Week 11

I very much enjoyed one of the class readings assigned for this week. It is titled, "We Believe in the Ministering of Angels" by Larry Barkdull and it can be found in the Meridian Magazine. There were two messages that I took from this article. The first is that no wayward child is too far gone to come back into the fold. The second thing I took from the article is that even when we feel utterly lost and alone, we NEVER are. Even though we cannot see them, the Lord will send us angels to comfort and protect us at our weakest moments.

I had an experience just a short time ago when I came to understand this for myself. I have had my fair share of trials in my life. However, I have always been fairly resilient and I have never had a trial that I did not think I could overcome-- until recently. About a month ago I faced a trial that completely devastated me. It was by far the lowest I had ever felt in my whole life, and this was worsened by the fact that I hadn't felt close to the Lord in quite a while. I still had a testimony, but I felt as if the Lord had left me and I hadn't felt the Spirit in what felt like ages. The feelings I felt were a whole new level than I had ever had to work through before and I had no idea how to understand them. I decided it was time for me to go back to my parent's home for the weekend to try and restore the sense of peace that I had lost. While I was there I had a moment when I felt as if I could actually FEEL someone in the room comforting me, despite the fact that I was all alone in the house. I don't know whether or not there actually was an angel with me, but I didn't feel all alone anymore. I knew my Heavenly Father loved me, He cherished my heart, and He had never left me. I went home after that weekend and it literally felt like I was a whole new person. Before I had left, I didn't think I would ever be alright again...but when I came back it was as if the Lord had literally taken my pain away from me.

I know without a doubt that the Lord sends angels to comfort and watch over us. When someone close to us strays from the path and we worry for them, we just need to remember that the Lord desires for all of His children to come back to Him. These particular words from the article stuck out to me: "We must not despair. In working with our wayward children, God will assemble all the powers of heaven and earth to achieve His glorious work. Whether our children have strayed from the path of truth, become lost by following a forbidden path, or consciously rebelled and run away to a far country, their Heavenly Father can find and rescue them. Even when they are so broken that they are no longer recognizable, He will patiently put them back together until they can bring forth good fruit. No matter their choices and situations, God loves them and is constantly working to save and redeem them. And so are their family and friends who have gone on before. We are never alone in the work of redemption."

Sometimes when we have a wayward loved one, the best thing we can do for them is just to love them. The Lord will make up for the part we lack. No one is beyond the Lord's help.