The following is an excerpt from Sister Maeve Remke’s farewell talk from June 2025 as she started her service mission. Sister Remke serves in the Utah Salt Lake Mission, currently assigned to the Church Office Building and to a local animal shelter.

God is aware of us. He perfectly understands our weaknesses and strengths, our struggles and accomplishments.

I decided to serve a mission around December of last year. I did all the work and submitted my papers and then waited far longer than I would’ve expected to receive my call.

During this waiting period I started to dread my mission call. I realized that every aspect of a proselyting mission is a direct assault on my greatest weaknesses–socializing and connecting with others. For reference, it would not be an exaggeration to say I didn’t talk to my college roommates at all for the six plus months that we lived together.

But then I finally got my mission call and found out that I’d be doing a service mission. I won’t pretend I wasn’t upset at first. It was an unexpected call. I felt humiliated, and I was terrified to tell people. Terrified that they would get super emotional and react completely out of proportion to the situation. Luckily my mom was super chill about the whole thing and didn’t freak out even a little bit. That is not true. (The author’s mom did in fact freak out.)

In any case, my own distress quickly turned to relief. At this point, I am incredibly grateful that the Church has created this opportunity for me to serve the Lord in a way that plays to my strengths much better than a proselyting mission.

This is just one experience I’ve had that proves God is aware of me. He is consistent in His reminders that He knows me, which I appreciate.

It is important to understand God’s perfect awareness of us so that we can trust His plan for our life. He understands our true capacities perfectly, and as we learn in Mosiah 4:27, “it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength.”

The thing is, God will definitely push us past what we believe are our limits. But He knows us better than we know ourselves. We must trust in our own capacity and in our own abilities as they are amplified by God. As we learn to trust in our abilities, we must take special care not to compare ourselves to others. I frequently fall prey to the thief of joy, which is comparison.

As Buddy the Elf once relatably said, “It seems like everyone else has the same talents except for me.” Sorry for quoting Elf in June. However, we learn in Acts 10:34 that God is no respecter of persons. How could he be? If he is perfectly aware of each of us, then he knows that we are all moving through life in endlessly unique and complicated ways. It makes no sense to compare two people’s abilities or progress through life because there is no rubric to score us on.

As Elder Patrick Kearon says, “We all start with differing abilities. This is irrelevant to God, and it should be irrelevant to us.” Instead of comparing ourselves to others, we should focus on becoming the person God intends for us to be.

Consider Elder Renlund’s address entitled “Personal Preparation to Meet the Savior,” where he shares the insights of Zusya, “a renowned teacher who began to fear as he approached death. His disciples asked, “Master, why do you tremble? You’ve lived a good life; surely God will grant you a great reward.” Zusya said: “If God says to me, “Zusya, why were you not another Moses?” I will say “Because you didn’t give me the greatness of soul that you gave Moses.” And if I stand before God and He says, “Zusya, why were you not another Solomon?” I will say “Because you didn’t give me the wisdom of Solomon.” But, alas, what will I say if I stand before my Maker and He says, “Zusya, why were you not Zusya? Why were you not the man I gave you the capacity to be?” Ah, that is why I tremble.”

I can easily imagine the shame of facing God as he questions why I did not become the person He gave me the capacity to be. That is why I choose to take Elder Renlund’s advice and “rely upon … the Savior to magnify the God-given abilities [I] have received.”

God is always present in our lives, whether we choose to acknowledge him or not. He is aware of us and he directs our lives to ensure that everything will be for our good. Most importantly, He loves us perfectly and completely.