WHEN...

When...When...When? You've all asked yourself this question. When is it MY turn? It doesn't matter the reason your asking this question, it could be anything, that's not the point. The point is that we all want things in our lives that are not always available to us when we want them. I have a whole list of things that seem to escape me daily, but this isn't about me. Last week I attended Institute (yeah, week 5 so proud) and Brother S. Michael Wilcox taught. If you've never had the opportunity to be in a Wilcox class your certainly missing out. I want to share my outline (stay with me, its worth it) of the class. I hope that as you read this you will apply it to your life and maybe you will stop asking WHEN so much. There is nothing new here, these are all things that we all know, but Brother Wilcox helped me put into perspective why we are left waiting for answers.

"When Will He Come?"

1- Our God is a 4th Watch God. (Mark 6:47) He watches us toil...and then he comes. We often want him long before he arrives and we start to doubt within ourselves as to why he's left us alone. Is he there? Is he listening? Does he care? Am I worthy? The answers are simple, He is there, He is listening, He does care, and we are always striving to be better so yes we are worthy of Him. So if he hasn't come yet we must assume we have not yet reached the 4th Watch. He came to Joseph Smith "at the very moment I was prepared to abandon at despair" and he will also come unto us at that moment.

2- Tight Like Unto a Dish. (Ether 2:17-25) If for some reason he doesn't come in the Fourth Watch then we are being prepared like unto the tight dishlike boats of the Brother of Jared. The Brother of Jared found two problems inside these boats, they lacked oxygen and light. The Lord automatically solved the problem dealing with the lack of oxygen, but left it up to the Brother of Jared to create a solution for light; however, he did set parameters for him (v. 23-24). A simple solution could have been for the Lord to "still the storm" pounding at the boats giving way to a cruise ship version of the journey. But this is not what the Lord had in mind, therefore He prepared His people so that they would be protected. They did not sink in the storm, and neither will we for we have been prepared to withstand. Isaiah 65 says "before they call, I will answer..." and if he hasn't yet stilled the storm we must be Tight Like Unto a Dish.

3-Holding Places of the Heart. (D&C 98:1-3) His timeline is NOT our timeline. Often times the Lord has answers to our concerns but we have no place to put them. We do not yet have the understanding wherewith to comprehend the answers. The answers we are seeking for will not make sense in the 4th hour and so we become tight like a dish in preparation for our answers. All things are for our good and and every good thing in life is on the path but we must stay on the path to reach them. We must be patient and rejoice and in time our answers will come to us and when they do we will understand the long periods of questioning, we will now have a place in our hearts for the message we receive.

4- Bread or Stones (Luke 11) God does not hand out stones he gives bread, fish, and eggs. He is aware of our individual needs. C.S. Lewis explained that there is Expected Good (or a Desired Good) and there is Given Good; we hope that the desired and the given are one and the same because He will only give us that which we need. At times we may turn the given good into stones ourselves because it is not what we expected to receive, but The Lord will never give stones. In turn we can also turn our bread into stones with the wrong attitude, we need to appreicate what we have been given even if it is not what we expected. We live in an age of instant gratification but The Lord does not and in time we will understand the things we have been given.

5- The Poorest Soil (Jacob 5:20) If we are constantly asking ourselves "why didn't my life turn out the way I dreamed?" perhaps our dreams were off course. If we expect a lot and get it we get prideful. If we expect a lot and don't get it we become bitter. Solution: don't expect much and when it is given to you will have gratitude for what you now have. The Lord planted vines in poor ground, He nourished them a long time, and they brought forth good fruit or good character. We need always remember that there is always someone in a worse place than us. Good ground is no guarantee for success it is how we respond to the nourishment that we receive; not the ground in which we are planted.

He Cares, He Loves Us, He is Mindful, and He is Coming.