Recently during a discussion on obedience, a young sister missionary said that, if she was honest, she was about 60% obedient during her time at the Ghana MTC (Missionary Training Center). An elder said he was struggling being 8,000 miles from home and would call home more often than once a week. My first thought was “what would it be like to change? To become 100% obedient?”

As a therapist in prison, we challenged each man to change. At first, many of those men were reluctant to change. Like many of us, we have become very comfortable where we are now even if some of our habits, some of our thinking patterns, some of our decision-making might not the best. But we are used to it. It is easier not to change. Not to be mean or derisive, we would simply ask those men “How is that working for you now?  Do you like wearing the color orange? Do you like having someone tell you when to go eat or when to go outside?”

Then we would use a less direct challenge … not “You must change now!!!” Instead, we would say “You don’t have to change this minute, but if you did, how would that feel? If it would feel good, what is holding you back? When can you start? What would you like to happen?”

In the Church’s Addiction Recovery Program, we observed that those who made steady progress learned to trust the Lord. Many people try to find comfort and peace by controlling everything and everyone in their life. That control would seem to give them a sense of security and peace. When they couldn’t control everything and everybody, they would turn to substance abuse or addictive behaviors to numb their pain or to try to find some sense of comfort even when those solutions were temporary and the source of comfort wasn’t real or meaningful. A common phrase that provides encouragement during recovery is “Let go. Let God.” Then our change is real and lasting. Isn’t that why missionaries share the gospel of Jesus Christ? He invites us and encourages us to change. And through His love and His atonement, we can make every change necessary that will bring peace and everlasting joy.

The men in prison made changes, as uncomfortable as the process was, and it changed their lives. My young missionary friends, and you and I, can continue to make changes in our very nature as we turn to our Savior. Our former prophet President Ezra Taft Benson said “The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature. . . . “May we be convinced that Jesus is the Christ, choose to follow Him, be changed for Him, captained by Him, consumed in Him, and born again” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1985, 5–6; or Ensign, Nov. 1985, 6–7).

May the Lord bless us to change our natures, to be obedient, and to find that peace that passeth all understanding.