



Now, back to being persistent.  How does this apply to prayer?  It is essential!  Okay, in my mind, if someone only asks for something once, I'm not as inclined to think it is important to them.  It's like a phone call.  If someone calls me only once, and doesn't leave a message, I tend to not call them back.  But, if they leave a message, I probably will.  If you call a million times, leave messages, text me, and call from other phone's, I'll definitely call you back!  At that point you are either dying or have something extremely important to say or ask.  It is the same with God.

We have to continue to ask and pray for things.  He will answer in His own time and in His own way, but He will answer.  So, "are you pondering what I'm pondering?"  Be persistent and be ready for the answer, whatever it may be.

Life of a Sister Missionary part 9: Well companion, what do you want to do tomorrow?

Before Planning

After a long day of work, we top it off with a little planning.  Each night for 30 minutes we plan for our next day.  We fill each moment of the day with: what we will do, teach, where to go, who to visit, who to call, and what to study.  Almost everything in the day is planned out for every hour in the day, plus backup plans.  All of these plans are written in our handy dandy missionary daily planner.  Of course, we begin the planning, with a prayer.  We pray for guidance and direction as to what to plan.  After we fill each hour, we outline the lessons we will teach.  We make a list of things to do.  We plan out what we will study the following day in our personal and companion studies.  And we set goals for the day.  During all of this, we strive to be guided by the Spirit.  We are representatives of Jesus Christ; we are sent to do what He would do.  At the end, we pray (YAY). 

After

Back home, I did nothing like this.  I sorta had a list of "to do" items in my head, but I definitely didn't know what I was going to do each moment in the day.  My time is so much more effective now.  It isn't wasted on things that I don't want to do or that have no use.  Planning allows for my time to be spent doing things I want to do rather than things that I just "end up" doing because of poor planning, like watching a TV show I don't like, or sitting and doing nothing.  I would much rather be swimming, out with friends, or reading a book by Orson Scott Card.  Proper planning = an awesome day.