Week 24:Comincia che Dio Provede al Resto

     

The only Italian I can speak is "spaghetti," "lasagne," and "pizza!" I am no linguist, but as we were knocking this week I came across this phrase that really struck me. "Comincia che Dio Provede al Resto," now to me that would mean absolutely nothing without the translation, "Begin, and God will provide the rest." What a profound statement, "begin, and God will provide the rest." Often it is hard to start a day, knowing that you will work your hardest and you will be exhausted by the end of the day. It is hard to start a project, knowing it will fill your thoughts incessantly until you finally finish. It is hard to start anything, especially when you know how hard it will be. But all you really need to do is... begin. This morning it snowed in Shelton, I am not one for snow and I was so looking forward to a winter without it, but as I gazed out my attic window I saw the glittering snowflakes and just thought about how beautiful it is. A new beginning, a fresh start.

     Picking up all that I have and coming to Shelton was one of the most terrifying moments of my life, I would again not know anyone and I would again be in a foreign place. But as I have been here, I have been so grateful for a new beginning, a chance to start fresh and to enlarge my heart to include so many new people. I can always agree that beginning is hard, I often don't want to start cleaning in my little old house because I am scared of the disgustingness that I might find. Yet, as I remember that when I start something, it will eventually get finished and then it is over. If I chose to begin something, it will eventually end, and the satisfaction that comes from accomplishing something is incomparable.

      Philippians 4:13 states, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Christ can make anything possible, there are no limits to what we can do as we trust in God and learn to do His will. My favorite scripture is Alma 26:12 " 12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea,behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever." As we choose to trust that God knows better than we do, we come to understand that we are better off as we do as He asks. God knows us perfectly, and He only gives us as much as we can handle. 

     This week I met a woman named Brittany. Brittany is a less active member who desperately wants to come to church but has so many stumbling blocks getting in her way. She has four children, ages 9, 6, and two 18 month-ers, and her husband has brain cancer. Because the cancer was so bad her husband had to have a huge chunk of his brain removed to defeat the cancer. So she is raising four children on her own while taking care of her husband. I have never met a stronger woman, God only calls us to bear what we can and I am in awe of her, and the faith that she has to get out of bed each morning and face the world head on.

     I know that as we have the faith to simply begin, God will truly provide the rest. We just need to take that leap of faith and it will all work out in the end.

    I love you all!

     Sister Megan Monson