come, follow me part four: He loves you infinitely.

 I usually dawdle when it comes to sitting down and typing up these blog posts, but today I found myself incredibly excited to pull out my laptop and pour my thoughts onto the page. Today was an incredibly spiritual Sunday- and it isn’t even over yet! My meetings in Young Women’s were filled with more spirit than I anticipated. Honestly, I was a bit taken aback today as emotion overcame me multiple times, to the point that I couldn’t speak without crying. Why? What occurred today that brought me to tears?

The answer lies in something that happened today, and yesterday, and every day for the past year and all the years prior. It lies within something that will continue to happen every day for the rest of eternity, until this planet has reached its potential and another one is born.

What is this miraculous event?

Something wonderful.

I’ll explain, don’t worry.

To start, let me delve into the scriptures. I believe they are the source of all truth, and without them my words don’t mean quite as much. We studied from the book of Isaiah in Come, Follow Me this week, and there are a few verses from chapter 1 that touch on what we learned in Young Women’s today:

16 ¶ Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;

17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

 

Then verse 18 begins in somewhat the same way, still admonishing us to improve: “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord.” But the way it ends is incredibly important, and is most likely better known among you: “though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

 

This reminds us of the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and how we cannot go without it. Jesus is the only one who can help us improve. He asks us to be better…but He is also willing to help us be better.

 

This is what brought me to tears today in Young Women’s. It is what gives me joy on my darkest days. It is the reason we are all able to be here, training to become gods and goddesses: it is the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

 

I want to share part of what I shared during the YW lesson today, since I believe “what the Lord says unto one He says unto all”- or, at least, there are other people who will read this that could benefit from my words:

 

“We can- and often do- create a standard in our heads, saying, ‘oh, now God will not want me’ or ‘I’ve messed up too many times- what’s the point in trying again? I can’t trust myself, so how could God trust me?’ or ‘this is too embarrassing- I can’t confess this!’ All of these are the biggest lies Satan can tell us. We are never too far gone. God is waiting with open arms for us to come back- every single time we fail. Over and over again.”

 

I firmly believe deep in my soul- no, I know- that these words are true. I’ll say it again: we are never too far gone!

 

Satan is a LIAR, my friends. A huge liar. He has been confined to an eternity of misery- he will never get to live in a body of flesh and blood, or feel the Spirit, or embark on a wonderful journey to become like God. So, all he wants is for us- people who get what he will never have- to feel as miserable as he does.

 

He will lie and tell you you’re alone. That you’ll remain in darkness forever. That there’s no way out of this pit of misery, so why don’t you just give up? Life can’t be worth living if you feel all this pain.

 

It’s easy to believe his lies, especially when we’re already sickened by the weight of sin, or by trials that come abundantly in this fallen world. We trek farther into the darkness, believing we are worthless, when really Satan is actively wrapping us up in his thread of lies. Before we know it, we are in chains.

 

But Satan is no match for the Chain Breaker- Jesus Christ. Liars cannot tell the truth. There is no darkness, no pain, no sin, that can keep you from the loving, open arms of our Savior and Redeemer. There is no pit that is too deep- He will always be able to pull you out. There are no chains fastened too tightly- He will break every one. There is no pain too heavy- He will take it all on His shoulders, and bear it with unmatched strength.

 

Today in sacrament meeting, someone quoted the beautiful poem “Footprints in the Sand”. It touched me and all my sisters in YW deeply, for it really struck the spirit that had penetrated our hearts. I will share it here, so that you all may read it and feel what I cannot adequately express in my own writing:

 

One night I dreamed a dream.

As I was walking along the beach with my Lord.

Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.

For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,

One belonging to me and one to my Lord.

 

After the last scene of my life flashed before me,

I looked back at the footprints in the sand.

I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,

especially at the very lowest and saddest times,

there was only one set of footprints.

 

This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.

"Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,

You'd walk with me all the way.

But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,

there was only one set of footprints.

I don't understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me."

 

He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you

Never, ever, during your trials and testings.

When you saw only one set of footprints,

It was then that I carried you."

 

I have a testimony that these words are true. The Lord will never leave us forsaken. Even if you can’t feel Him during your darkest hours, He is there. He is holding you closely in His arms, just letting you be. Just because you can’t feel Him doesn’t mean He will forget about you. He will be there no matter what.

 

I hope I can adequately express through my written words how much the Lord loves you. He will fix all that is broken, even when you cannot physically reach it yourself. He cares about the battles raging within you, the ones that no one can see but are tearing you apart. He sees it vividly. He wants to hold you close. He wants to love you. He will speak to you in a way that only you will truly understand. He cares about you even if you feel your words don’t do Him justice. Repentance is not a scary thing reserved only for the wickedest people…it is the bright, divine pathway back to Jesus’s loving arms. Follow it! He is waiting! I promise.

Just as it says in the beloved hymn, "I Stand All Amazed", "Oh, it is wonderful that He should care for me, enough to die for me! Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me!" (Hymns, 193) The Atonement of Jesus Christ truly is, as I said at the beginning, wonderful.

 

I hope you know that I am here for you in any way I can be- and when I cannot be physically or emotionally there, He will always be there. I hope you can feel His endless love today, that you can feel clean, and loved, and beloved. You are royalty. You deserve to be treated as such.

 

If you need prayers, let me know. I will pray for you. God be with you till we meet- or, until you read my next blog post- again!

-Emma

come, follow me part three: records full of friends

 Happy September!

I completely forgot the month had changed as I recorded the date of this post…this summer has flown by. Here’s to another school year, though!

My mind has wandered to many places as I’ve considered what to share with you all this week- and you have rested very prominently in my thoughts. I’m a bit cautious when it comes to sharing, as I try to differentiate between what is too personal for me to share and what is all right. Sometimes I feel it necessary to be brave and take a leap, other times I feel I should hold my tongue. Nevertheless, what I share here is what I want you to hear, and I hope you will feel my love as I do so. Expect this post to be rather long and all over the place!

To set the scene, I’d like you to direct your thoughts to your favorite fictional story. It doesn’t have to be a book (I’m a writer, so I’m a bit partial to the literary genre, but I digress), it can be a movie or a TV show, even. Just make sure you have it in mind.

For me, something I’ve noticed in the best stories is there is some kind of quest. A reason to obtain something, whether that “thing” is material or hypothetical. The drive to find this “thing” (I need a better word) generally leads to the main characters embarking on an adventure, the most entertaining ones being those with countless twists and turns.

We, like our favorite characters, are on a quest, my friend. A quest to seek out the greatest treasure of all: eternal life! And the adventure we embark on certainly has its array of twists and turns, for the adventure is our mortal life.

But something else to keep in mind is that fictional characters never embark on a quest alone. The best stories give the main character a mentor, someone who has seen the road they are traveling on before, and knows all the twists and turns up ahead. They know what the main character needs to do. They can act as a comfort to the main character, but also give them important counsel when necessary.

Have we got mentors like this in our lives, too? Yes. As I read verses from the Book of Proverbs this week, I couldn’t help but feel touched, as the tone the verses were written in felt very personal…like it was loving counsel from a mentor of my own. Someone who knew the road I was on, and knew what I needed to do. Those verses acted as a comfort to me, just as mentors do to book and movie characters- but they also gave me counsel right when I needed it.

I felt my testimony of the scriptures grow as I read in Proverbs. My father likes to remind me that the scriptures really must be likened unto our lives for us to truly gain a testimony of them. As I found voices like that of mentors and friends in the scriptures, I felt them become more personal to me. I felt more than just power filling my soul, I felt like I had advice from people who really knew what I was going through. I felt at home.

This feeling really gave me so much joy…and I want you all to feel that same joy. But let me tell you right now: we do not obtain this joy by just thinking “oh, that sounds nice” but doing nothing! We must work to put ourselves in the scriptures, and hear the words these mentors crying from the dust have for us. We cannot receive what we don’t hear.

Think of the painting of the Savior knocking at the door: the doorknob is only on our side of the door. He can’t open it Himself. We have to let Him in.

Today in Sunday School, my teacher pointed out something to us that I found incredibly interesting. We read in Proverbs chapter 1 verse 7, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” The word “wisdom” in Hebrew is Hokhmah, a word more closely related to “skill”. Thus, wisdom is more than just knowing things, it is putting what we know into action.

That relates heavily to what I said before: that while the scriptures are full of messages from dear friends and mentors who have long passed, we cannot receive these messages unless we read the scriptures ourselves. It takes effort on our part! But I speak from experience when I say it’s worth it. I have read my scriptures in the most inconvenient of places: in a hotel room where I’m staying with other people, in the hallway during a dance while music is blasting, in the car, on a train- anywhere. There have been times where I really don’t want to put myself in the scriptures because, like I said before- it’s inconvenient! But I have never regretted taking just a few moments to read and let that divine power pump into my soul.

My dear friends, as we continue on our quest back to our Heavenly Father, and to become gods and goddesses together, let us remember that we are not alone. We have Jesus Christ and His prophets- both living and dead- to give us counsel and comfort. And may we always remember that, if we feel lost or forsaken, we have the Word of God to act as our roadmap. It is the “iron rod”, as Lehi saw in his vision of the Tree of Life. No matter where you are or where you’ve been, you can turn back to the scriptures and find your way home.

I leave you with two verses from Proverbs chapter 4:

Verse 18: “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.”

Verse 25: “Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.”

Let the message of these verses wash over you. Look up, and look forward! The path you are on is a “shining light”. This world can feel dark, despairing, and lonesome, but if we keep moving forward and immerse ourselves in God’s word, we will never be walking alone.

That is what has brought me joy this week. I hope you will join me in studying the scriptures this week, so that you might also be able to partake of this joy.

To close, here is a quotation that was shared with me in Sunday School last year, and has touched me deeply as I’ve considered scripture study + wisdom this week:

-Emma