Breakdown

Once upon a time I was much younger and had not a care in the world...

 One weekend my sister and I decided to go on a roadtrip to the mountains. The plan went like this. She would pick me up from work in our old 1994 Toyota Camry and we would drive to our Grandparents house to stay the night. The next day would be spent in the mountains admiring God's creations before heading home.

As luck would have it, when we stopped in a small town to fill up on gas the car decided to stop working. The car wasn't turning over. In fact, it wasn't doing anything at all. Naturally we both started laughing and when we couldn't find the problem on our own we called a mechanic. He came and literally started hitting something under the hood until the car started. With the caution that we needed to be careful as to not get stranded in the middle of nowhere, we took off again to Grandma and Grandpa's house leaving the mechanic behind.

We made it to our grandparent's house without a problem, but when we tried to start the car again we had the same problem as before. That night we debated whether we should still make the trip to the mountains or not, because although we were young and dumb, we weren't stupid.

We resolved to ask Grandpa.

Grandpa was a farmer. I don't know much about farming, but I am almost positive that he was one of the best. If there was anything he knew it was how to make things grow and how to bring old things back to life. Well, Grandpa came out and took a look at the car. He played around with a few things and the next thing we knew the car was purring as if nothing had happened....  Yet, I was still skeptical. Grandpa seemed to have confidence that we would make it, but I was a worrier and extremely risk-averse and was not about to get stranded in the mountains. As far as I was concerned we were staying put and definitely not going anywhere. It was then that something unexpected happened. My older and wiser Sister asked my Grandpa to say a prayer. He did. I don't remember what he said, but I remember thinking, "I don't know anyone with more faith than Grandpa. If Grandpa asks God to help us make it safely, and if he has the faith that we will be okay, we will. "

I didn't trust my own prayers or my own faith, but I trusted Grandpa's because I knew he was a man of God with the faith to move mountains. Long story short(er), we made it to our destination and the rest of the weekend was blissfully  uneventful.

 I have never forgotten this experience. I remember wishing I had enough faith that I could pray we would be okay and believe it. But I was so grateful that I could rely on Grandpa's faith enough to help me get to my destination. As the true farmer he was, grandpa cultivated my little tiny seed of faith with his own, believing it would grow. Since that time I have learned that the faith doesn't always manifest itself in the asking- More often it manifests itself in the believing.

I now have a destination much further than the mountains. There have been a lot more breakdown's on this road, and there are times when I fear continuing on because of the chance of yet another breakdown. I am so grateful that even though I don't know how everything will turn out, I can trust in the promise of our Savior Jesus Christ that He will fix what once was broken and we can make it to our destination, if we trust in him and let him cultivate our little seed of faith.

 

I love the word's from THIS talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, 

"What was once a tiny seed of belief for me has grown into the tree of life, so if your faith is a little tested in this or any season, I invite you to lean on mine."

I know that what I have told you is true. Although I might not have faith as great as Grandpa Anderson or Elder Holland, I still invite you to lean on mine until you grow the faith to support others!