Nothing Shall Be Impossible

In chapter 10 of his book Heart of the Matter, President Nelson told of how he was given this assignment in 1985 from President Ezra Taft Benson: “You are to be responsible for all of the affairs of the Church in Europe and Africa, with a special assignment to open up the nations in Eastern Europe that are now under the yoke of Communism for the preaching of the gospel.” He was intimidated by the formidable task and commented that in that year “more of Europe lay behind the Iron Curtain than not: Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Macedonia, Yugoslavia, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, the German Democratic Republic, and all of the USSR were under the yoke of Communism.” But he went to work to do what he could to fulfill this assignment. He related, “During the next several years, I worked hard and tried my best. I made dozens of trips to Eastern Europe and to the former Soviet Union, as well as countless visits to Washington, D.C., to meet with ambassadors and other dignitaries who could help open doors for me throughout Europe. In nations that were largely atheistic, I was never wanted and rarely welcome. Many governmental leaders, at least initially, wouldn’t even give an appointment to a religious man who professed faith in God. In fact, at the time, believers were being imprisoned and even executed in some countries.” He summarized what happened over the course of five years: “Each country presented different challenges. We worked and prayed as diligently as we knew how. When all was said and done, we turned to the Lord to make up the difference. Again and again, He did.” After tireless efforts on his part and many miracles later, on December 14, 1990, he was able to report to President Benson that the Church was officially established in every country in Eastern Europe.

                After relating this experience, President Nelson taught this lesson that he learned: “One of my learnings was that the Lord loves effort. And He honors effort. When we serve Him diligently, and give our best effort, the Lord steps in and makes up the difference between our effort and what is required. Our Heavenly Father sent us here, in the latter part of these latter days, to be successful. He wants us to realize that ‘with God nothing shall be impossible.’ Those who make covenants with Him and keep them are entitled, through their worthiness, to receive revelation, strength, and access to godly power to assist with righteous endeavors.” He added that the key to doing the work God has given us is faith. He wrote, “Faith is the power that enables us, who feel so unlikely, to accomplish the impossible. Faith is the power that helps each of us conquer our individual challenges and do the work the Lord requires us to do.” The Savior put it this way in the Book of Mormon: “If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me” (Moroni 7:33). Moroni repeated this a few chapters later: “And Christ truly said unto our fathers: If ye have faith ye can do all things which are expedient unto me” (Moroni 10:23). In mortality the Savior taught His disciples, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:20-21). I don’t think that what the Lord meant was that if we have a “little” faith we can move mountains (i.e. because the mustard seed is little). Rather, I believe He meant that if we have focused, concentrated, powerful faith like the potential that resides in that small seed so that “when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof,” then we can work wonders (Matthew 13:32). As we focus our efforts on the task at hand and fix our thoughts on the Savior, we can accomplish the impossible tasks that are before us. But we have to put forth the effort that the Lord loves and then pray with all our heart for His help and strength and guiding hand to be over us. In short, we must be like Enos of old, having “prayed and labored with all diligence” so that the Lord can say to us too: “I will grant unto thee according to thy desires, because of thy faith” (Enos 1:12).