Finding the Lost Sheep

During my time as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I've had the opportunity to work with and serve many people, from all different backgrounds and beliefs. They all have a lot of different opinions on day to day life, people, values, and God. However, no matter how different they all may appear, no matter how diverse their lifestyles or beliefs, I have come to know through service and talking with these people that God knows and loves every one of them, and cares very much about their personal happiness and circumstances. To illustrate this principle, I am going to share a couple experiences that I have had to act as the Hand of God here on the mission, changing the names of the people involved.

The first story is about a man I'll call Phil. One day my companion and I were a little early for an appointment with Phil. Phil is a nice man that we had met with a few times ago and was very excited to learn more about Jesus Christ and God. However, sometimes it has been difficult to find Phil at home, as he doesn't have a good way to remember when our appointments are. After knocking on his door and concluding that he wasn't there, we decided to head out and try and find him. After searching for a little while, we said a prayer, and felt a distinct urge to return to Phil's apartment  which we weren't planning on doing. We immediately returned, and found Phil just as he arrived, just a few minutes late to our appointment. This experience helped me see that God loves and cares about Phil and wanted him to have the chance to hear all about how he can be happy in this life.

The second story is about a lady named Anne. My companion and I had just left the church late one Sunday and were riding the bus. We had a little bit of time to go out and look for more people to share the word of God with, so my companion asked me when we should get off the bus. We decided to stay on one stop longer than we usually do, and then he asked me what we should do next. We decided to pray to see what God would have us do and if there was anybody in the area that could benefit from our message, and the instant we finished praying we were approached by a woman named Anne, asking a question about a certain passage of scripture. 

After talking with Anne for a little while, we discovered that she has been on a search for truth her entire life, and that she had a very personal relationship with God and a strong desire to find the truth. We were able to answer her questions and were able to teach her many other important truths, and learn from her as well. This sudden and direct answer to our prayers helped me see how much God loves Anne, that he would direct us out of our way to an area that we rarely visited to find one of his daughters and help her on her quest for truth.

The last story that helped me see God's love for his children is about a man named Joe. Joe is an amazing, humble, charitable person who has such a desire to find truth in all of its forms. However, for a little while Joe had been confused about what exactly was God's Plan for him here in this life, about which direction he should take.

I love Joe, and I had been praying and praying for him to have an opportunity or experience that would help him decide which path he should follow and know what steps he should take to be happier in life and feel a closer relationship with God. Shortly thereafter, we received a message from  Joe that told us that he had been reading in the bible and the scriptures that he had found had shown him the way and what he needed to do. When we received that message, my heart was filled with happiness and joy for Joe and gratitude for my God, for showing me that he cared enough about Joe to help him find the path to happiness in this life and to answer the prayers of the faithful. I know God loves and cares about Joe, in the same way he cares about the rest of us.

So, as you can see it doesn't who we are or where we come from, God knows us and loves us perfectly. He works through us here on the earth; we are his hands. Look for every opportunity you can to go out and bless somebody else's life and you will too will find the great joy that comes from being a servant of God and a tool in his hands. Pray daily for an opportunity to serve or help someone, and your life will be so much more fulfilling. And who knows, maybe somebody else will take the time to be the hand of God in your life as well.