Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust

What’s the little bit of magic we need to recognize and understand so we can continue exercising faith and trusting in God’s plan for us?

Patience. It’s a word and a concept I’ve come to both love and hate. We’ve all heard the saying “good things come to those who wait.” Well, how long exactly am I supposed to wait? I’m nearing the end of my college career and still haven’t found a job. And don’t get me started on the lack of dating in my life. But I’m here to tell you that I’m learning the importance of patience as I deal with the apparent lack of direction and fulfillment of righteous desires in my life. Doing so has an almost magical role in strengthening my faith and trust in Heavenly Father’s timing and plan for me. Without patience, I wouldn’t be developing the trust and faith necessary to keep me believing that there’s a bigger plan in the works for me.  

To better understand how patience ties in with faith and trust, I first needed to understand faith and trust. Elder Richard G. Scott defined the principles of trust and faith in his talk “Trust in the Lord”: “To trust means to obey willingly without knowing the end from the beginning (see Prov. 3:5–7).” Elder Scott adds, “To produce fruit, your trust in the Lord must be more powerful and enduring than your confidence in your own personal feelings and experience. . . . To exercise faith is to trust that the Lord knows what He is doing with you and that He can accomplish it for your eternal good even though you cannot understand how He can possibly do it.”

Sometimes the faith and trust we place in God is rewarded immediately. Sometimes it isn’t. That’s where the pixie dust of patience comes into play. Often, we have to wait longer than we’d like for answers to our prayers—I know I have. Learning to be patient, to wait on the Lord and choose not to doubt him, can truly strengthen our connection to him. And increasing this connection can help us to more patiently practice faith and trust in him and his plan for each of us.

Learn more about faith and trust by reading the rest of Elder Richard G. Scott’s conference address: “Trust in the Lord.”

Source: LDS General Conference

—Lauren Buchanan, Mormon Insights

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Find more insights

Discover more insights about what it means to trust and lean not by reading Sister Bonnie H. Cordon’s conference talk “Trust in the Lord and Lean Not.”