Many of you know that I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--a Mormon. I am proud of legacy of my Mormon ancestors, indeed, of all those who have gone before.
I am blessed with a rich family history of Church service and sacrifice. My Grandfather McBride was called to serve two missions to Samoa during the early 1900s. He willingly accepted the call to serve, leaving behind a wife and small children. After several years, he returned to his home in Arizona, stayed for a year, then returned to the mission field.
What faith it must have taken on his part to go to a strange land halfway across the world, with little money, to live on plants and grubs (a small shrimp-like creature). And what courage it must have taken for his wife to send him off, knowing that her husband was far away with little means to communicate with her, to know that she alone was responsible for her little family.
Could I have done this? I sincerely doubt it.
Faith sustained those brave people and others like them. Faith and an unshakeable resolve to do what the Lord commanded.
This I know for sure: if I am to follow in their footsteps in even the smallest manner, I must put aside my worldliness and selfishness and focus on what truly matters.
Yet they might look at our challenges today and have doubts about being able to deal with what we are faced with every day. One thing we have in common is that we are expected to exercise faith, and what a workout it is!
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