Choose Jesus

People tell me that they love my posts and look forward to them. This has made me feel the need to write something awesome every week, which has caused me to feel a little overwhelmed and is the reason I didn’t write one last week. From now on, I will not miss another week, and I apologize if you are disappointed, but I realized the point isn’t to wow everyone every week. So everyone lower your future expectations haha. 

I have had an amazing couple of weeks. We spent the weekend of the fourth up at the cabin, and it was a blast. Literally. I had an amazing conversation with Mark Durham, who is a relative of mine. I don’t know very many people who are as close to the spirit as he is. He is color blind and has learned to mix colors and paint using only THE SPIRIT to guide him to the correct colors and mixtures. So amazing. He has served as a bishop, mission president, and is currently a patriarch. He was a successful businessman and has a strong faithful family. I hope I am just like him one day. 

I love my new mission president and his wife. They are so spiritual and love the service missionaries. It has been fun to get to know them and work with President Russell as a ZL. 

I have to tell you all about this elder who just finished his mission. I was privileged to listen to him and his family report about his mission on Sunday. His name is Elder Russell, not to be confused with President Russell. He is 26 and has the mental capacity of an 8 year old. He is very happy and always smiling. Before his mission, he was a volunteer at the Bishop’s Storehouse, when they told him that he cannot volunteer there anymore unless he became a service missionary. He had not yet been baptized, but got the approval to become a service missionary. A couple months into his mission, he started learning new things about the gospel, accountability, and making choices. He has since been baptized, received the Holy Ghost, and holds the Aaronic Priesthood. His mission helped him in so many ways. It helped him to progress and to make covenants with God. He has done things that his parents thought would never happen while he lives here on Earth. As his sweet parents bore their testimonies about the resurrection, the spirit was so incredibly strong. Everyone was crying. I could feel Gods love for this family. They are so special. 

A quote from Jeffery R Holland, “I bear witness of that day when loved ones whom we knew to have disabilities in mortality will stand before us glorified and grand, breathtakingly perfect in body and mind. What a thrilling moment that will be! I do not know whether we will be happier for ourselves that we have witnessed such a miracle or happier for them that they are fully perfect and finally “free at last.” Until that hour when Christ’s consummate gift is evident to us all, may we live by faith, hold fast to hope, and show “compassion one of another.”

In elders quorum, we had a lesson about opposition and agency, and we discussed the fact that we get to choose how we respond to adversity. Multiple people mentioned me as the “perfect example of this.” Here is what I realized while sitting in that meeting. Yes I am in a wheelchair. Yes I am happy. Because God has given me a physically obvious trial, I am in a position to influence many lives for good. I am grateful that my story can bless others, but I just couldn’t stop thinking, “don’t look at me for an example, my life is great!” What about the guy sitting next to you? He may not be in a wheelchair, but he doesn’t have what I have. People don’t randomly tell him he’s awesome. Strangers don’t smile and wave at him. People don’t go out of their way to help him. People don’t ask how he’s doing. People don’t think about him. People aren’t excited to see him. He didn’t get any money from a go-fund-me. He doesn’t get babied by his family and treated like a king. People don’t text him and tell him that he inspires them every day. People don’t pray for him. He gets no recognition for being happy despite his trials. He puts a smile on and says he’s good, when in reality, his trials are much harder for him than mine are for me. People can’t see his struggles. Maybe he just lost a loved one. Maybe he feels like nobody loves him or understands him. Maybe he doesn’t know who Jesus is. Maybe he doesn’t have the gift of the Holy Ghost. Maybe he is living in guilt. Maybe he lives in constant debilitating pain. Maybe he has no friends. No family. Maybe his kids left the church. Maybe his house burnt down and he lost everything. Maybe he has crippling anxiety. Clinical depression. Any mental illness. Any form of abuse. Addiction. Cancer. Divorce. Blind. Deaf. Alcohol. Discrimination. Drugs. War. Torture. Trauma. Natural disasters. Hunger. Unemployment. Eviction. Jail. YOU DON’T KNOW. 

Everyone has hard things. Everyone has struggles. We all know the quote from President Eyring, “… when you meet someone, treat them as if they were in serious trouble, and you will be right more than half the time.” Not only was he right, but I have learned over the years that he was too low in his estimate.” 

I am so extremely and truly blessed. I have everything I could ever ask for and more. I am no awesome person, I am just blessed with the knowledge of Jesus Christ, His atonement, and the perfect plan of happiness. I know that everything will be worth it in the end. Why would I choose anything else. CHOOSE JESUS