Few feelings compare with the tender emotions
of becoming a parent.
There is nothing sweeter than receiving
a precious baby direct from heaven.
One of my brothers experienced this feeling
in an especially poignant way.
His first little son was born prematurely
and weighed only 2 pounds 14 ounces.
Hunter spent his first two months of life
in the neonatal intensive care unit of the hospital.
Those months were tender time for all the family
as we hoped and petitioned the Lord for his health.
Little Hunter was so dependent.
He struggled to gain the strength necessary to live.
The strong hand of his loving father
often reached for his son's tiny hand
to encourage his vulnerable little child.
And so it is for all of God's children.
Our Father in Heaven reaches out for each of us
with His infinite love.
He has power over all things and desires
to help us learn, grow, and return to Him.
This defines our Father's purpose:
"to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life
of man."
As we develop greater faith and trust in the Lord,
we can access His power to bless and deliver us.
The Book of Mormon weaves this beautiful theme
of the Lord's power to deliver His children
throughout its pages.
Nephi introduced it in the very first chapter of the book.
In verse 20 we read, "Behold, I, Nephi,
will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord
are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith,
to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance."
Many years ago I came to know in a very personal way
just how near our Father in Heaven really is
and just how much He desires to help us.
One evening as night was falling,
I was driving with my children when
I noticed a young boy walking along a road.
After passing him, I had a distinct impression
I should go back and help him.
But worried it could frighten him to have a stranger pull up
beside him at night, I continued driving.
The strong impression came again with these words in my mind:
"Go help that boy!"
I drove back to him and asked, "Do you need some help?
I had a feeling I should help you."
He turned toward us and with tears streaming down
his cheeks said, "Would you?
I've been praying someone would help me."
His prayer for help was answered with the inspiration
that came to me.
This experience of receiving such clear direction
from the Spirit left an unforgettable imprint
that is still in my heart.
And now after 25 years and through a tender mercy,
I connected again with this boy for the first time
just a few months ago.
I discovered that the experience isn't just my story--it is his
story too.
Deric Nance is now a father with a family of his own.
He too has never forgotten this experience.
It helped us lay a foundation of faith
that God hears and answers our prayers.
Both of us have used it to teach our children
that God is watching over us.
We are not alone.
On that night, Deric had stayed after school for an activity
and had missed the last bus.
As a young teenager, he had felt confident he could make it
home, so he started walking.
An hour and a half had passed as he walked a lonely road.
Still miles from home and with no houses in sight,
he was scared.
In despair, he walked behind a pile of gravel,
got down on his knees, and asked Heavenly Father for help.
It was just minutes after Deric had returned to the road
that I stopped to provide the help he had prayed for.
And now these many years later, Deric
reflects: "The Lord was mindful of me,
a skinny, shortsighted boy.
And despite everything else going on in the world,
He was aware of my situation and loved me enough to send help.
The Lord has answered my prayers many times
since that abandoned roadside.
His answers aren't always as immediate and clear,
but His awareness of me is just as evident today
as it was that lonely night.
Whenever the dark shadows of life blanket my world,
I know He always has a plan to see me safely home again."
As Deric expressed, not every prayer is answered so quickly.
But truly our Father knows us and hears
the pleadings of our hearts.
He accomplishes His miracles one prayer
at a time, one person at a time.
We can trust that He will help us, not necessarily in the way
we want but in the way that will best help us to grow.
Submitting our will to His may be difficult,
but it is essential to becoming like Him
and finding the peace He offers us.
We can come to feel, as C. S. Lewis described:
"I pray because I can't help myself.
...
I pray because the need flows out of me
all the time, waking and sleeping.
It doesn't change God.
It changes me."
There are many accounts in the scriptures
of those who put their trust in the Lord
and who have been helped and delivered by Him.
Think of young David, who escaped certain death
at the hand of the mighty Goliath by relying on the Lord.
Consider Nephi, whose pleadings to God in faith
brought deliverance from his brothers who
sought to take his life.
Remember young Joseph Smith, who prayerfully
sought the Lord's help.
He was delivered from the power of darkness
and received a miraculous answer.
Each faced real and difficult challenges.
Each acted in faith and put his trust in the Lord.
Each received His help.
And still in our day, God's power and love
are manifest in the lives of His children.
I have seen it recently in the lives of faith-filled Saints
in Zimbabwe and Botswana.
In a testimony meeting in a small branch,
I was humbled and inspired by the testimony shared
by many--children, youth, and adults alike.
Each conveyed a powerful expression of faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ.
With challenges and difficult circumstances surrounding them,
they live each day by putting their trust in God.
They acknowledge His hand in their lives
and often express it with the phrase
"I am so much grateful to God."
A few years ago a faithful family
exemplified for members of our ward
that same trust in the Lord.
Arn and Venita Gatrell were living a happy life
when Arn was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer.
The prognosis was devastating.
He had just a few weeks to live.
The family wanted to be together one last time.
So all the children gathered, some from distant locations.
They had only 48 precious hours to spend together.
The Gatrells chose carefully what mattered most to them--a
family picture, a family dinner, and a session in the Salt Lake
Temple.
Venita said, "When we walked out of the temple doors,
it was the last time we would ever be together in this life."
But they left with the assurance that there
is so much more for them than just this life.
Because of sacred temple covenants,
they have hope in God's promises.
They can be together forever.
The next two months were filled with blessings too numerous
to recount.
Arn and Venita's faith and trust in the Lord
was growing, as evidenced in Venita's words: "I was carried.
I learned that you can feel peace in the midst of turmoil.
I knew the Lord was watching over us.
If you trust in the Lord, truly you
can overcome any of life's challenges."
ONE OF THEIR DAUGHTERS ADDED: "We watched our parents
and saw their example.
We saw their faith and how they handled it.
I would never have asked for this trial,
but I would never give it away.
We were surrounded with God's love."
Of course, Arn's passing was not the outcome
the Gatrells had hoped for.
But their crisis was not a crisis of faith.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is not
a checklist of things to do; rather, it lives in our hearts.
The gospel "is not weight; it is wings."
It carries us.
It carried the Gatrells.
They felt peace in the midst of the storm.
They held fast to each other and to temple covenants
they had made and kept.
They grew in their ability to trust in the Lord
and were strengthened by their faith in Jesus Christ
and in His atoning power.
Wherever we find ourselves on the path of discipleship,
whatever our worries and challenges may be,
we are not alone.
You are not forgotten.
Like Deric, the Saints of Africa, and the Gatrell family,
we can choose to reach for God's hand in our need.
We can face our challenges with prayer and trust in the Lord.
And in the process we become more like Him.
Speaking to each of us, the Lord says, "Fear ... not; ...
I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God:
I will strengthen thee; ...
I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee
with the right hand of my righteousness."
I share my humble but certain witness that God our Father
knows us personally and reaches out to help us.
Through His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ,
we may overcome the challenges of this world
and be safely delivered home.
May we have faith to trust in Him,
I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.