{"id":2721,"date":"2024-01-03T17:01:53","date_gmt":"2024-01-03T21:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/?p=2721"},"modified":"2024-01-03T17:01:53","modified_gmt":"2024-01-03T21:01:53","slug":"moving-forward-trust-obedience-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/2024\/01\/moving-forward-trust-obedience-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Moving Forward: Trust, Obedience, Love"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

(Coleman\/Wikipedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

As each new year begins, we seek goals for improving our lives, which should include inventory of things we have come to understand with more depth during the past year. \u00a0Among many, I find myself reflecting on trust, obedience, and love\u2014goals that relate to and depend on each other as we are moving forward to improve quality and usefulness of our lives.<\/p>\n

Trusting with Obedience<\/strong><\/h3>\n \u00a0<\/strong>My children are involved in sports, but behavioral cause and effect is the same for engaging in the arts, analyzing and building, reading and processing information, organizing and leading others\u2014or almost any context for moving forward.<\/p>\n Athletes and Coaches<\/h4>\n Coaches seek and value athletes who are coachable\u2014able to perform with confidence, but accepting direction by someone who can see the bigger picture in the moment.<\/p>\n Moving forward in competition, the athlete must trust the coach, looking beyond personal qualities to include the coach\u2019s plan and experience. \u00a0Coaches consider the game from a perspective much higher than the individual participant, including the opponents\u2019 strengths and tendencies. \u00a0Trusting the coach beyond personal instincts can be difficult.<\/p>\n Recently my son Jordan and my daughter Mariah were both champions of a large multi-state wrestling tournament in the South, winning over the most talented wrestlers in many states. \u00a0I watched each of their matches as they were moving forward, observing how their attention to their coaches and accurate obedience were directly tied to their level of success in each match.<\/p>\n The coaches praised specifically: \u201cI love it that you listen to what I tell you and then do it.\u201d The reaction window is very small, and the direction needs to be followed immediately or the opportunity will disappear. \u00a0Doubt, hesitation, faulty hearing, or delayed execution can be costly.<\/p>\n Warriors with Faith<\/h4>\n I\u2019m reminded of Helaman\u2019s stripling warriors in the Book of Mormon. \u00a0Their fathers had buried their war weapons, so these sons were not skilled in fighting or prepared for war. \u00a0They had never fought. \u00a0However, they had been taught by their mothers to trust God and be obedient.<\/p>\n They also trusted the leader they chose, Helaman, who was a man of God. \u00a0Moving forward into battle, they trusted Helaman\u2019s knowledge, experience, and closeness to God. \u00a0They knew that the God they trusted in all things would take care of them. \u00a0Though they fought bravely and fiercely, not one of their lives was lost.<\/p>\n As Dallin H. \u00a0Oaks maintained, \u201cOur only sure reliance is to trust in the Lord and His love for His children. \u201c1<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n Moving Forward with Trust, Obedience, and Charity<\/strong><\/h3>\n****** ** We see hatred and pride tear apart so much of the good in this world; war rips apart countries, civilizations, and cultures. \u00a0People suffer from hunger and unthinkable abuse, as did the Nephite civilization. \u00a0Like the stripling warriors, our safety and our sanity are in God, who knows us and understands the dangers and the pains we face.<\/p>\n ** Pure Love Like God\u2019s<\/h4>\n ** We must recognize God\u2019s love for all <\/em>of us and His commandments to have charity\u2014<\/em>pure love like His\u2014for each other. \u00a0With this love, Jesus could forgive those who condemned and murdered Him.<\/p>\n ** The scriptures tell us that charity\u2014 \nRejoiceth not in\u00a0iniquity but rejoiceth in the\u00a0truth; \nBeareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, \u00a0 endureth all things. \nCharity\u00a0never\u00a0faileth.<\/p>\n ** ******Moving forward as we strive for charity, we must extend our love to others. \u00a0Charity requires human involvement\u2014to reach out with love for our brothers and sisters in our homes, in our communities, and overseas: doing what we can, when we can, where we can.<\/p>\n Blessed Within Charity<\/h4>\n******** ** Years ago my wife took part in a service trip overseas. \u00a0She was to capture moments of love and service on video. \u00a0As she interviewed one of the people being served, the woman said, \u201cThe same God that knows we have so little is the same God that knows that you have so much.\u201d<\/p>\n ** As this woman and my wife understood, God\u2019s blessings have reasons and expectations. \u00a0When we have been blessed, we have the privilege of blessing others. \u00a0As the Savior expressed this: \u201cInasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me\u201d (Matt. \u00a025: 40).<\/p>\n ** In 2023 our family had opportunities to serve in our home,\u00a0 in our community, and with international \u201cneighbors. \u201d In Tonga we were able to help build a home for a sweet family in need. \u00a0We went with a youth group; we all sacrificed time and effort, and we were all uplifted as we served our brothers and sisters in the beautiful Tongan nation.<\/p>\n ** We loved the people from the moment we met them. \u00a0Our love for them grew as we got to know them personally and spent \u201cfamily night\u201d in their homes.<\/p>\n ** ********Moving forward with love can build bridges, open closed minds, mend broken hearts. \u00a0Dieter F. \u00a0Uchtdorf brought belief\/trust, obedience, and love together with the greatest blessings anyone could ask:<\/p>\n As we believe<\/em>\u00a0in God, as we\u00a0love<\/em>\u00a0Him and\u00a0love<\/em>\u00a0His children with all our hearts, and as we strive to\u00a0do<\/em> as God has instructed us, we will find healing and peace, happiness and meaning. 2<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n My wish for the new year is that we may strive to be more Christlike as we strengthen our trust in Him, obey his instructions and covenants, and act with the love he would have us share with our brothers and sisters at home, in nearby places, and around the world.<\/p>\n \n<\/p> \n<\/p> \n<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As each new year begins, we seek goals for improving our lives, which should include inventory of things we have come to understand with more depth during the past year. \u00a0Among many, I find myself reflecting on trust, obedience, and love\u2014goals that relate to and depend on each other as we are moving forward to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4549,"featured_media":2724,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,50,74,238],"tags":[135,393,68,31],"class_list":["post-2721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family","category-service","category-spiritual-growth","category-strength-and-courage","tag-eternal-perspective","tag-faith-family","tag-joy","tag-service"],"yoast_head":"\nMoving Forward: Trust, Obedience, Love - Connecting With Christ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"My new years reflections include interrelated goals of trust, obedience, and love, as I 'm moving forward in my life.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/2024\/01\/moving-forward-trust-obedience-love\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Moving Forward: Trust, Obedience, Love - Connecting With Christ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My new years reflections include interrelated goals of trust, obedience, and love, as I 'm moving forward in my life.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/2024\/01\/moving-forward-trust-obedience-love\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Connecting with Christ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-03T21:01:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1417\/2024\/01\/Pacific_Angel_Tonga_140722-F-QH302-027.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"352\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Abe Mills\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Abe Mills\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/2024\/01\/moving-forward-trust-obedience-love\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/2024\/01\/moving-forward-trust-obedience-love\/\",\"name\":\"Moving Forward: Trust, Obedience, Love - Connecting With Christ\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-03T21:01:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-03T21:01:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/#\/schema\/person\/5a0d031a4d36f1b3a690c68ec695efa7\"},\"description\":\"My new years reflections include interrelated goals of trust, obedience, and love, as I 'm moving forward in my life.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/2024\/01\/moving-forward-trust-obedience-love\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/2024\/01\/moving-forward-trust-obedience-love\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/2024\/01\/moving-forward-trust-obedience-love\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Moving Forward: Trust, Obedience, Love\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/\",\"name\":\"Connecting with Christ\",\"description\":\"Latter-day Saints Connecting with Christ\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/#\/schema\/person\/5a0d031a4d36f1b3a690c68ec695efa7\",\"name\":\"Abe Mills\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f47681d7abfbcd5dbbf7372bbc487cf0?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f47681d7abfbcd5dbbf7372bbc487cf0?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Abe Mills\"},\"description\":\"Abe Mills spends his time with his amazing wife and wonderful children creating content as the Sunshine Mafia. They spread sunshine through service and positive messaging to followers around the globe on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok. Abe performed in the Christian boy band, Jericho Road, graduated from BYU with a degree in Broadcast Journalism, and served a mission in Houston, Texas. He is an entrepreneur and an investor who loves traveling, serving, performing, and experiencing different foods and cultures around the world with his family!\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/author\/amills\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Moving Forward: Trust, Obedience, Love - Connecting With Christ","description":"My new years reflections include interrelated goals of trust, obedience, and love, as I 'm moving forward in my life.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/2024\/01\/moving-forward-trust-obedience-love\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Moving Forward: Trust, Obedience, Love - Connecting With Christ","og_description":"My new years reflections include interrelated goals of trust, obedience, and love, as I 'm moving forward in my life.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/2024\/01\/moving-forward-trust-obedience-love\/","og_site_name":"Connecting with Christ","article_published_time":"2024-01-03T21:01:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":512,"height":352,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1417\/2024\/01\/Pacific_Angel_Tonga_140722-F-QH302-027.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Abe Mills","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Abe Mills","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/2024\/01\/moving-forward-trust-obedience-love\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/2024\/01\/moving-forward-trust-obedience-love\/","name":"Moving Forward: Trust, Obedience, Love - Connecting With Christ","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-01-03T21:01:53+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-03T21:01:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/#\/schema\/person\/5a0d031a4d36f1b3a690c68ec695efa7"},"description":"My new years reflections include interrelated goals of trust, obedience, and love, as I 'm moving forward in my life.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/2024\/01\/moving-forward-trust-obedience-love\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/2024\/01\/moving-forward-trust-obedience-love\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/2024\/01\/moving-forward-trust-obedience-love\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Moving Forward: Trust, Obedience, Love"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/","name":"Connecting with Christ","description":"Latter-day Saints Connecting with Christ","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/#\/schema\/person\/5a0d031a4d36f1b3a690c68ec695efa7","name":"Abe Mills","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f47681d7abfbcd5dbbf7372bbc487cf0?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f47681d7abfbcd5dbbf7372bbc487cf0?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Abe Mills"},"description":"Abe Mills spends his time with his amazing wife and wonderful children creating content as the Sunshine Mafia. They spread sunshine through service and positive messaging to followers around the globe on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok. Abe performed in the Christian boy band, Jericho Road, graduated from BYU with a degree in Broadcast Journalism, and served a mission in Houston, Texas. He is an entrepreneur and an investor who loves traveling, serving, performing, and experiencing different foods and cultures around the world with his family!","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/author\/amills\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4549"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/connectingwithchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}