Everything Will Be All Right

We are teaching a man named David. It has been a bumpy road with him. He has problems with smoking and drinking, but through it all shines a beautiful soul. Today, he came to Church with a smile on his face and for the first time he brought up when will we have our next discussion. I sensed a big change. My prayers are being answered.

For weeks my dad has been really down. So much so that my brothers were worried that he may die any day. I had fears too but also hope. This week he turned 92, and when I called him on his birthday, he said he felt really tired. That worried me, so I called him again the next day. On that call, I could feel the change in his countenance. He said that he was sore from so much walking. He had been up and taking 50 foot jaunts all day. He’s on the mend. My prayers are being answered.

I had a girl friend in high school. She was a beautiful young lady, but there was a sadness to her that I couldn’t understand. I found out many years later that she was being sexually abused in her home. She joined the Church and married and it seemed that all was changing for the better, but she suffered from insomnia, no doubt brought on by the horrible events of her childhood and adolescence. A doctor prescribed warm wine which became the first of an unending flow of alcohol.  She lost her family, and everything that was dear to her. Barely forty, she died of liver failure. I went to her funeral. There I had a strong feeling that the Lord had brought her home and that now her many years of pain, suffering and misery were gone. He had died for her very personally and suffered all that she had suffered that she could be forgiven and healed.

These events remind me of why I am here. I am an idealist at heart, and I believe that I and the missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints carry the message that will mend our troubled world. More than any politician or worldly program, He shines brightly as the Way.