To know is to do … or can we do to know?

I joined John Hilton III’s Book of Mormon Masterclass. I have heard Brother Hilton on a couple of different podcasts in the past and followed him on social media, so when he posted about this masterclass I was excited to join. And it has been more value-add to my life than I thought it could be.

For a but of background, I love The Book of Mormon. I studied it quite a bit from a young age and can say I’ve read it at least once a year for as long as I can remember. I have realized over the years that no matter how much I read and study this amazing book, I will always find something new through the Holy Ghost. I love hearing what other people learn about The Book of Mormon as they study, ponder, and pray about it. In addition to this year’s Come, Follow Me study, I am also trying to learn from various podcasts, conference talks, and scholars about The Book of Mormon. John Hilton III has provided a very good venue for me to do just that. The content that he provides is educational and thought provoking. Be sure to check it out.

In class 3 of this masterclass, Brother Hilton compares 1 Ne 3:7 to 1 Ne 4:6. These are both very famous verses, often quoted in various talks or lessons. In chapter 3, Nephi says he knows that the Lord is commanding him and that the Lord will prepare a way so then he will go and do. In chapter 4, he says that he doesn’t know, but he moves forward and does the will of the Lord as the Spirit directs (gaining knowledge by doing). I cannot summarize this or articulate this concept as well or as clearly as Brother Hilton does. I honestly listened to this lesson 3 times. Plus, John Hilton III was the guest on the podcast Follow Him for the same week this class was posted (1 Nephi chapters 1-5), and he mentioned this concept on that podcast as well. I hope you heard it somewhere, because it is fantastic. Here is what I got out of it: sometimes we know things and it gives us the strength and courage and perhaps even faith to go and do it. Other times, we may not know something, but we feel prompted to act and do so in faith; in following that prompting and acting upon it, we learn and gain a knowledge. Brother Hilton uses Sariah as an example. She obviously followed Lehi into the wilderness at the start of the Book of Nephi, but it isn’t until partway through chapter 5 when her sons return with the brass plates and Zoram that she says, “Now I know …” This shows that she was willing to act in faith to follow the prophet (her husband Lehi) and trust that she would know later. When Lehi told his family to leave Jerusalem, it is clear that Sariah must have had some trust and faith, some basic knowledge, that her husband was a prophet and a man of God. But, her testimony that it was definitely God’s will for her family to be in the wilderness and seek the promised land didn’t come until later.

How many times in my life do I have questions or wonder if what I’m doing is right? (Hint: a lot.) I love this concept because so many times I think I should figure out and know the plan 100% before acting on it. That isn’t always the case. But also, sometimes I think, I’ll leave this up to the Lord and He will show me the way, but then He wants me to give more effort and try to make a plan. It goes both way and only sincere prayer and pondering through the Spirit will indicate which is needed at the time.

As a parent I also see this in action. I will remind my kids to do something and my tween’s response is usually, “I know, Mom.” To which I say, “To know is to do.” Eye rolls ensue, but then things get done. In “I am a Child of God” the lyrics were changed to “teach me all that I must do” rather than know because it is one thing to know something, but another to do it. We can know we should make covenants or keep covenants, but doing it is critical to our salvation and exaltation. We cannot simply know. We must do. But, as I learned recently, sometimes we must do in order to know not just know in order to do.

Repentance not just for sin – overcome the Natural, Fallen State

We know that repentance means change, but when I think of that change, I usually limit my definition of repentance to sin and overcoming sin. My eyes were opened to a new way of thinking about repentance last week when I listened to The Scriptures are Real podcast with Dr. Kerry Muhlestein and guest Phil Allred on Christ and Covenant to Get through Our Dark and Dreary Waste. Side note: I love The Scriptures are Real podcasts and the insights Dr. Muhlestein and his guests share about the scriptures. It is different from most other Come, Follow Me-related podcasts in that not only do they focus on relating it to our daily, modern lives but they also dig deep and discuss the scriptural academics and specified knowledge from research and other sources. Anyway, check it out.

I mention this episode specifically because they talk about other ways that repentance can apply to our lives rather than just fixing sin and not sinning again. They were talking about the dark and dreary waste and the covenant path and the role of the Fall and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. On the one hand, we are divine beings: spirit children of our Heavenly Parents. On the other hand, we live in a fallen world because of the Fall of Adam and Eve: we are in a natural state of mortal life being subjected to temptation, pain, affliction of every kind. They suggested three paths:

  1. The overly confident divine being who focuses solely on the fact they are a child of God. God loves all of His children, regardless of our actions, so by focusing on that and that alone, nothing we do matters. The “you do you” or “take me as I am” philosophies of the world fit well here because it ignores the Fall and the need for a Savior all together.
  2. The self-loathing being who sees themselves as a fallen son or daughter who cannot be redeemed because they are sinful, carnal, devilish and continually make mistakes. This philosophy allows no room for improvement or change because it focuses solely on the Fall and doesn’t acknowledge the Redeemer.
  3. The middle ground or the covenant maker and keeper who understands and recognizes their fallen state, but relies upon the mercies of the Savior, Jesus Christ to fully redeem them from the Fall and the monsters of Death and Sin that accompany it.

In path one, there is no need for a Savior simply because we are children of God and that is good enough. But it isn’t enough. We do need a Savior because we are human and make mistakes. But path two is also wrong because while we make mistakes and cannot in this life be perfect, Jesus Christ did suffer and die for us and made it possible for us to return to live with God, our Father. This is why path three is the best option because it allows for our mortality, our humanity, our mistakes and our learning. It allows for us to become something new and better through our covenants with the Lord.

When we repent of sin, of course our sins our cleansed and we can become a “new creature” like Paul describes in the New Testament. We can completely change from a sinful state to one of holiness and purity through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. But, more than that, when we have weaknesses (Ether 12:27) or things we struggle with as part of our mortal experience, we can change and turn those into strengths through Jesus Christ. Now, I am not saying I didn’t know we could turn to the Savior to make “weak things become strong,” no; what I am saying is that everything we are can be improved upon and changed through Jesus Christ. Even our strengths can become stronger and used for more holy purposes when we turn to Christ. For example, I am an introvert who has had to over the years get better at talking with people and enjoying “crowds” to some extent. I did this back when I worked in a corporate position as well as part of various Church callings. It took work and effort on my part, but I couldn’t do it alone. I needed the enabling power of the Atonement to help me with this. I still struggle with it sometimes, but I am so much better. I’ve improved and changed to the point that some people mistake me for an extrovert at first. Nope. I have just been working on this weakness to make it stronger. Repentance means change, more specifically changing to be more like Christ. So, you could say that it was a repentance process that helped me overcome by intense introvertness (okay, that’s not a word, but you get it). I am not suggesting that we start using the word repentance in exchange with change everywhere (and Brother Allred states this on the podcast that we can’t interchange them because of the strong definitions and connotations the words have), but this concept is a good one. What else do I need to change and overcome to grow closer to God, to keep my covenants better, to become like Jesus Christ? These questions will help me on the covenant path as I seek Him and strive to find joy each day in following Him.

“The Podcast”

Okay, so I mentioned that I love podcasts, especially podcasts about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But, I have to highlight my favorite one simply because it brings me so much joy. I found this podcast a few years ago, just a couple months after it launched. The podcast is called The Standard of Truth. It is all about Church history and various topics from the beginnings of the Church to how to know a good historical or factual source to all the topics they may or may not talk about in the next 38 seasons of their show. The dry humor alone would keep me coming back for more. The thing I love the most, though, is the testimony and witness of Dr. Gerrit Dirkmaat. His experiences and his knowledge are compelling. His research is thorough. What he doesn’t know, he admits to not knowing. If he can research it and find it, he does. If there is not a specific, doctrinal answer, he will discuss the various facets of the question and possible solutions, but he only cites good sources and does not make statements contrary to Church doctrine. I subscribed to the premium content as soon as it released because I seriously cannot get enough of this podcast. I also love Prof. Richard LeDuc. He wasn’t on the first episodes much if at all as I can recall, but he is great. His humor and his own insights are just spot on.

My husband and I have listened to some episodes more than once as they are so insightful and interesting. I like that this year studying The Book of Mormon, they are highlighting some of the historical information about the coming forth of The Book of Mormon. While they go at their own pace and don’t follow Come, Follow Me curricula, the information is simply great. I have not read any of The Joseph Smith Papers cover to cover, but we do have them and I have looked at them. Dr. Dirkmaat knows his stuff, especially from the 19th century. I am also enjoying the premium content which includes American History as well as Joseph Smith history and sacred places from our past because of the format and nature of the podcast and its hosts. I share this podcast with anyone and everyone because it brings me such joy to listen to it. Last year and again this year, the tours they offer have been in conflict with other obligations that we have, but I sincerely hope my husband and I can tour with them in the future.

We love this podcast so much that we simply refer to it in our home as “The Podcast” rather than specifying its name. My husband will ask whether I listened to The Podcast today, and I smile. If I say, “What did you think about The Podcast?” my husband always knows what I mean. If you haven’t ever listened, give it a whirl. If you have listened before, but didn’t enjoy it, try again. It will be worth it. You don’t have to do the premium content because the regular content is great, but the premium is wonderful, too! Check it out.

Wait, you celebrate mistakes?

Do you celebrate things? Perhaps when you get everything done on your to-do list for the day, you celebrate with a piece of chocolate. Or when you reach a weight-loss goal, you treat yourself to something fun. Or when you accomplish something you’ve been trying to do for a long time, like a college degree, you celebrate, right? Life is filled with celebrations for birthdays (just being alive makes me happy!), anniversaries, monthaversaries, holidays, etc. It’s fun to find things to celebrate. But what about celebrating failures, mishaps or mistakes?

A few months ago my husband came home from work saying he had heard this new concept about celebrating mistakes because mistakes are just life lessons. (Obviously, some mistakes are accidents and some may be on purpose. But for the purpose of this concept, let’s say mistakes are accidentally. Let’s assume we have the best of intentions, but since no one is perfect, mistakes are inevitable. But the goal is perfection. We just fall short. Most of our learning happens in recognizing what the mistake is and not repeating it.) Perhaps this is not a new concept to you, but for me it was. It was especially enlightening for me because my husband is not a big celebrator. He doesn’t really care about his birthday. When he graduated from medical school, he didn’t want a party–it was I who insisted. He loves celebrating his wife and his children, however. He just doesn’t get the concept of celebrating. In fact, when we read B. J. Fogg’s Tiny Habits (highly recommend this book, and love that the audiobook is read by the author himself on Audible), he really didn’t understand the concept of the tiny rewards. For example, giving a high five or giving yourself a pat on the back. This was entirely new to him. But, as he started implementing it daily, he has seen his tiny habit of celebrating small wins make big successes in life. Anyway, I was intrigued about the concept of celebrating mistakes.

Let me set the scene: we were at the dinner table talking about our days. My girls were telling us about school. My youngest daughter, about 7 years old, was telling us how she struggled with something at school and she seemed a bit embarrassed by it. My husband started telling us about celebrating mistakes. He explained that she should be happy that she made that mistake because she is not likely to do it again. She learned from it. She could and would do better. She cheered up. Since then, we have a habit of talking about our mistake(s) from the day and what we learned and how we will make it better. Such a simple concept has really changed how we look at mistakes.

I made a bigger mistake not too long ago. I had entirely mixed up our calendar dates and had to rearrange and reschedule things three different times with the respective parties and entities to fix it. I was so embarrassed. But as I shared what had happened, including the fact that my husband had to help me in communicating the mix-up more than once, my kids laughed and said, “Mom, guess you’re learning aren’t you.” I was so happy to hear this. I felt less embarrassed. My kids know that mistakes are inevitable. Embarrassment happens, but doesn’t need to stay. We can fix our mistakes. For the mistakes we can’t fix on our own, we can get help. And for mistakes big and small, the Savior Jesus Christ is always there to help us get up and start again. He never scolds. He always loves. He gently leads us back where we should be. It is our opportunity to take the steps forward to move on from the mistakes and be better. Eventually, through Christ, our efforts will be made perfect.

There’s a Gospel Principle in That!

For as long as I can remember, this has been my mother’s catch phrase. I had a mishap and broke my foot, and my mom would say, “There’s a gospel principle in that.” My grandparents were going on a trip with us and one of my grandpa’s sunglass lenses had popped out and was lying in his lap as we drove in the car, but he didn’t notice. My brother noticed and we all laughed. How could he not tell that one eye was seeing through a dark lens and one eye wasn’t? Then my mom says, “There’s a gospel principle in that.” I am not joking about this. She says it to this day all the time. I love my mother. She is hilarious and a super committed, loving mother and grandmother. She has a strong testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. She never wavers in her faith. Sometimes, I just don’t see “the principle” in that, but she always does. She can correlate any life situation into some gospel principle or lesson.

When I was young, probably around ten or so, all the families on our street were getting together to toilet paper the house of another neighbor whose family was returning home from vacation or something that night. I know, I know–the dumb things we did in the early 90s astound me, too. Anyway, we had a rule in our house that we were never to be outside barefoot. In all the fun, at some point, I had taken off my shoes. Looking around, no one except parents had shoes on that evening. But, I cut my foot on some glass. It bled and bled and was so sore. After I was bandaged up and had stopped crying, my mom said, “You know, Starla, there’s a gospel principle in this.” She proceeded to explain that had I followed the simple rule of wearing shoes outside that I wouldn’t have injured my foot. I may have stepped on the glass, but I would have been protected. I don’t recall the rest of the “lecture,” but I’m guessing Paul’s analogy of the armor of God and other scriptural citations were used. Needless to say, to this day I do not go outside without shoes. I even wear slippers in the house.

Now, this is a silly example, but there are so many others. Many that are much more fitting. I should ask my siblings some of their stories with this phrase and my mom and come back and post them here. We used to joke that Mom would even find a gospel principle in a hangnail. Ha!

All fun aside, I think my mom is right. Life is a bunch of experiences and lessons for each of us individually. We learn from these lessons and experiences and from those shared by others. This is why we have testimony meetings. Individual and personal revelation is real. Heavenly Father uses our life experiences to teach us. So, next time something good, bad, or funny happens to you, try asking yourself “What’s the gospel principle in this?” I think it’s similar to “What can I learn from this experience?” or “What is the Lord trying to teach me through this?” Let’s see what you come up with.

New ideas about the Tree of Life I learned this week

This week in Come, Follow Me the reading includes 1 Nephi chapters 6-10. Like many, I have read and reread these chapters countless times in my life. They feel familiar and almost read like “old news” in my mind. Still, I love how the Come, Follow Me manual gives additional resources and insights into these chapters. I invite you to use these in your personal and family study if you haven’t already. I am seeing the difference it makes in my own family as we strive to study daily. This week it highlights a talk by Kevin W. Pearson from 2015 called “Stay by the Tree.” I read and listened to this talk both on my own and then with my family. I remember hearing this talk, but it struck me differently this week as I studied. Here are a few things I learned from the talk:

  1. How many times to I tell people or hear other people say the phrase “Hang in there”? I love how Elder Pearson says that “is not a principle of the gospel.” Enduring to the end isn’t something we “hang in there” to accomplish. It is much more purposeful than that. Elder Pearson defines enduing to the end as “constantly coming unto Christ and being perfected in Him.” Such a simple, but powerful statement. We endure through the mists of darkness, river of filthy water, and scoffs and scorns of the great and spacious building by focusing on Jesus Christ and our covenant relationship with Him. The thought that came to me as I pondered this was the sacrament. Each week we have the opportunity to go to church and partake of the sacrament. This is a literal and physical as well as spiritual “coming to Christ” to “be perfected in Him.” We set aside the things of the world. We offer up our own will and desires and give them to Christ, with a broken spirit and a contrite heart. This might look like changing our plans, changing our motivations, changing what we thought we wanted to align our lives with the will of the Lord. It could be that we struggled to get along with family members (not going to lie, reading about Nephi’s experience with his family brings hope to me when I get frustrated as a wife and a mother). Or perhaps there are habits we are striving to change. Repentance means change, so what better way to endure to the end than making continual course corrections daily, and a more solid course correction each Sunday at the sacrament table? We have been told by many leaders that the sacrament is the most important ordinance we have. Do I treat it that way? Do I take it for granted? Some Sundays are better for me than others in this regard, but after reflecting upon this statement by Elder Pearson, I am more dedicated to making my sacrament meeting experience more holy, more committed, allowing me to endure better.
  2. The six things that Elder Pearson cites in his talk to do to pursue his definition of enduring to the end are not new. Prayer, make covenants with Christ, faith, reading the Book of Mormon, avoid distractions and deceptions, and deepening conversion. Not only are the concepts not new, they are simple. Not easy, but simple. We need to do what we can to improve each of these six things daily and then enduring will be possible. Even joyful.
  3. This quote didn’t strike me in 2015 like it did this week: “As we yield our hearts to God, the Holy Ghost changes our very natures, we become deeply converted unto the Lord, and we no longer seek the spacious building. If we stop doing those things that bring about deepening conversion, we regress spiritually. Apostasy is the reverse of conversion.” This goes along with my insights of my first point, but I couldn’t help but love the way he worded this. If we are not focusing our efforts to deepen our conversion, to strengthen our efforts to keep our covenants and become more like Christ, then the opposite is happening: apostacy is happening. That stings! I have never thought of it that way. I’ve heard the phrase that if I’m not moving forward, I’m going backward–that we don’t stand still. But to say that if we aren’t moving toward deeper conversion, we are moving toward apostacy indeed stings. I don’t want that! I want more than anything to follow Jesus Christ and to become like Him. He has saved me from death and sin, and all He asks is that I keep His commandments. Yet, how many times to I let that “natural man” (Mosiah 3:19) creep in, forgetting or getting lazy in how I seek Him? How many times do I lose focus of my goal to become like Him? Unfortunately, a lot. Now, I’m not saying (and I don’t believe Elder Pearson was either) that apostacy is immediate. No, it’s a gradual thing. This is why it is critical to reset our focus each day in our prayer and scripture study, our temple attendance and church meetings, and in our thoughts and actions. We are human. We will make mistakes. But we need to fix our mistakes quickly before they become so habitual that we are not where we thought we were spiritually. To use the tree of life analogy, we may find ourselves farther from the tree and closer to the great and spacious building if we are not vigilantly careful. For me, this is a recommitment to again focus on those simple six things to endure to the end. And I need to recommit daily, or at the very least weekly when I take the sacrament.
  4. “Once we enter into covenants with God, there is no going back. Giving in, giving up, and giving out are not options.” I loved this! Elder Pearson shared his own story of having to explain to his business firm why he was leaving to preside of a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in a different state. He said his answer came with clarity that he had made a covenant when he was nineteen and he wasn’t going to go back on that. Covenants are eternally binding. Sometimes as mortals, we may forget this. But God doesn’t forget us. He will help us keep our covenants if we seek Him. Elder Pearson goes on to say, “In the kingdom of God, there is a standard of excellence for exaltation. It requires valiant discipleship! There is no room for average or complacent disciples. Average is the enemy of excellence, and average commitment will prevent you from enduring to the end.” Keeping covenants and staying by the tree is not an easy task. It takes effort. It takes focus. And, we can do it, especially because Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ want more than anything for us to succeed and They are always helping us.

Okay, those are just a few of my thoughts. I’m sure you’ll find your own insights there. I just want to share one other thing from this week. I love listening to podcasts, especially ones about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jesus Christ and His gospel. I have so many favorites, and I’m sure I’ll mention them here from time to time. Today, I want to share what I learned from Follow Him: A Come, Follow Me Podcast with Hank Smith & John Bytheway. This week’s guest was Dr.  Gaye Strathearn. At about the 35:39-minute mark of the podcast, they were talking about what sacrifice. This is what Hank Smith said:

I remember last year for our lesson on the Garden of Gethsemane, Dr. Dan Belnap taught us something that had great impact on me. He said, ‘In the ancient world, sacrifice wasn’t giving something up, it was making something holy. It was, “I’m going to make this thing holy.”‘ That really had impact on me as I think about the time that I give to callings and temple attendance and church attendance. Instead of giving that time up, I’m making that time holy. The money that I give, it’s not giving it up, it’s making it holy. That really had impact on me.

I love this because so many times we hear that sacrifice is giving up something. I’ve even heard a step above that saying that when we sacrifice something to the Lord, it really isn’t a sacrifice because when we sacrifice, we are blessed so it’s more like an investment. While I like that, it doesn’t fit nearly as well as the definition in Leviticus to make it holy. That reframes everything. If I sacrifice my time in the temple, I am making that holy time. If I sacrifice my time to taxi around my kids to their various activities, I am making that time holy. I am doing what I can as a parent to fulfill my mission to guide and raise up these choice spirit children of God to Him. Thinking of it that way makes it no longer a drudgery. If I spend time in the scriptures or saying prayers or sharing my testimony with others, that is made holy. I can dedicate that to the Lord. This reframe will help me every day. I just need to remember it!

Okay, that’s it for this week. Let me know what other thoughts and insights you have found.

My Health Crisis Story (The Super Short Version)

I have suffered from a kidney disease called Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) my entire life. I was born with it. Apparently, many people in the world have this disease but don’t realize it or know anything is different until much later in life. For me, not only did I have a long family history of the disease on my mom’s side of the family, but I had issues with my bladder and ureters since I was an infant. I found out officially I had the disease when I was three years old. Throughout my life, I had various procedures, tests, treatments, etc. to keep infections at bay as well as to help my quality of life. Most people who experience kidney failure are much older than I was, but of course it could potentially be any age. I was 35 when my kidneys failed, and I went on hemodialysis (HD). This was devastating and miserable, and that’s putting it mildly. At the time, I had two young children ages five and two. They didn’t really understand what was happening, but they knew I was gone from home a lot. Hospital visits and surgeries, dialysis treatments, and tests. They removed both of my kidneys within six months of starting dialysis, so I was without any kidneys for about seven months. I nearly died multiple times during this period of my life. But, I must say, during this time, I grew closer to my Savior, Jesus Christ, than at any time previous.

Waiting in the ER days after having my right kidney removed.
In the hospital for days and weeks, not thrilled.
Finally able to walk after going through misery and nearly dying several times.

I was born and raised a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was baptized when I was eight years old. My entire life I had a testimony of and believed in Jesus. I had felt the Spirit of the Holy Ghost many times in my life. I knew that I was a child of God and that He had a plan for me. I saw many miracles and blessings in my life up to that time, but my faith and testimony was stretched and enlarged more during that year than any time before. I am happy to say that since that awful year of being on dialysis, I have continued to grow and seek the Lord as often as I can. While I am far from perfect and still have much to learn, I know that when I seek Him, I find Him. Jesus Christ is always there. He knows me better than I know myself. He understands every pain and every struggle. I know personally how it feels to find that not just one perfect match, willing donor won’t work out because of some unique medical flaw. He knows the pain of not being able to lie down at night because there is too much fluid in your body that you can’t get out because you have no kidneys. He knows the unquenchable thirst of being limited to only 24 oz. of fluid per day (including soup, ice, or anything else that turns to liquid) so that the body isn’t overloaded with fluid. He knows the struggle of an extremely limited renal diet. He knows the frustration of waiting for a kidney. He has felt the excruciating pain of infection and surgeries, and month-long hospital stays. He truly empathizes regardless of the situation. Not only does Jesus know–He suffers with us. He suffered with me. I felt His spirit close to me through it. Every hour of every day.

I also know that Jesus fully understands and celebrates our joys, too. There is nothing like the joy of seeing your daughters’ faces the day you come home from a month-long stay at the hospital, having not seen them for days and weeks at a time. The amazing hospital staff and medical teams who saved my life multiple times brought tears of joy to my eyes. I know that they were a direct blessing from God. I got to know each of them by name. I felt the joy that gratitude in the smallest miracles could bring, like having a friend sit and talk with me through the most grueling test I’ve ever experienced while in 10/10 pain. I was blessed to have these experiences before the pandemic so I could have hospital visitors. At one point, even my little children got to visit me in person.

One of the best days of my life was when I got a call out of the blue from my cousin’s wife (non-blood relation). Her name is Stephanie. She informed me that she had on her own contacted the transplant center and was tested to be my kidney donor. She was a match. Not only that, from the day she called me to the day I got my transplant was only about two months. So after one year on dialysis, I had a transplant–a working kidney. I felt better than I had in years. What a miracle. What a blessing!

Hours before the transplant surgery with my donor, Stephanie
Day after surgery, both recovering in the hospital.

It’s been just over four years since my transplant. Unfortunately, my road has not been an easy one to say the least since that time. However, I continue to witness miracles and feel abundant joy each day because of my relationship with Jesus Christ. The ups and downs of life are not always fun or easy to manage. But I know this: it is possible to be in a most difficult situation and still feel close to God. In fact, I would venture that I feel even closer to God at those times. I may not understand why things have to be the way they are or why the things happen to me or at that time, but that is insignificant. Why? Because of who I am becoming as a result of my experiences. Because in the darkest days of trial, I found my Savior there. I have felt for myself Jesus’ promise as found in John 14 in the New Testament. “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you … Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

My prayer is that when dark days come (and sometimes in this world today it feels like every day is a bit dark) that we can call up the Lord and ask in the name of Jesus Christ for help. Jesus is our Comforter. He is our Advocate. He knows and loves us and wants to help us more than we can possibly understand.