A friend of mine sent me an email with the following story:
"Once upon a time…there was a man who was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light and the Savior appeared. The Lord told the man He had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might.
This the man did, day after day. For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore, and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.
Seeing that the man was showing signs of discouragement, Satan decided to enter the picture placing thoughts into the man’s mind such as : “You have been pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn’t budged. Why kill yourself over this? You are never going to move it.” Thus giving the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure.
These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man even more. “Why kill myself over this?” he thought. “I’ll just put in my time, giving just the minimum of effort and that will be good enough.” And that he planned to do until one day he decided to make it a matter of prayer and take his troubled thoughts to the Lord.
“Lord”, he said, “I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock a half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?”
To this the Lord responded compassionately, “My friend, when long ago I asked you to serve me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to me, your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is that really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back sinewed, and brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. Yet you haven’t moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom. This you have done. I, my friend, will now move the rock.”
Author Unknown
Father in Heaven calls us to obedience everyday. Sometimes, I want to see beyond obedience. I want to know why, how and when. Yet, it is usually long after the obedience that I begin to realize what His plan is. So i work on just being obedient, today. I am learning that by being obedient today, I am stronger for tomorrow. Obedience blesses us, even though at the time we do not understand why.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
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1 comments:
This is a good stort. I am a strong believer and I love reading good stories. I want share this with my sister and my nine year old girl, can I copy and paste?
I read a story a while ago which also improved my faith, It was about the girl who sat in the flight, relaxed and calm, reading her book and at peace while the passengers were fearing and scared thinking they will die as the storms and winds and thunders were so strong that they thought the flight will crash-the pastor was amazed at this girl as some people were even coming to the pastor for hope before they died. As they finally in fear safely landed the pastor held the girl's hand and asked why she was not in fear, she said " my father was the pilot and he had promised to take me home"
Just as we put our faith in him and do what he says, we also can hold on to his word as proof that he will not let us down. We need true muscles of faith.
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