"...ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a prefect brightness of hope..." (2 Nephi 31:20)

I love looking up definitions from my big, fat, red dictionary I got in college many years ago. I use it frequently. So, the other morning I looked up a few definitions from one of my favorite scriptures which reads:

  "Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a prefect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life." 

2 Nephi 31:20

I love the admonition to "press forward with a steadfastness in Christ". "Press" means "to act with steady force". In cycling, when going up a hill, if I stop pedaling I will fall over and crash or I can turn around and go back down the hill, but only if I turn quickly enough and this defeats the purpose of getting to the top. In order to make it to the top, I must act with steady force, or press forward and keep my legs pressing in a forward movement. Steadfastness means: "firm, fixed settled or established; not changing, or fickle, or unwavering; constant". Think of this with "pressing forward"- unwavering and constant. It is so effective in cycling. In life, it is also effective when we press forward, unwavering in making good choices, choosing the right. It might be a lot of work, or perhaps a long hill. But if we are pressing forward and don't turn around or stop pedaling and are steadfast, we will make it to the top. And WOW! does that feel awesome!!!

As I looked up definitions, the one that intrigued me the most was "brightness". It says: "shining with light that is radiated or reflected". "Having a perfect brightness of hope" or a prefect shining with light that is radiated from us and that light is Christ. Christ is our hope. We hope in His eternal sacrifice. Hope in His power to heal us. Hope in His eyes to see, because we can't and don't see what is over that hill that we are in the middle of climbing and it sometimes feels like we have been climbing it forever! Hope, a perfect brightness of hope, so bright it reflects in our countenances (see Alma 5:14, 19) because we hope in the perfect Atonement made for us. 

The hope is, even when we can't see over the top of the hill, that Christ sees and knows all that is over the hill. And Christ does know and sees beyond the current hill we are climbing (see Matt. 6:8; 2 Nephi 2:24). As we "press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a prefect brightness of hope" we can make it through, up, and over all the challenging hills, valleys, and rides of life. Christ is "the way, the truth and the life" (John 14:6). We don't have to wait to get to the top to have a Christ-like life as we "endure to the end". A Christ-like life, is eternal life now. 

Have a "prefect brightness of hope"- He knows all, sees all, and loves us beyond measure and we have nothing to fear (see 2 Tim 1:7; D&C 98:14). Just keep pedaling, or as the scripture says, "press forward with a steadfastness in Christ". Life is good, even when it's hard and seems all up hill. This I testify.

"The Lord is good to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works" (Psalms 145:9)

I am so grateful I find peace when I am so angry I could rip someone's head off...okay, not literally, by reading the scriptures. We have a child that has a mild form of autism. We just recently learned this and it has been a blessing to receive this knowledge. The scriptures helped me to have the strength and understanding that we will be able to help our son regardless of how blind others choose to remain. I know that anger isn't a way to solve a problem. It isn't the way to relieve frustration, even though it may seem to be a quick fix. Anger usually just causes more pain (and I was pretty angry at how close minded/blind people can be). I am so grateful for the example of prophets and apostles, living and from the scriptures, because they testify of Christ and teach me how to handle challenges and affliction, or perhaps just deal with my anger and therefore "...the grace of God" may be and [and is able to] abide in [me]" (see Ether 12:41).

I had never really noticed all these years that I have read The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ that Nephi, a prophet, starts by not only saying he was raised by "goodly parents", but that he had "seen many afflictions in the course of his days" (1 Nephi 1:1). Even prophets are not exempt from trials and afflictions. The last verse of that same chapter explains how Nephi sees and learns from his afflictions. He says, "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" (1 Nephi 1:20). Nephi doesn't say that the problems went away, but that he  focuses on the "tender mercies of the Lord". Tender mercies come in all shapes and sizes, sometimes making us "mighty even unto the power of deliverance"; other times, giving us the power to endure and to make our burdens lighter, so much so  that the Lord will "strengthen [us] that [we can] bear up [our] burdens with ease, and [we will] submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord" (Mosiah 24:15).

Sometimes the tender mercies lead us to deliverance by giving us the strength to endure, not necessarily taking the problem away. Elder Dallin H. Oaks said, "The Atonement ...gives us the strength to endure 'pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind,' because our Savior also took upon Him 'the pains and the sicknesses of his people' (Alma 7:11). Brothers and sisters, if your faith and prayers and the power of the priesthood do not heal you from an affliction, the power of the Atonement will surely give you the strength to bear the burden" (He Heals the Heavy Laden). Over the years I have prayed for understanding, wisdom, knowledge, guidance, help, and much more as a parent. Being able to help a child who needs some extra attention, but not knowing what we were dealing with has led to a lot of frustration and anger. As times, I thought I would have to just give up, but that isn't a good solution, nor is it an option. In the end, I have always been given the strength to endure. As parents, we need strength to endure all things because, truly, "we believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things" (Article of Faith 13). The only way to be able to endure parenting with joy, or any trial for that matter, is to rely upon the Savior.

As a mother with a child who has autism, unbeknownst to me, but I knew that something wasn't "right" with my child, I have struggled and struggled for years to "help" him. It hasn't been easy. People expect him, and I expected him, to act like my other children in various situations, and he didn't behave/respond the same, no matter how many times we asked, threatened, helped, encouraged, taught, loved, him to do differently. The tender mercies of the Lord have been with us the whole time as we have tried to guide our son. He is an incredible child of God. He is loving and kind, brilliant, and filled with joy and enthusiasm for life. The wonderful mercy that has been given us wasn't having our son changed to "normal" (whatever normal is), but having us change, and continue to be changed. We are more patient (and get to learn more patience as we help others learn to help our son), more understanding of other people and the challenges they are faced with, more forgiving. I'm not a perfect parent/person, and I continue to learn every day and pray as the Psalmst, "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions" (Psalms 51:1), because boy do I make a lot of mistakes trying to help my children. And God does hear and answers my prayers. He loves His children- "The Lord is good to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works" (Psalms 145:9). I am so grateful for the grace of Jesus Christ. Without it, I don't know where I would be. I realized one day that I do my best as a parent and then I have to leave the rest up to Him (see 2 Nephi 25:23). That is grace in full action! What a tender mercy to give to all His children- grace.

There are times in our lives when we are like Nephi and are asked to "return to Jerusalem" (1 Nephi 3:2) even when we already left everything behind (see 1 Nephi 2:4), or so we thought. Sometimes, we have to "return" because we have more to learn, things so precious that it effects our future and the future of our children (see 1 Nephi 3:19-20). Life is guaranteed to have affliction. We are told, "Be patient in afflictions, for thou shalt have many; but endure them, for, lo, I am with thee, even unto the end of thy days" (D&C 24:8). We can be as Nephi who responded with "I will go and do" because, just as he had faith to go, we too will "know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them" (1 Nephi 3:7). The way is prepared...Jesus showed us the way, because He is "the way" (John 14:6). We can do it, even on the days that are really hard, and those days we are really angry. "His tender mercies are over all His works" (Psalms 145:9) ~this includes you and me. This I testify.