Trusting in the Lord's Timing

Terri Whitesides sat alone in the chapel that Sunday. Although her husband, Grant, was attending to his leadership responsibilities in another ward, she could not stop thinking about him as she listened in sacrament meeting. The couple speaking had recently returned from serving a full-time mission, and as she listened to their experiences, Terri wondered if the time had come for her and her husband to serve as well.

Logically the timing was less than convenient. For nearly a year, the couple had been trying to sell their home, but with little success. Grant was still employed and would need to retire early. And most important, Grant's father's health was declining, and the couple felt responsible to help care for him. Even so, Terri mentioned her thoughts to her husband later that day.

"We decided to give it the temple test," Grant says. "After asking the Lord to know His will, we both left the temple with a firm prompting that the time to serve was not in the future—the time to serve was now." The Whitesides knew leaving right away would come as a shock to their family and to Grant's employer, but to them, it felt right. "We felt that somewhere there were people waiting for us."

The Whitesides moved forward with faith and soon received their mission call to serve as humanitarian country directors in Cambodia. Grant retired a month before they were scheduled to enter the missionary training center (MTC). They never did sell their home, and three of their children lived in it during their mission. Although their children volunteered to help Grant's family take care of Grandpa, less than a week before Grant and Terri entered the MTC, Grant's father passed away. Grant and Terri were able to attend his funeral, and their trust in the Lord's timing increased.