"I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go"

I've had music on my mind this week.  I have found myself waking up many mornings with a different hymn from General Conference playing through my head.  These songs have helped guide and focus my thoughts each day, and my gratitude has been growing for music in general as well as the hymns.

So today I thought I'd highlight one of the songs I've been thinking about.  This one was sung in the General Relief Society Meeting two weeks ago (although the video is from a couple years ago.)  Will you listen to it as you read my thoughts below?  The lyrics are at the end of the post.  :)





What a beautiful song!  My favorite hymns are those that so perfectly seem to match tone of the music with the message of the words.  This one speaks volumes about what I consider to be some of the most vital concepts of the gospel.  (Because of how important I think they are, no doubt they will sound very familiar on this blog.  Please forgive me if I become a broken record.)  :)

This song reminded me that one of the most crucial things that we do as members of the church and partakers of the gospel is to submit our will to God's.  This is what it means to me to truly have faith: to trust in God and His plan completely.  This is also the essence of what is being asked of us when we are told to offer up a broken heart and a contrite spirit.  It is us saying, "I know Thee Lord, and Thou art good and gracious and knoweth all things.  Therefore, Thy will be done."  Submitting ourselves to His will means more than just an attitude change, (though it certainly encompasses that.)  It means being willing to follow the promptings of the spirit and act.  It means, as the song says, being willing to go where He would have us go, say what He would have us say, and most importantly be who He would have us be.

This hymn addresses the fact that sometimes we're not called to do the most visible or grand things, those things that give people notoriety or fame.  In addition, we're often called to do things that are outside of our comfort zone or contrary to our natural inclinations.  But He asks these things of us with perfect knowledge of who we are and what we need, and He will prepare the way for us.

We are asked to do the seemingly impossible when we are encourage to be perfect even as Christ is perfect.  We are told to be like Christ in every way, because He was THE example for us of who we are meant to be.  And what did Christ do?  He served and loved with all His heart.  One of my favorite ideas from conference is the fact that we are called to be Christ's agents, to literally do the things He would do if He were here.  This isn't a terribly novel idea in the gospel, but this week it struck me in a new way.  When I speak to my friends, are the words I say the words He would say?  Is my tone of voice and body language reflective of the way I know He feels about this person and about me?  It really made me think.

So I challenge you to ask yourself now:  Am I TRULY willing to go where, say what, and be what God would have me go, say, and be?  And how am I witnessing my willingness with my actions?  The answers to these questions have to come from an honest heart, "acting no hypocrisy . . .  but with real intent" (2 Nephi 31:13).  And if you find your answers to be lacking, then make that change now!  Through the Atonement I know we can all change our very natures and wills to align with God's.  As we move forward in that quest, we should strive to live the last lines of the last verse of this hymn:  "So trusting my all to thy tender care, And knowing thou lovest me, I'll do thy will with a heart sincere: I'll be what you want me to be."

1. It may not be on the mountain height
Or over the stormy sea,
It may not be at the battle's front
My Lord will have need of me.
But if, by a still, small voice he calls
To paths that I do not know,
I'll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in thine:
I'll go where you want me to go.

[Chorus]
I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord,
Over mountain or plain or sea;
I'll say what you want me to say, dear Lord;
I'll be what you want me to be.

2. Perhaps today there are loving words
Which Jesus would have me speak;
There may be now in the paths of sin
Some wand'rer whom I should seek.
O Savior, if thou wilt be my guide,
Tho dark and rugged the way,
My voice shall echo the message sweet:
I'll say what you want me to say.

3. There's surely somewhere a lowly place
In earth's harvest fields so wide
Where I may labor through life's short day
For Jesus, the Crucified.
So trusting my all to thy tender care,
And knowing thou lovest me,
I'll do thy will with a heart sincere:
I'll be what you want me to be.