"Stuck" in the World of Potential

Do you ever feel like you are "stuck" in the world of Potential? Growing up playing sports, I think this was the way my coaches tried to motivate me. They would say a positive thing to me about something that I did to build my confidence and then they would back that up and say, "Elder Stringam, you have so much potential." The first few times that I heard that I thought to myself, "I do have a lot of room to improve and a lot of potential to achieve. However, after I heard this over, and over, and over from my coaches my thought changed to, "Will I ever reach my potential?" I've thought more and more about that since I've been here in Tennessee. "Will I ever reach my potential as a missionary?" I know that I am not alone in this. I've asked a few of my companions about what they think about the whole potential thing and they feel the same way. I remember about 10 months ago I was sitting in the Mother's lounge of the church building in Nashville having an interview with President Hutchings. I was struggling with being a missionary. It felt like all the work that we were doing to help people just wasn't coming together. People weren't keeping their commitments, none of our investigators were progressing in the gospel, and we were working our tails off, all for nothing....so I thought. President sat me down in the chair and said, "Elder, what's wrong?"
"President, nothing is happening in our area and I'm fed up with it. We are working so hard that I have blisters on my feet and I don't get why everything is falling thru."
He said, "Are you ready to feel the Spirit?" I nodded my head. "You aren't out here for the Lord right now, you are out here for you. This is HIS work and HIS glory."
He taught me some other things in that interview, and among many things that I learned, I will share two. Number One, I have the upmost respect and admiration for President Hutchings. He is a Man of God. Number two, if we think that we have reached our potential and get complacent in our progression back to Heavenly Father, we have failed. How could we become like our Heavenly Father if we don't have potential to achieve? We must ALWAYS have some potential to achieve because we are not living with God yet. None of us should get down on ourselves if there are areas to improve in, because there always should be! From that point on, I've looked at life in a whole new light. I've looked at weaknesses and trials differently as well. How grateful I am for a loving Heavenly Father who teaches thru our own experience. I cannot wait to see Him again someday. To talk with Him, to joke with Him, to learn from Him, to hug Him, to thank Him, the list goes on and on.
I Stand All Amazed....at being "stuck" in the world of potential!