“Living ‘as Though’ God’s Promises Have Been Fulfilled,” Liahona, February 2022
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Living “as Though” God’s Promises Have Been Fulfilled
A simple phrase has helped me see ways that God keeps His promises, including those in my patriarchal blessing, even when I may not experience them right now.
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Sometimes having an eternal perspective can feel like a blessing and a curse. While I am comforted in knowing that things will eventually work out, eternity feels like a really long time to wait. Elder Neal A. Maxwell (1926–2004) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught that “God lives in an eternal now where the past, present, and future are constantly before Him.”1 This teaching makes me think that God not only sees me as waiting for promises now but also sees the effect of the fulfillment of those promises in eternity. While I do not have a husband or children on this earth at present, He sees me as a wife and mother. While I daily demonstrate human weakness and frailty, He sees me as a glorified, perfected being. And because He sees me in those eternal roles, I can look forward and live “as though” (Jarom 1:11) those things have already come to pass.
Living “as though” requires believing that God is a promise keeper. While “promise keeper” is not a scriptural phrase, it has become one of my favorite descriptions of Him. The scriptures are a book of promises. His holy temple is a house of promises. My covenants with Him are my personal promises. His work is a work of promises. And He is a promise keeper who is anxious to pour out blessings upon His people (see Doctrine and Covenants 109:21). He remembered Rachel, delivered David, fed the woman of Zarephath, led the children of Israel to a promised land, and ushered in the long-promised Restoration of His gospel. And most important of all, He sent His Only Begotten Son “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). Truly, throughout scripture “the Lord has revealed Himself and His perfect character … so as to enable the mind of man to place confidence in Him without reservation” (Bible Dictionary, “Faith”).
Given that God is a God of promises, it becomes hard at times for me to reconcile why certain promises have not yet been fulfilled in my life. I have known many others who have felt similarly when reviewing their patriarchal blessings or considering other priesthood blessings and promptings from the Holy Ghost. So how do we live “as though” those promises have been fulfilled? I’d like to share three ideas.
1. Consider a Variety of Promises
One of the keys to believing that Heavenly Father is a promise keeper is being aware of the variety of promises He has given us. Some promises seem more exciting or significant than others, and those are often the ones we tend to fixate on. While we recognize that many of these promises will not be completed in this life, we hope to receive some portion of them in mortality and live faithfully to someday obtain the fulfillment of them. For example, we look forward to having “the resurrection … pass upon all” (2 Nephi 9:22), the joy of bringing “one soul unto [Him]” (Doctrine and Covenants 18:15), deliverance from “a thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7), an eternal marriage and family, and ultimately, exaltation and becoming like our heavenly parents.2
Other promises can be small and simple and sometimes even taken for granted. These promises make finding joy in mortality possible and include things like always having Christ’s “Spirit to be with [us]” (Doctrine and Covenants 20:77), knowing that “[His] grace is sufficient” (2 Corinthians 12:9), experiencing “peace in this world” (Doctrine and Covenants 59:23), and being “happy under every circumstance.”3 Christ promises, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you” (John 14:18).
His promises are as infinite as His power and His love. As we take time to more fully recognize what He has promised, we can increase the likelihood that we will see more fulfillment of His promises and, therefore, trust Him more as a promise keeper.
2. Recognize His Hand
I think there have been many times in life when I was so focused on the seemingly more significant promises or a specific promise I was hoping for that I missed what the Lord was doing for me in the present. We tend to find evidence for whatever we are looking for. If we look for fulfillment, we will see the Lord’s companionship in our day. We will see doors He opened for us. We will see “assurances” (Alma 58:11) He sent us.
One way I learned to see His companionship came from President Henry B. Eyring, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, who taught about keeping a daily record of how we’ve seen the hand of God reaching out to bless us each day.4 This daily reflection and recording may have changed me more than any one thing. Through this, I began to see that the Lord was walking with me each day and was fulfilling more promises than I could have imagined.
We live in a world where many focus on the lack in their lives. Too many of us start the day with thoughts that we aren’t enough and end it feeling like we’ve fallen short. We may feel like we don’t have enough time, money, energy, courage, hope, faith, and so on. This type of perspective makes it very hard to see any fulfillment of promises.
The hymn “As Now We Take the Sacrament” states, “We contemplate thy lasting grace, thy boundless charity.”5 For years, my preparation for the sacrament focused on the mistakes I had made the week(s) before and the lack I had demonstrated. All I could see was how far I was from being like Christ. After the Spirit taught me through these lyrics, I began to focus on how I had seen His “lasting grace” and “boundless charity” during the past week. As I reflected, I saw the fulfillment of promises. I saw that He had been with me. He had comforted, enabled, and strengthened me. He had kept His promises.
3. Help Him Keep His Promises to Others
A couple of Christmases ago, I had numerous experiences that deepened my understanding of His desire to fulfill His promises to His children. Rather than dreading another lonely holiday season, I decided I would seek to be His instrument in whatever way He needed me to be. So each day I asked Him who needed to feel His love that day and how I could best share that love for Him. Through the Holy Ghost I witnessed miracles and felt the joy of being an instrument in His hands in fulfilling some small and simple promises. I continue to pray every day to be that instrument for Him.
When we choose to trust God and live “as though” promises have been fulfilled, we find strength to get out of bed, live faithfully, and wait patiently even when it feels hard to do. Like Sarah, we choose to “[judge] him faithful who had promised” (Hebrews 11:11). Like Abraham, we seek to “[stagger] not at the promise of God” (Romans 4:20) while “against hope believ[ing] in hope” (Romans 4:18).
Living “as though” will look different for everyone. For me, it means I repent quickly and regularly, trusting that my efforts are helping me become like Him. I keep covenants I have already made, knowing that the choices I make now will bless my husband and family. I beg for strength to “not … shrink” (Doctrine and Covenants 19:18) from loneliness, and I look for opportunities to lift others. I create a home now where I would feel good about raising children.
Trusting in His promises is not always an easy choice. Waiting upon the Lord requires a faith in Jesus Christ that can feel, at times, like it is almost more than we can muster. Yet Alma testified, “He will fulfil all his promises which he shall make unto you, for he has fulfilled his promises which he has made unto our fathers” (Alma 37:17). God’s promises are sure, and I know that the Savior will offer any help and support we need as we seek to come to know and trust our Father in Heaven, who will verify “his word … in every particular” (Alma 25:17). For truly “there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart” (1 Kings 8:23).