Part 6 - On To The Victory

(Please read Parts 1-5 before reading this Part 6)
As mentioned in Part 4, as the Savior was suffering in Gethsemane, He asked that His disciples "stay awake" so that they could be there to support Him through His ordeal. They did not stay awake and from them we must learn a valuable lesson. We do not condemn them, they were mortal as are we, but we can learn from them as I'm sure they would have us do.

What does it mean to "stay awake" in relation to being there for others. I could preach and preach about this (as you well know!) but I'm going to share two stories instead. Two stories of two women who were spiritually "awake" when someone needed them.

A few months ago I became very ill. I actually blogged about my sick days here. Troy was out of town, of course, and so I had my two very, very active children to take care of for five days by myself. The Monday of my sickness, I was supposed to teach a regularly scheduled adult institute class, but there was no way I was going to be able to do this. So, luckily, I found a willing angel to teach the class for me.

A regular student in my class just lives around the corner from me, so she thought she would stop by with some dinner to help me out that day. She went home from class, whipped up a DELICIOUS meal and brought it to me. During the course of our short conversation, I mentioned that Troy was out of town. That was all she needed to hear. She immediately scooped up my children, took them to McDonald's, the park and back to her house. I think she had them for about 3 hours. When they finally came home, she had loaded them up with at least 20 DVD's they could watch while I slept.

Here is what is so wonderful, Julie Luke (yes, I did name you by name!) is not my Visiting Teacher. She is not the Relief Society president or the compassionate service leader. She has no specific stewardship over me except for keeping her baptismal covenants - which she did beautifully that day.

The second story was shared by a woman in our Relief Society lesson this past Sunday. As I listened to this story I knew I had to share it as part of this whole...whatever this is I'm writing - book?!

This woman was out and about running errands one day with her four small children when she noticed a young man from her ward, completely drunk. Okay, here is where the story gets amazing already. Her heart just wouldn't let her leave that boy behind. How many of us would have walked past him thinking,"I have four small children to take care of. Someone else will have to help him today." OR "Holy Cow! Would you look at him! That boy has problems." OR "His parents have no control over him." OR even worse, how many of us would have gone home that day and called our friend to tell her what we saw, and then talked for an hour about how that boy will never amount to anything and we would NEVER let our children do something like that? Hmmm?

This amazing sister - who by the way, didn't think she was being amazing at the time, she was just following her heart - stopped with her four children and told him she was going to get him home. He said he would only go with her if his friend could come too. Apparently his friend was a big dude. She felt a little nervous but said okay.

She took them home, only to discover that the boy's parents weren't home. Her husband was out of town at the time and she didn't feel she could just hang out with her four kids until his parents arrived home so she called someone to come take over. Later that evening, she was able to contact the parents, who, of course, were so grateful for her kindness. (Does this sound familiar? Luke 10:25-37)

Years later, when that boy was married in the temple, he invited her to the temple ceremony. Her actions that day are probably not why the boy ended up fixing his life and getting back on the path - it takes so much more than that. But she did exactly what the Savior would have done and that had to have made an impact. I wonder if the Lord sent her to that boy that day, knowing she would not shy away from what needed to be done. By the way...think of the amazing lesson she taught her children that day - actions speak so much louder than words.

Both of these women were "awake" when the Spirit whispered that someone needed help. They rolled up their sleeves and did what needed to be done even though it wasn't convenient, or easy or part of an assigned responsibility. They saw a fellow soldier who was wounded and needed some help and they weren't afraid to get their hands dirty.

I wish I could say that I am the perfect example of what I'm preaching here. I'm not. News flash, I'm mortal - to my great dismay sometimes. We are all mortal and what did the Savior say about us, "...the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Matt 26:41

"The first step on the path of discipleship begins, luckily enough, in the exact place where we stand!" President Uchtdorf, "The Way of the Disciple" Ensign, May 2009. I must start where I am - not worrying about the past but pushing forward with a daily renewal of a desire to serve the Lord by serving others. I must pray daily to "stay awake".

The Book of Mormon relates an amazing tale of 2000 young men who fought valiantly and had faith that God would deliver them. The miraculous survival of every single one of those young men is told over and over, as well it should be. But I've become increasingly more interested in the fact that although every single warrior survived, every single warrior also received "many wounds" (Alma 57:25)

I do not joy in their pain, quite the contrary, but I think it applicable to us in these latter-days fighting a spiritual war. We will all be wounded one way or another. All of us. But we can all survive and eons from now, it is not our wounds that will define us, just as the 2000 stripling warriors are not remembered for their many wounds. They are remembered because they survived and they survived together and so can we. Once again, it is no accident that we are all on this battle field at the same time. It is all for a wonderfully, supporting, surviving reason.

"Christ lived on earth and was subject to all manner of temptation, but He won every battle. He is the most successful warrior that ever walked the earth, and He wants to help us win every battle, be it personal or public. When we fall short, His atonement will compensate for us on condition of our repentance.

"Jesus knows His kingdom will triumph, and He wants us to triumph with it. He knows in advance every strategy the enemy will use against us and the kingdom. He knows our weaknesses and He knows our strengths." President Ezra Taft Benson, "In His Steps", Ensign, September 1988

I fear if I don't end now, I will get to Part 20 before I run out of words to write. I had no idea when I started writing all of this what it would do for me personally. My desire to follow the counsel found here has increased dramatically. My understanding of WHY we must serve others has deepened. My testimony is this...Jesus Christ WILL come again. When that will be, no man knows. but of this I am certain. When He does, He will lock satan up (Rev. 20 1-6 and 1 Nephi 22:26 YES!!) and then He will dry our tears and heal our hearts, expand our joys and teach us about peace. What is even more wonderful, He can do that for each of us right now. He is my dearest, truest, most loyal friend. I love Him and our Father.

"Brethern, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren and on, on to the victory!" (D&C 128:22)

Please, please read "You Are My Hands" by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf in the May 2010 Engisn AND "Act In All Diligence" by President Henry B. Eyring, May 2010 Ensign