It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them.
Be loyal and trustworthy. Do not befriend anyone who is lower than yourself in this regard.
Faithfulness is not foolishness or fanaticism. Rather, it is trusting and placing our confidence in Jesus Christ as our Savior, on His name, and in His promises. As we “press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men,”15 we are blessed with an eternal perspective and vision that stretches far beyond our limited mortal capacity. We will be enabled to “gather together, and stand in holy places”16 and “be not moved, until the day of the Lord come.”
What do we learn from these examples—and the hundreds of others in the scriptures? First, the righteous are not given a free pass that allows them to avoid the valleys of shadow. We all must walk through difficult times, for it is in these times of adversity that we learn principles that fortify our characters and cause us to draw closer to God. Second, our Heavenly Father knows that we suffer, and because we are His children, He will not abandon us.8 Think of the compassionate one, the Savior, who spent so much of His life ministering to the sick, the lonely, the doubting, the despairing.9 Do you think He is any less concerned about you today? My dear friends, my beloved brothers and sisters, God will watch over and shepherd you during these times of uncertainty and fear. He knows you. He hears your pleas. He is faithful and dependable. He will fulfill His promises. God has something unimaginable in mind for you personally and the Church collectively—a marvelous work and a wonder.
As a fighter pilot and airline captain, I learned that while I could not choose the adversity I would encounter during a flight, I could choose how I prepared and how I reacted. What is needed during times of crisis is calm and clear-headed trust. How do we do this? We face the facts and return to the fundamentals, to the basic gospel principles, to what matters most. You strengthen your private religious behavior—like prayer and scripture study and keeping God’s commandments. You make the decisions based on best proven practices. Focus on the things you can do and not on the things you cannot do. You muster your faith. And you listen for the guiding word of the Lord and His prophet to lead you to safety. Remember, this is the Church of Jesus Christ—He is at the helm.
As we come to trust God, sometimes through pleading in our darkest, loneliest, most uncertain moments, we learn He knows us better and loves us more than we know or love ourselves.
There cannot be peace where there is not trust; there cannot be freedom where there is not loyalty.
"Fret not thyself because of evil doers" God will see to it.
“While faith is not a perfect knowledge,” Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, “it brings a deep trust in God, whose knowledge is perfect!”21 Even in turbulent times, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is gritty and resilient. It helps us sift through unimportant distractions. It encourages us to keep moving along the covenant path. Faith pushes through discouragement and allows us to face the future with resolve and squared shoulders. It prompts us to ask for rescue and relief as we pray to the Father in the name of His Son. And when prayerful pleas seem to go unanswered, our persistent faith in Jesus Christ produces patience, humility, and the ability to reverently utter the words “Thy will be done.”
As Muller explains, part of the reason for the increase in metricization is that employees and executives are not trusted. Therefore, quantitative requirements are imposed on their behavior to keep them in line. In response, they behave in precisely those ways that the quantification model expects them to behave. And by gaming the quantification system and cheating, they make it appear that the measurement system is working. And yet, the ultimately desired results are not improved and are often even made worse.
But it feeds the expectations of funders that low overhead is the measure they should be looking at to hold charities accountable. Thus the snake of accountability eats its own tail.
As with all gifts the Father so willingly offers, seeing deeply requires us to ask Him—and then act. Ask to see others as He does—as His true sons and daughters with infinite and divine potential. Then act by loving, serving, and affirming their worth and potential as prompted. As this becomes the pattern of our lives, we will find ourselves becoming “true followers of … Jesus Christ.”8 Others will be able to trust our hearts with theirs. And in this pattern we will also discover our own true identity and purpose.
Therefore, in order for us to develop trust in God to see us through all these things, we must have a measure of understanding about His nature, including His omniscience. The Prophet Joseph Smith said it was the first principle of real religion to know the true nature of God. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 345.)
The future duties to be given to some of us in the worlds to come by an omniscient God will require of us an earned sense of esteem as well as proof of our competency. Thus the tests given to us here are given not because God is in doubt as to the outcome, but because we need to grow in order to be able to serve with full effectiveness in the eternity to come. Further, to be untested and unproven is also to be unaware of all that we are. If we are unknowing of our possibilities, with what could we safely be entrusted? Could we in ignorance of our capacities trust ourselves? Could others then be entrusted to us? Thus the relentless love of our Father in heaven is such that in His omniscience, He will not allow the cutting short some of the brief experiences we are having here. To do so would be to deprive us of everlasting experiences and great joy there. What else would an omniscient and loving Father do, even if we plead otherwise? He must at times say no. Furthermore, since there was no exemption from suffering for Christ, how can there be one for us? Do we really want immunity from adversity? Especially when certain kinds of suffering can aid our growth in this life? To deprive ourselves of those experiences, much as we might momentarily like to, would be to deprive ourselves of the outcomes over which we shouted with anticipated joy when this life's experiences were explained to us so long ago, in the world before we came here.
God carefully scales "all these things," since we cannot bear all things now. He has told us: "Behold, ye are little children and ye cannot bear all things now; ye must grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth." (D&C 50:40.) We will not be able to say shruggingly at judgment time, "I was overcome by the world because I was overprogrammed or overtempted." For the promises are that temptation can either be escaped or endured. (1 Corinthians 10:13.) The promise is also that throughout tribulation God's grace is sufficient for us—He will see us through. (2 Corinthians 12:9; Ether 12:26-27.) Thus, for a host of reasons, correct conduct under stress is more likely when one has correct expectations about life. If we understand the basic purpose of life, we will find it easier to see purpose in our own life.
Usually, when we do not know somebody, it is difficult for us to trust them, and this becomes a restraint upon communication and growth. Opening the windows of the soul helps us to build healthy relationships. But if those windows are always closed or the blinds are drawn, it is difficult to help; one simply does not know what is needed.
Our self-esteem is stretched, however, only as we are stretched, and true humility includes believing in and exploring our own possibilities.
As we come to understand and experience God in all His perfected attributes and as we struggle to develop these same attributes in ourselves, we move from appreciation for Him to adoration of Him!
I have given other priesthood blessings with equal faith, and the Lord did not grant complete healing in this life. We trust His purposes and leave the results to Him. We can’t always choose the outcome of our actions, but we can choose to be ready to act.
Once you create trust - genuine character and competence based trust - almost everything else falls into place.
Leadership is getting results in a way that inspires trust.
Trust grows when our motives are straightforward and based on mutual benefit - in other words, when we genuinely care not only for ourselves, but also for the people we interact with, lead, or serve.
I am personally concerned about this problem because I realize how much damage partial truth can do. Limited knowledge is a dangerous thing. What we need is more truth—unlimited truth—until finally we know all things.
He will not abandon His children who trust in Him. In the night of death His presence will be "better than a light and safer than a known way."
When a member of your bishopric stopped by your home and asked that you serve the Lord as a Scoutmaster, a teacher of a Beehive class, or perhaps a secretary or executive in the Sunday School, did you actually stop and contemplate the true meaning of your acceptance? Did you look upon your assignment in terms of twenty-four Boy Scouts, or twelve Beehive girls, or perhaps an obligation to devote two hours each Sunday morning? Or did you reflect upon the real meaning of your opportunity as the words of the Lord found lodgment in your heart: "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God." (D&C 18:10.) If so, you were humbled as you became aware that God, our Eternal Father, and His Beloved Son had chosen you to play a vital role in a glorious cause. "This is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." (Moses 1:39.)
It is a greater compliment to be trusted than to be loved.
Do not try to open your heart. That would be a subtle movement of aggression toward your immediate embodied experience. Never tell a closed heart to open; it will shut more tightly to protect itself, feeling your resistance and disapproval. A heart unfurls only when conditions are right; your demand for openness invites closure. This is the supreme intelligence of the heart. Instead, bow to the heart in its current state. If it's closed, let it be closed; sanctify the closure. Make it safe; safe even to feel unsafe. Trust that when the heart is ready, and not a moment before, it will open, like a flower in the warmth of the sun. There is no rush for the heart. Trust the opening and the closing, too, the expansion and contraction; this is the heart's way of breathing: safe, unsafe, safe, unsafe; the beautiful fragility of being human, and all held in the most perfect love.
I would love to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.
Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time.
The human soul doesn’t want to be advised or fixed or saved. It simply wants to be witnessed —to be seen, heard and companioned exactly as it is. When we make that kind of deep bow to the soul of a suffering person, our respect reinforces the soul’s healing resources, the only resources that can help the sufferer make it through.
Remember, the entrance door to the sanctuary is inside you.
It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them.
Missing Reference