You Are Not Alone

This has pretty much become my journal, so here is what I feel I've learned more about his week :) I had a prompting several weeks ago to write a couple of letters to some teenagers I knew. I didn't do it. It wasn't intentional, but I kept forgetting and life would be busy. Last week I found out that some events had occured and these two kids found themselves in some pretty challenging circumstances. Needless to say, I didn't put it off any longer. It took some effort to get them to the kids, but I wrote them and had them delivered. It immediately opened up a line of communication with one of the girls. I've spent time this last week offering her whatever love and support I can. There is nothing I can do to change their circumstances. I don't have the answers about what choices they should make. I can't tell them what the right thing to do is. I can't give them a magic formula to make everything all better. I can't even give them a hug. But I can let them know that they are not alone. Yesterday I was making cookies and had the strong thought that I should send a text asking this girl how she was doing. I'd learned my lesson and so I acted without delay. It turns out that at that exact moment she was feeling incredibly alone and forgotten. I don't think the timing of that text was a coincidence. As I look back through my life, I can think of so many times where my heart went out to people because of their struggles, and yet I felt like there was nothing I could do....and so that is exactly what I did-nothing. But I am realizing more and more the important work we can do in those situations. When we help someone remember that they are not alone, that they have not been forgotten in their trials, we are doing the Lord's work. At some point, they will know because of small and simple acts of love, that God has not left them alone. He has not forgotten them. One night when I was talking to this girl, I felt impressed to push her to turn to God. She was hesitant. She wondered is He even cared about her, if He would even want to have anything to do with her. As I kept testifying that God loved her, she asked me how I could even know that. I knew it because I was there for her right then, right at the time when she needed it. It was not just luck that she had someone to talk to. God knew the trials she would soon be facing and had prompted me to write her a letter. That letter led to a door being opened. That open door allowed me to show her love and compassion at the time when she needed it most. Those events are not insignificant. Sometimes when people are struggling through trials, the only thing we can do-and the thing most needed-is to let them know that they are not alone. We show them that God is aware of them when we show that we are aware of them. We show them that God does not leave them alone when we refuse to leave them to suffer alone. I remember when my mom was going through a very difficult time. There wasn't anything anyone could do to fix the challenges she was going through. Do you know what she remembers about that time? Someone left flowers for her at work. It had nothing to do with her trial, but it was a testament to her that she was not alone, that she was not forgotten. It was a testament that God loved her and was aware of her. There are several people right now in my life who are struggling with some difficult challenges. Ones that I can't magically disappear. I've found myself mourning and being weighed down. I've wondered how it must feel for President Monson who is much more aware of the difficulties faced by many more people. But I realize that I can do something. If I can help people simply feel like they are not alone, if I can help them know that the Savior is there for them....what can be more important or significant than that?