My Talk- "Peace in Christ"

Given in the Barber Acres Ward "Young Women in Excellence" dinner and evening on December 11, 2018.  Included a video of a group singing the theme song for the year "Peace in Christ"  (20 minute talk)  This is a copy of the written version of my talk, not exactly as I gave it that night.

A large mid-western city held an art contest and organizers asked local artists to submit works of art which depicted the theme of “peace.”  They got the usual entries—sunrises and sunsets, sleeping babies in their mother’s arms, and still mountain ponds, but none of those won.  The winning entry was of a dark winter storm.  There was a solitary outline of a large tree with no leaves on it in the middle and by using dark colors and vibrant slashes of oil paint, the artist had created a scene of a violent winter storm—the winds howling and the driving rain pounding.  Not at all what you would have expected. Near the middle of the painting the scene was slightly lighter and you could see a small bird, its beak tucked under its wing fast asleep.

I thought about that painting when I was asked to speak about “Peace in Christ.”  While I know that Christ is with us in the sunrises and sleeping baby moments of our lives, it is in the middle of the storms that we need Him the most.  The ability to seek, identify, and hold on to the peace that He can give us is one of the greatest skills that we can learn in this life. While I assure you as one who has traveled a bit further along on life’s paths, you have some amazing and unbelievably exciting adventures ahead of you—far beyond what you can imagine at this moment in time.  But the roads ahead can also be scary, lonely, and hard.  Even now, you know that is true, because as young women you have experienced  those highs and lows of life.

The verse in Doctrine and Covenants 19:23 which has been your theme offers both the blessing-Peace in Christ- and the way-

 “ Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me.”

As I prepare this presentation, I wondered why I was given this opportunity.  While it has been a blessing in my life especially at the busy Christmas season to study about Christ and to be reminded of the peace He has given and daily gives to me—what do I have to offer you?  Most of  you don’t know me. I am as old or older than many of your grandparents.  It has been a while since I served in Young Womens and a very long time since I was a young women myself.  What can I give to you different than you have learned from your young women leaders this year, or your parents or your friends?

I decided that I only have two things to offer you that are uniquely mine to share—my testimony and a few of my life experiences which have taught me the power of  seeking the peace that Christ stands willing and able to give me and you.

So first, I would like to add my testimony to those of your leaders, your parents, and the scriptures.  I know that Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer.  That He was born to the His mortal mother Mary and he walked through His life sinless, always doing the will of our Heavenly Father, When He entered the Garden that night almost 2000 years ago, He entered worthily to take upon Himself our sins and also our heartaches and our pains.  He gave up his mortal life voluntarily the next day on the cross and on the third day, He truly rose from the grave as the first fruits of the resurrection.  He did these things because of his endless and perfect love for each of us individually as His sisters and brothers. Because of His work of supreme sacrifice in our behalf, He stands able and willing to aid us in our daily lives and send His peace.  If we do our part to learn about Him, follow his words and counsel, and walk His covenant path as our prophet has reminded us, we can live in peace despite the storms around us.

That is my testimony. 

Let me share some experiences of my life where I have felt the peace of Christ.  I give these as ordinary examples.  Hopefully it will remind you of similar experiences that you have had.  With each experience, I will share a scripture which can serve to reinforce the message I wish you to keep.

The first experience happened when I was about five years old.  My mother had helped my friend and I construct a fort over the wires of our outside clothesline which was about 3-4 feet wide and about 15 feet long. My friend and I were playing happily in the afternoon, when my two younger brothers ages 4 and 3 came and asked us if they could play.  Being the stellar sister I apparently was, I said, No.  My brother s went into the house to complain to our dad who was tending us while our mother was running errands.  My dad was busy with our baby sister so he called out and asked me if the tent was big enough for all four of us.  Again—not one of my better moments, I said no.  Of course, my brothers complained, my dad came outside and saw the tent, you can imagine what happened—my friend got sent home, I was banished from the tent for the afternoon and my brothers got to play.  What made this time remarkable was what happened after that  I remember feeling very bad that I had lied to my dad (although apparently not too concerned about being mean to my brothers), so I went and told him I was sorry.  But even after that, I remember walking around the yard feeling bad and for some reason which I can no longer remember, I decided that I needed to pray to Heavenly Father and ask him to forgive me for lying to my dad.  I went to the side of my house and knelt down and began to pray.  I told Heavenly Father that I was sorry that I had lied to my dad and I would try never to do it again.  In that moment, I felt a powerful feeling of love and forgiveness surround me and I felt as if I had been hugged.  I can assure you when I uttered that prayer and as I walked away from that spot that day I did not know how that was done or that it was due to the Atonement of Jesus Christ which has occurred in that Garden long ago.  All I knew was that there was a loving Heavenly Father who heard my prayer and was able to forgive me.  What a gift that has been to me.  Since that time, I have learned a little more about the Atonement of Jesus.  I still don’t clear know how it was all done.  I do know that it feels like to gain that forgiveness and peace that comes only from Christ and that I must reach out and seek it for it through repentance.

Alma the Younger does too.  In retelling his experience of conversion to his son Shiblon, Alma wrote:

“…and never, until I did cry out unto the Lord Jesus Christ for mercy, did I receive a remission of my sins. But behold, I did cry unto him and I did find peace to my soul.     

We feel the peace of Christ when we seek forgiveness for our sins.

When we lived in Texas, we served as a foster family for LDS Family Services.  We had children and teenagers who needed a place to stay, sometimes for a night sometimes for several months.  Often they were teenagers or young adult women who were pregnant and needed a safe place to stay.  One young woman who stayed with us was an active member of Church, she was a junior in high school and she was serving as the Laurel class president.  She was dating a non-member and in the process of making choices found herself pregnant.  She wanted to have some space and so came to live with us for a few months.  After a month or so, she began meeting with our bishop weekly.  On one occasion, I was waiting in the foyer of the Church to bring her home when I was surprised to have the bishop come out and invite me back to his office.  As he opened the door, my first impression was of light followed by an overwhelming feeling of love and forgiveness. Words are inadequate to describe this experience—it was if the room was stuffed beyond measure with love and forgiveness.  The young woman was crying in her seat and reached out to hug me.  She motioned to the bishop to explain.  He said, She wanted you to join her so that you can feel what she is feeling and see what she had seen, so that in the future when she is discouraged or feels that she is not good enough because of these experiences, she can call you wherever she is in the world and you can stand as a witness of these things that she is forgiven and loved by the Lord.

It was an honor and a privilege to share that moment with her.  And I was struck by her wisdom in preparing for hard times ahead.

King Benjamin reminded his people

“…if ye have known of his goodness and have tasted of his love, and have received a remission of your sins, which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls, even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, “

We feel the peace of Christ when we remember and retain in our remembrance the greatest of God and the times we felt his redeeming love and forgiveness in our behalf. Write them down in your journals and plant them firmly in your hearts.

The Atonement of Jesus Christ goes beyond paying the price for our sins so that we can be forgiven.  He also suffered for our pains and sufferings.  From Alma we read:

“ And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

…..and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

Again, I do not understand how this was done.  But I know that life is filled with many difficulties that come not because of our sins, but are the nature of mortality—Illness, death,  wars and rumors of war, conflicts, accidents, sins of others—and they bring us heartache and suffering. 

Let me share about storms and unexpected journeys of life that I have experienced or observed in others—

A friend of mine was having a very difficult month—struggles of her children, diagnosis of a terminal illness in her father, the stress of daily living as a mother of a large family and a business owner.  So I invited her out one evening to go get pie at Marie Callendars.  We had a fun time together laughing and sharing like friends do.  As she drove into my driveway to drop me off, our conversation turned a bit more serious and in the dark of the evening, she began to ask the question that many of us have asked ourselves from time to time when things are hard—“Why is this all happening to me?  We are active in Church, we have family prayer and scripture study, we had family night. Why?”  Immediately a scripture came to mind and I said to her, “That is why the scripture tells us that we must build ourselves on the foundation of Christ—because everything else around us is mortal and can change or be gone in a moment.  Only He remains always there for us.”  The scripture should sound familiar to you.  Let me read it.

 “And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.”

Although the scripture refers to the devil sending the storms of life, many of them are just the nature of mortal life.  Hard things happen.

We can feel the peace of Christ when we build our foundation—our testimony, our life paths, the desires of our hearts --upon Christ and his teachings.  He alone provides that promised sure foundation despite the storms around us.

My next to the last story.  Our middle child is named Ben— Near the end of his junior year in high school, he started to change in ways we didn’t really understand.  He was still doing well in school, working a part-time job, and active in Church and serving well as the first assistant to the Bishop in the priest quorum. There were times everything seemed fine, but other times when he would be anxious or very hyper and upset.  He had always been a very even tempered and calm person so the change was noticeable. We offered support, asked him if he wanted to talk to a counselor, and even took him to our family doctor.. But nothing changed. 

That summer, I decided one day to go to the temple and to pray about Ben.  As you know, the temple is the House of the Lord and peace is one of the central feelings that you can feel while inside the walls.  So it was on this day as I entered into the temple.  I felt that peace and enjoyed a sweet endowment session.  As I had planned when I entered into the Celestial room, I  found a chair off in the corner where I could spend some time in pondering and praying .  As I prayed and expressed my concerns about Ben, I thought, “Please let me know that everything will be alright.”  Immediately, I felt a terrible feeling of despair like a black hole filled my heart.  The next feeling was my own anger.  I was in the temple.  Why was I not feeling peace? I didn’t even know that was possible. As my thoughts and prayer moved on to other things, the peace did return and I felt comforted, but whenever I thought about Ben and asked for reassurance that all was well, the feeling of sadness and despair along with my anger returned.  When I left the temple that day, I was angry still.  I had sought peace in the temple but I didn’t feel like I had found it.  Fortunately, it takes about 25 minutes to get from the Ogden Temple to my house.  Somewhere on that road, I realized that the Lord had not given me peace when I asked to be told that Ben was alright, because he was not alright.  Something was wrong.  This was actually a great gift for me and prepared me for what laid ahead. It was eight months later that he and we found out what that what was wrong when Ben was diagnosed with schizophrenia, a very difficult and persistent mental illness which he and we continue to battle even now 12 years later.  That day in the temple, the Lord helped me to understand that all was not okay.  He could not give me peace, but He gave me understanding.  He met my need for succor even though it was not what I thought I needed or wanted.  Many times since that day, I have received peace in regards to Ben—about decisions we need to make to help him, the daily help I sometimes need as Ben’s mother and when I have prayed to have a more longer view of the hows and whys of Ben’s sufferings.

Jesus said, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.  In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

We can feel the peace of Christ when we allow Him to succor us and accept the aid He freely gives to us.

So peace in Christ comes through seeking forgiveness and keeping it in our remembrance. Peace in Christ comes from building our foundation—our very lives—upon Him and accepting the help He promises to give us. Peace does not come from the removal of all pain and suffering. like the little bird His peace allows us to sleep and be of good cheer and endure  in and through the storms of life.

I attended a workshop at a BYU Women’s Conference entitled “A solution to the Worldwide Problems of Women and Children.”  After a heart wrenching PowerPoint about some of the issues facing women and children worldwide, the presenter asked who would write a check or volunteer their time to a solution.  And then she said something I will never forget.  “It is only through the gospel of Jesus Christ that these problems can be solved…one heart, one person at a time.”  She added, “  Billions of dollars are spent; millions of hours donated—and these things are good—but true change will only happen when hearts are changed by Christ.”

How lucky we are as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints  to know where our true source of help and peace comes from.  In the document The Living Christ it reads:

We bear testimony, as His duly ordained Apostles—that Jesus is the Living Christ, the immortal Son of God. He is the great King Immanuel, who stands today on the right hand of His Father. He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world. His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come. God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son.

Jesus Christ is The Lord of Lord, the King of Kings, the Prince of Peace.

Certainly “God be thanked for the matchless gift of His Divine Son.—and the peace that only comes through and from Him. 

In His name, Jesus Christ. Amen.