Last January, seven-year-old Sailor Gutzler and her family
were flying from Florida to Illinois in a private airplane.
Sailor's father was at the controls.
Just after nightfall, the aircraft
developed mechanical problems and crashed
in the pitch-dark hills of Kentucky, upside down
in very rough territory.
Everyone but Sailor died in the accident.
Her wrist was broken in the crash.
She suffered cuts and scrapes and had lost her shoes.
The temperature was 38 degrees Fahrenheit, or 3 degrees
Celsius.
It was a cold, rainy Kentucky winter's night,
and Sailor was wearing only shorts, a T-shirt,
and one sock.
She cried out for her mother and father, but no one answered.
Summoning every ounce of courage,
she set off barefoot across the countryside in search of help,
wading through creeks and crossing ditches and braving
blackberry briars.
From the top of one small hill, Sailor
spotted a light in the distance about a mile away.
Stumbling through the darkness and brush toward that light,
she eventually arrived at the home
of a kind man she had never met before, who sprang to her care.
Sailor was safe.
She would soon be taken to a hospital and helped on her way
to recovery.
Sailor survived because she saw a light in the distance
and fought her way to it, notwithstanding
the wild countryside, the depth of the tragedy she faced,
and the injuries she had sustained.
It's hard to imagine how Sailor managed
to do what she did that night.
But what we do know is that she recognized
in the light of that distant house a chance for rescue.
There was hope.
She took courage in the fact that no matter how
bad things were, her rescue would be found in that light.
Few of us will ever endure an experience as harrowing
as Sailor's.
But all of us will at some time or another
have to traverse our own spiritual wilderness
and undertake our own rugged emotional journeys.
In those moments, however dark or seemingly hopeless they
may be, if we search for it, there
will always be a spiritual light that beckons to us, giving us
the hope of rescue and relief.
That light shines from the Savior of all mankind, who
is the Light of the World.
Perceiving spiritual light is different from seeing
physical light.
Recognizing the Savior's spiritual light
begins with our willingness to believe.
God requires that initially we at least desire to believe.
"If ye will awake and arouse your faculties, ...
and exercise a particle of faith,"
the prophet Alma teaches, "yea, even if ye can no more than
desire to believe, let this desire work in you,
even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place
for a portion of [the Savior's] words."
Alma's call for us to desire to believe and to "give place"
in our hearts for the Savior's words
reminds us that belief and faith require our personal choice
and action.
We must "awake and arouse [our] faculties."
We ask before it is given unto us.
We seek before we find.
We knock before it is opened unto us.
We are then given this promise (quote):
"For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh,
findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened"
(end quote).
No more impassioned plea for us to believe
has come than from the Savior Himself
during His earthly ministry when He appealed to His disbelieving
listeners (quote): "If I do not the works of my Father,
believe me not.
But if I do, though ye believe not me,
believe the works: that ye may know, and believe,
that the Father is in me, and I in him" (end quote).
Every day each of us faces a test.
It is the test of our lifetimes.
Will we choose to believe in Him and allow
the light of His gospel to grow within us?
Or will we refuse to believe and insist
on traveling alone in the dark?
The Savior provides His gospel as a light
to guide those who choose to believe in and follow Him.
After the crash, Sailor had a choice.
She could have chosen to stay by the airplane in the dark, alone
and afraid.
But there was a long night ahead,
and it was just going to get colder.
She chose another way.
Sailor climbed up a hill, and there she
saw a light on the horizon.
Gradually, as she made her way through the night
toward the light, it grew brighter.
Still, there must have been times
when she could not see it.
Perhaps it went out of view when she was in a ravine
or behind trees or bushes.
But she pressed on.
Whenever she could see the light,
Sailor had evidence that she was on the right path.
She did not yet know precisely what that light was,
but she kept walking towards it based on what she knew,
trusting and hoping that she would see it again if she kept
moving in the right direction.
By so doing, she may have saved her life.
Our lives can be like that too.
There may be times when we have been hurt, when we are tired,
and when our lives seem dark and cold.
There may be times when we cannot see any light
on the horizon, and we may feel like giving up.
If we are willing to believe, if we desire to believe,
if we choose to believe, then the Savior's teachings
and example will show us the pathway forward.
Choose to believe.
Just as Sailor had to believe that she would find safety
in that distant light, so too we must
choose to open our hearts to the divine reality of the Savior,
to His eternal light and His healing mercy.
Prophets across the ages have encouraged us and even
implored us to believe in Christ.
Their exhortations reflect a fundamental fact:
God does not force us to believe.
Instead He invites us to believe by sending living prophets
and apostles to teach us, by providing scriptures,
and by beckoning to us through His Spirit.
We are the ones who must choose to embrace
those spiritual invitations, electing
to see with inward eyes the spiritual light with which He
calls us.
The decision to believe is the most important choice
we ever make.
It shapes all our other decisions.
God does not compel us to believe any more
than He compels us to keep any commandments,
despite His perfect desire to bless us.
Yet His call to us to believe in Him,
to exercise that particle of faith,
and to give place for His words remains in effect today.
As the Savior said (quote), "I bear
record that the Father commandeth all men, everywhere,
to repent and believe in me" (end quote).
Belief and testimony and faith are not passive principles.
They do not just happen to us.
Belief is something we choose.
We hope for it, we work for it, and we sacrifice for it.
We will not accidentally come to believe
in the Savior and His gospel any more than we will accidentally
pray or pay tithing.
We actively choose to believe, just like we choose
to keep other commandments.
Put belief into action.
Sailor could not know at first if what
she was doing as she pushed her way through the underbrush
would actually work.
She was lost and injured.
It was dark and cold.
But she left the crash site and ventured out in hope of rescue,
crawling and scraping her way forward until she
saw the light in the distance.
Once she had seen it, she did her best
to move toward it, remembering what she had seen.
We likewise must give place for the hope
that we will find spiritual light by embracing belief
rather than choosing to doubt.
Our actions are the evidence of our belief
and become the substance of our faith.
We are choosing to believe when we pray
and when we read the scriptures.
We are choosing to believe when we fast,
when we keep the Sabbath day holy,
and when we worship in the temple.
We are choosing to believe when we are baptized
and when we partake of the sacrament.
We are choosing to believe when we repent and seek
divine forgiveness and healing love.
Never give up.
Sometimes progress in spiritual things
can seem slow or intermittent.
Sometimes we may feel that we have lost ground,
that we have made mistakes, or that our best efforts to find
the Savior are not working.
If you feel this way, please do not give up, ever.
Go right on believing in Him and in His gospel and His Church.
Align your actions with that belief.
In those moments when the light of your faith is dimmed,
let your hope for the Savior's love and grace
found in His gospel and His Church overcome your doubt.
I promise that He stands ready to receive you.
Over time you will come to see that you
have made the best choice you could possibly have made.
Your courageous decision to believe in Him
will bless you immeasurably and forever.
The blessings of belief: I have felt the merciful love
of the Savior in my life.
I have searched for Him in my own moments of darkness,
and He has reached out to me with His healing light.
One of the great joys of my life has
been traveling with my wife, Kathy,
to meet with members of the Church
in many corners of the globe.
These wonderful encounters have taught me
and taught us about God's love for His children.
They have shown me the limitless potential for happiness
that becomes the blessing of those
who choose to follow the teachings of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
I have learned that believing in Him and in His redemptive power
is the true path to "peace in this world,
and eternal life in the world to come."
I testify that Jesus Christ is the source of light and hope
for all of us.
I pray that we may all choose to believe in Him.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.