Jet Mariano

Tag: faith journey

  • MIT8 – “Walk With Me”

    Walk With Me.
    Jagna, Bohol — my second area. One year a member of the Church, already a full-time missionary, learning what it meant to walk with God.

    Excerpt

    God’s invitation is not always to arrive quickly, but to move together. When He says “walk with me,” He is offering companionship before certainty, and presence before proof.

    Intro

    I served my mission in the Philippines Cebu Mission in 1981. I had been a member of the Church for only six months. I did not feel experienced, polished, or prepared. Yet from the first day forward, I felt something unmistakable: I was not walking alone.

    There were days I did not know what to say, doors that did not open easily, and moments when I felt far too small for the work. Still, I felt the Lord beside me—quietly guiding, steadying my steps, and shaping my confidence over time. Long before I understood doctrine deeply, I understood companionship. God was walking with me.

    Notes from the Author

    Looking back, I see that the Lord did not remove uncertainty from my path. He sanctified it by walking with me through it. That companionship mattered more than eloquence or experience. It still does.

    Perspective

    In the scriptures, the word walk often describes the pattern of daily living. We are invited to walk uprightly, to walk in the ways of the Lord, and to walk after His holy order. These phrases point to consistency and direction over time.

    With Enoch, however, the Lord extended a deeply personal invitation:

    Behold my Spirit is upon you, wherefore all thy words will I justify; and the mountains shall flee before you, and the rivers shall turn from their course; and thou shalt abide in me, and I in you; therefore walk with me.

    Moses 6:34

    God did not ask Enoch to lead from a distance. He asked him to walk together. Enoch accepted that invitation, and so did his people. Scripture records that they walked with God, and “God received [them] up into his own bosom” (see Moses 6:39; Genesis 5:22, 24; Moses 7:69).

    The idea of walking together suggests conversation, proximity, and shared direction. It implies movement at the same pace, side by side.

    Even the risen Savior chose this pattern. As He walked with two disciples on the road to Emmaus, their understanding unfolded gradually. Only later did they reflect:

    Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?

    Luke 24:32

    Mormon later testified of his people’s discipleship, saying he knew they were followers of Christ because of their “peaceable walk with the children of men” (Moroni 7:4).

    Children in the Church sing this same truth simply: “I will walk with Jesus, and He will walk with me” (“I Will Walk with Jesus,” Hymns—For Home and Church).

    Practice Today (Not Someday)

    Today, I will walk with God intentionally. I will not rush past Him by relying only on habit or experience. I will pause to listen before acting, pray before deciding, and trust that steady movement matters more than speed.

    Walking with God means choosing alignment over control, presence over performance, and faith over fear—one step at a time.

    Final Reflection

    God does not promise that the path will be effortless. He promises companionship. When we accept His invitation to walk with Him, progress becomes possible even when confidence is not yet complete.

    Pocket I’m Keeping

    Walking with God is not about getting ahead.
    It is about staying close.

    What I Hear Now

    If I keep walking, He will keep walking with me.
    That is enough.

    © 2012–2026 Jet Mariano. All rights reserved.
    For usage terms, please see the Legal Disclaimer.

  • Line Upon Line

    The Taylorsville Utah Temple at dusk, framed by golden wheat and roses. A reminder that spiritual harvests come “line upon line, precept upon precept” — in His time, His way, His will.

    There are weeks that pass quietly, and there are weeks that rearrange your spirit. In the span of just seven days, I’ve walked into the Taylorsville Temple three times. Each visit has been different, but together they’ve built something remarkable — a deepened layer of understanding, given to me line upon line, precept on precept.

    I think of my journey from 1981 up to today as “college-level” preparation in spiritual learning. Now, here in Utah, the Lord has been giving me what feels more like a “doctorate-level” education: His time, His way, His will.

    It’s like watching the stars appear at night.
    First one little light shines over there
    in the western sky, and then another,
    and then another — until finally, look for yourself…

    A whole wonderful endless universe
    began with one little star.

    Line upon line, precept on precept.
    That is how He lifts us, that is how He teaches His children.
    Line upon line, precept on precept.
    Like a summer shower giving us each hour His wisdom.
    If we are patient we shall see
    How the pieces fit together in harmony.
    We’ll know who we are in this big universe
    And then we’ll live with Him forever.

    But until it happens…

    Line upon line, precept on precept.
    That is how He lifts us, that is how He teaches His children.
    Line upon line, precept on precept.
    Like a summer shower giving us each hour His wisdom.

    (From Saturday’s Warrior, 1973 — Words by Doug Stewart, Music by Lex de Azevedo)

    Final Reflection

    Tonight in the Celestial Room, I prayed not to impose my will but to listen. What I felt wasn’t a grand vision but a gentle whisper — a reminder that revelation unfolds step by step, not all at once.

    Life keeps unfolding in ways I don’t always anticipate. Some lines remain unanswered, others open unexpectedly, but together they form a pattern that teaches me to trust the timing.

    Line upon line, I see how the Lord has been shaping my path. What once felt scattered now begins to come together in harmony — not all finished, but moving toward His perfect design.

    © 2012–2025 Jet Mariano. All rights reserved.
    For usage terms, please see the Legal Disclaimer.

  • When Laughter Is Still

    My Tesla beneath the Milky Way — motionless, but never without direction.

    Some nights, the noise fades and what remains is the weight of memory. Yesterday left more than questions—it left a silence loud enough to listen to. This poem was born from that space. It’s not about loss or blame, but a quiet confrontation with the world I’ve built, the love I’ve given, and the choices still before me. In this stillness, I ask: what does it mean to keep going, even when laughter is gone?

    It’s me. It’s my world—and I still want to taste it.
    I’ve held joy like steam in a cup—
    brief, warm… then gone.
    But I drank every drop,
    even when it burned,
    even when the cup cracked in my hands.

    I told the sky my secrets,
    parked beneath the stars in silence.
    No music this time. No echoes.
    Only questions,
    and God—still listening
    when no one else would.

    When laughter is still,
    I become what I must—
    not by gift, not by chance,
    but by choosing not to run
    even when I was left behind.

    — Poem written by Jet Mariano

    © 2012–2025 Jet Mariano. All rights reserved.
    For usage terms, please see the Legal Disclaimer.

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