“Trust in the Lord,” For the Strength of Youth, Jan. 2022.
Trust in the Lord
God invites you to trust Him in all things.
Sometimes when hard things happen, we wonder if we can trust anyone, including God. We fear He may disappoint us too. The good news is that God loves us perfectly. He is kind and generous and honest. He is unchanging and reliable.
And because of that, we can trust in Him no matter what. This year’s youth theme is “Trust in the Lord” (Proverbs 3:5–6).
Here are some examples of how each of us in the Young Women and Young Men General Presidencies came to trust in the Lord.
Michelle D. Craig
Bonnie H. Cordon
Rebecca Craven
Trust God’s Motives
Just days before I turned 16, my family moved across the country. I thought it was horrible timing! Looking back, I can clearly see that some of the greatest blessings for our family and for me personally came because of that move when I was a teenager. We may not understand the Lord’s timing in the moment, but we trust Him because we can trust His heart and motives.
Michelle D. Craig
Trust the Lord’s Timing
Because of my father’s call as a mission president, I received my own call to serve a mission earlier than the standard age for sister missionaries. That meant I would enter the missionary training center before high school graduation. To me, the timing did not make sense, but I received a strong spiritual confirmation to trust in the Lord. I did, and things worked out beautifully.
Trusting the Lord means moving forward even when the path is not completely clear.
Bonnie H. Cordon
Trust God in Difficult Times
Growing up, my father was a career Army officer. The only downside to his job was that he had to go to war. I was 13 years old when my dad left for Vietnam for the second time. The fear of him not returning was always on my mind, but so was my trust in the Lord. Before leaving, my dad gave me a father’s blessing assuring me that the Lord would be with me and help while my dad was away. I felt peace. Although I did not know for sure that my dad would return home safely, I trusted that everything would be OK, regardless of what happened.
Rebecca Craven
Ahmad S. Corbitt
Steven J. Lund
Bradley R. Wilcox
Trust Yourself to God
When I joined the Church as a teenager, I decided to give my life, time, and heart over to the Lord. Although that kind of permanent commitment felt a little scary, I knew it was right. I felt that my Heavenly Father wanted this of me, and I had peace in doing it. I am so glad I chose to trust in God and let Him prevail in my life. I am certain that if I had relied on my own understanding, my life would not be nearly as rich in joy, happiness, and peace.
Ahmad S. Corbitt
Trust in the Lord’s Inspiration
After I served my mission, I felt impressed to join the military rather than return to college. This was about the last thing I wanted to do! I felt bewildered, but I had learned to trust God, and I found just enough faith to hear Him and obey. I became a soldier for three years.
So many good things in my life flowed from that decision, including meeting my future wife.
Steven J. Lund
Trust in God’s Promptings to Act Now
After I taught sixth grade for three years, I learned that if I taught for four more years, the school district would pay part of my tuition to receive my master’s degree. It seemed like a good plan—until the Spirit prompted me to quit my job and go back and get my degree right then. My wife had a similar prompting, so we moved forward. It meant we would have to pay for school ourselves. But because we did, I was hired to teach at BYU—Provo. That window of opportunity never would have been open had we waited four more years. We did not know how things would work out, but the Lord directed our paths just as He promised.
Bradley R. Wilcox