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.
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