God's Ways are Higher than Ours

Four years ago, I had it made (or so I thought). I was a sophomore at Madison High School in Rexburg, ID, and I had found my niche. I had done well in concert and marching band, tennis, and speech and debate, and competed at state tournaments in several of those events. In my mind, I was on my way. Then, partway through my sophomore year, God threw a wrench in all of that. He had different plans for me.

My parents got called to serve as mission president and wife of the Washington Federal Way Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That meant I would be moving away from Rexburg with them for the next three years. For me, that was life-shattering.

I moved the summer after my sophomore year to Kent, WA. I had a fairly negative attitude through most of it, and during the summer, I didn't really branch out beyond the reaches of my bedroom and our backyard. I was terrified to start at a new school where I would know nobody.

School started, and not much changed for me. Most of the friends I had made at church either didn't go to my school or weren't in my grade. I kept to myself in classes and at lunch. I mostly felt sorry for myself, and I spent a lot of time wishing I could go back to Idaho. I was surrounded by profanity and vulgarity as I had never before experienced.

Then, a few months into the school year, something changed. I made a few great friends. I stopped focusing so much on myself. That's when the real change occurred. When my attitude changed from "woe is me" to trying to help others and be their friend, suddenly I was far happier.

I grew to love Washington. Now, when people ask me which I preferred, I honestly can't tell them. Because of that move, I was able to grow in ways I never could have in Rexburg. I was faced with more spiritual adversity, and so I grew more. I was able to meet and love and help people I never would have met otherwise, and I was loved and helped in ways I never expected. Years later, I'm still learning the wisdom in God's plan.

As I thought about my experiences, the words of Isaiah came to mind: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8-9). As mortals, we have a severely limited perspective. We can only see a small portion of this maze of life, but the Lord can see all of it. Only He can guide us safely through.

John Taylor said, "We know in part, and see in part, and comprehend in part and many of the things of God are hid from our view, both things that are past, things that are present, and things that are to come" (Journal of Discourses, 1:368). When we try and rely on ourselves instead of on the Lord, we will inevitably become lost. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths" (Proverbs 3:5-6).

My invitation to you is pray. Take your plans to the Lord, and ask Him to guide you. If you are open, He will.