Moving Forward with Faith

I got up earlier today, not to play basketball, but to try to get caught up with a lot of projects that have been pending for some time or that have added up.

The first thing I wanted to do though, after I got a few emails out of the way, was study.

I went to LDS.org and found a great article that I feel is so applicable to me today. It’s called “Go Forth in Faith” by Elder Anthony Perkins of the Seventy.

What I liked about the talk is how it relates my life to the life of Nephi. Nephi and his family were asked to leave their home, their riches, and their safety in order to follow their father’s dream to get out of Jerusalem and go to the “promised land.”

Some of the people, including his own sons Laman and Lemuel, thought he was crazy to do such a thing: there was so much risk, so much unknown.

But Nephi was obedient and didn’t leave his heart back in Jerusalem. He pressed forward, did what he could to make the best of his circumstances, and ultimately was blessed for his choices.

Elder Perkins suggests four key things Nephi did to be led and guided by God:

1. Obey the commandments
2. Move forward in faith
3. Live in the present
4. Draw on the strength of others

I want to take a few minutes and reflect on each of these points and how they can apply to my life today.

I would say one of the “challenges” I’m facing today is how I can get all the things done that I need to and stay sane.

I want to scale my business, grow and help more companies have a user-friendly, mobile friendly, and profitable website. I want to get out of the feeling of “Am I going to make enough this month to help our budget?”

For this reason, I’ve been meeting with Stan. For this reason, I’ve been trying to outsource and find good “contractors” I can work with on a consistent basis. For this reason, my new financial goal has moved from hitting $10,000 per month in sales to hitting $30,000 per month in sales.

To do this, however, takes structure, planning, risk taking, and faith. It also takes obedience so that I can be guided and directed.

I remember when I went to the temple back in October 2010 with the question about what to do about Prosper. I had been told I was going to need to become a coach again and be demoted from my current position, which I later found out was what happened to all the division leaders shortly after I left. They also told me I was going to have to stop marketing the MM brand, which I wasn’t really pushing at the time anyway.

I went to the temple and, as I was sitting in the chapel waiting to go into the session, I looked up WILL in the topical guide. I wanted to know what God’s will for me would be in this situation.

As I looked through the guide, I found this scripture reference in 2 Nephi 10:20-25:

And now, my beloved brethren, seeing that our merciful God has given us so great knowledge concerning these things, let us remember him, and lay aside our sins, and not hang down our heads, for we are not cast off; nevertheless, we have been ^adriven out of the land of our inheritance; but we have been led to a ^bbetter land, for the Lord has made the sea our ^cpath, and we are upon an ^disle of the sea.

But great are the promises of the Lord unto them who are upon the ^aisles of the sea; wherefore as it says isles, there must needs be more than this, and they are inhabited also by our brethren.

For behold, the Lord God has ^aled away from time to time from the house of Israel, according to his will and pleasure. And now behold, the Lord remembereth all them who have been broken off, wherefore he remembereth us also.

Therefore, ^acheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are ^bfree to ^cact for yourselves—to ^dchoose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life.

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, ^areconcile yourselves to the ^bwill of God, and not to the will of the devil and the flesh; and remember, after ye are reconciled unto God, that it is only in and through the ^cgrace of God that ye are ^dsaved.

Wherefore, may God ^araise you from death by the power of the resurrection, and also from everlasting death by the power of the ^batonement, that ye may be received into the ^ceternal kingdom of God, that ye may praise him through grace divine. Amen.

I remember thinking at the time, “No way, this is too direct of an answer. I better read this again.”

And I did.

And the answer seemed to be right in front of me.

– “seeing that our merciful God has given us so great knowledge concerning these things…” To me, this was about the fact that I had a lot of knowledge about running my own business, about building websites, and about helping people improve their online presence. Thanks to my merciful God, I had developed this knowledge (and I knew how to sell it too).

– “let us remember him, and lay aside our sins, and not hang down our heads, for we are not cast off” This was Heavenly Father telling me to cheer up and not be sad that Prosper was pushing me in a way that I wasn’t to be pushed. This was also Heavenly Father reminding me that I needed to remember Him, lay aside my sins and addictions, and get out of my self-pity mode.

– “nevertheless, we have been ^adriven out of the land of our inheritance; but we have been led to a ^bbetter land, for the Lord has made the sea our ^cpath, and we are upon an ^disle of the sea.” The “land my my inheritance” was Prosper. This is where I’d been “raised.” This was my first real job out of college. This is where I’d learn sales strategy. This is where I’d started my first online business. This is where all the friends that I’d made through work were. This was my “comfort zone.” But I was being led to a “better land.” It was time for me to follow the isles of the sea.

– “But great are the promises of the Lord unto them who are upon the ^aisles of the sea; wherefore as it says isles, there must needs be more than this, and they are inhabited also by our brethren.” This is such an interesting section too: my “brethren” include the guys at FS. Right after I made the decision to move on, I contacted Russ out of the blue and talked to him about helping with webinars or something at their company. We met and almost five years later, here I am working with my “brethren.” There have been other “brethren” too: Rick and his company, all my “brethren” at BNI, my “brethren” from oDesk – it’s crazy to even write this out.

The scripture goes on to talk about my “brethren,”: “For behold, the Lord God has ^aled away from time to time from the house of Israel, according to his will and pleasure. And now behold, the Lord remembereth all them who have been broken off, wherefore he remembereth us also.”

To me, this means that He won’t forget me, just like He hasn’t forgotten those like me who have left the “corporate box” and done their own thing.

– “Therefore, ^acheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are ^bfree to ^cact for yourselves—to ^dchoose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life.

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, ^areconcile yourselves to the ^bwill of God, and not to the will of the devil and the flesh; and remember, after ye are reconciled unto God, that it is only in and through the ^cgrace of God that ye are ^dsaved.”

I don’t think I recognized completely what this meant then, but I understand it much more now. My addiction was causing me to choose everlasting death. Heavenly Father was encouraging me to “reconcile” myself – to brake away from the chains that were holding me down.

I like how it talks about grace too, especially in conjunction with President Uchtdorf’s talk about grace in last conference.

I’m grateful that, today, I’m choosing to follow God’s will for me. I’m grateful that, today, I’m working on my connection with Him. I’m grateful that, today, I’m putting off the natural man and the will of the devil and the flesh.

– “Wherefore, may God ^araise you from death by the power of the resurrection, and also from everlasting death by the power of the ^batonement, that ye may be received into the ^ceternal kingdom of God, that ye may praise him through grace divine. Amen.” I’m grateful that, today, God is raising me from spiritual death by the power of the atonement.

I’m grateful for this study today. I look forward to study more about this tomorrow.

Hasta luego!

Nate