“One Week at a Time,” New Era, October 2016, 19
One Week at a Time
What are you doing next week?
High school! College! Mission! Marriage!
Certain future events have a tendency to dominate our thinking. It can be almost paralyzing to know how best to prepare for such things.
Similarly, some trials can overwhelm us in terms of day-to-day decision making. Problems on your mind or questions in your heart can loom so large you can’t imagine reaching the other side of them.
No matter what you’re facing, though, there’s something that can help: worthily partaking of the sacrament each and every week.
If something feels too big to bear, just bear with it one week at a time. The sacrament can help.
There’s a special spirit that comes from praying and pondering during the sacrament ordinance. Consider listening closely during this time for promptings and impressions about what you might do differently during the coming week. Not necessarily the coming month, semester, or school year … only the next week. Think of it as learning “line upon line” (Isaiah 28:10).
As an example, pretend you’d been praying for strength to get through a trial and the unmistakable prompting you received during sacrament is to take off your ear buds while on the bus to school that week instead of listening to music as you normally do.
Would your reaction be something along the lines of, “Huh?” Nobody’d blame you if it were. But if it’s a prompting, follow it anyway.
Elder Larry R. Lawrence of the Seventy taught the following in general conference: “The Holy Ghost really does give customized counsel.”1 He then gave examples of people he’s known who received such counsel, from a prompting to stop complaining to a divine nudge to clean their room.
It could be that on the school bus you’d strike up a conversation with someone who later becomes a close friend and the very answer to your prayers.
Such promptings can certainly arrive any time of the day or week. But prepare and watch closely for them during the sacrament ordinance. The promise of having the companionship of the Holy Ghost is mentioned in the blessings on both the bread and the water (see D&C 20:77, 79).
Even the biggest problems can shrink to a more manageable size as you face them with God’s help and direction, one week at a time.