Small Things Show Forth Great Power

(Elder Cummings)

This week can be summarized very well in one of my favorite scriptures in holy writ, Ether 3:5.

Behold, O Lord, thou canst do this.  We know that thou art able to show forth great power, which looks small unto the understanding of men.

As Elder Balgey and I have been teaching, and contacting, and praying together for direction, this scripture has been on my mind.  So much of what the Lord does for his children looks so small to us from our mortal mindset.  In fact, one of the greatest manifestations of God's power, the quiet whispering of the Holy Ghost, is not even observable with the human eye.

One of our investigators, Sou, has been pushing through a lot of opposition from his family to continue meeting with us, and to prepare to be baptized.  We have been meeting him for several weeks, and he now knows God's desire is for him to be baptized.  He is still unsure of a date.  In addressing this concern, we invited him to select a date and to pray about it.  Following a prompting from the Spirit, I pulled out a card and wrote a date on it for him to pray about, not really knowing why.  The visit progressed, and when it was right, I gave him the card and the Spirit filled the room.  The date I had written was the same one he had been thinking about.  The Spirit had inspired me to act in a small way to confirm to Sou that the thoughts he had were inspired.

Another day, we knocked on the door of a less-active member who had not been contacted in a while.  While waiting for them to come to the door, an adult male pitbull turns the corner of the house and walks up to us, sniffs our legs, and sits down at our feet.  A small thing, but not the normal thing for that dog.  The family invited us in, and we had a wonderful visit.  They are happy to have us come back this next week.

One afternoon Elder Balgey and I were walking back to our car from contacting a referral and said hi to a pedestrian, and casually asked if he believed in Christ.  Not a very tactful approach for a street contact, but he said no, and said we could come by and meet him to help him understand Christianity and especially Mormonism.  So we did, and he is now is investigating the church and reading in the Book of Mormon.  He immigrated from Vietnam three years ago and has a curiosity to learn that he didn't know he had.

It really is the small things--the smallest things--that show forth God's greatest power.  We can come to know God best in some of the slowest times of our lives.  God is always there.

Have a wonderful week!

With love,

Elder Jared Cummings