How Do I Prepare Myself to Not Fear?

By Carolina Flete

For a long time, I have heard the scripture, “If ye are prepared ye shall not fear”¹, and sometimes it is a little difficult to understand this promise when there is so much calamity around us.

It is not only what is happening around us: rumors of wars and invasions that steal the peace of our family, but it is also the battles that we are fighting in the courtyards of our homes, where our neighbors lack bread and health.

I recently heard a brother from our ward express that all he needed was for the Church to get him a job so he would no longer be afraid, and so I decided to change my focus as a wellness and self-reliance specialist to working with the members to help them find their own progress path, and to help this brother with this unique task of looking for a job.

We analyzed his capabilities together, and we found he had limited options with his preparation.

However, a good opportunity presented itself which met the brother’s available schedule, the expected pay was sufficient, and we ensured that the distance was not too far so that the transportation costs were not excessive.

Two weeks later we received an alarming call from the employer because the brother was not arriving on time. Although his abilities to perform his job were adequate, his habits would not allow him to continue with the job.

Then I remembered the Lord’s promise about preparation. The Lord does not refer only to academic preparation, He also refers to all aspects of our preparation that allow us to be where we should be without anxiety of failing.

It is by having our backpack full of the tools at the right moment that will help us get what is necessary to progress. That backpack is not filled the day before the excursion. It takes time to prepare and to fill the shelf with what works for us and our families, and it needs to be prepared in such a way that when the time comes, we will only have to pack what is necessary because the shelf will already be stocked.

In his October 2005 address, President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910-2008) said:

“There was the great Flood, when waters covered the earth and when, as Peter says, only ‘eight souls were saved’ (1 Pet. 3:20).

“If anyone has any doubt concerning the terrible things that can and will afflict mankind, let him read the 24th chapter of Matthew. Among other things the Lord says: ‘Ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars. . . .

“‘‘For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places ’”.²

For the exact moment when we only succeed by preparing ourselves in time, what are you doing for when that moment arrives?