Holland - Trusting Jesus

Introduction

The title for this book and its first chapter was given to me by a neighbor, a four- year- old girl. The title for the last chapter was given to the whole world by the Apostle Paul, a missionary. A child and a missionarytwo representative figures within the larger human familywho both know we must "trust Jesus." Each of the other chapters contributes testimonies from a variety of sources encouraging faith in the Savior of the world, love for His divine Father, and grati tude for the work of the Holy Spirit in communicating Their strength, comfort, and counsel to us.

Jesus once said to His very earliest followers, "What seek ye?" Whatever their answerand oursto that question, His response will always be the same: "Come," he says to each of us, "Come... follow me" (see John 1:3843). That gentle invitation to trust the Savior's bidding and follow His ordained path is His constant declaration, whatever our individual quests and concerns. A fundamental truth decreed from before the foundation of earth is that His is the way of peace in this world and eternal life in the world to come. It is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Everyone meets affliction in mortality. Everyone knows some sorrow. Everyone experiences disappointments, even despair, and looks for ways to bear up and keep on going. The answer for all times and all seasons is to "trust Jesus." Through faith in Christ we will, like Alma, be "supported under trials and troubles of every kind" (Alma 36:27). I testify that I have been, and I have seen the promise fulfilled that the Savior is truly the "high priest of good things to come" (Heb. 9:11). My prayer for each reader is that you will feel that same security and safety always. In preparing this book I have wanted you to trust that Jesus "fainteth not, neither is weary.... He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.... They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint" (Isa. 40:2829, 31).

As always, I alone am responsible for the ideas and teachings contained in this collection. It is not an official publication of The Council of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles nor a statement of official doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints. I wish to thank my able and supportive secretary, Randi Greene, and my friends at Deseret Book, especially Sheri Dew, Cory Maxwell, Jay Parry, and Tom Hewitson, for their unfailing (and in this case, long- distance) contribution to this effort. A special form of thanks always goes to my beloved wife, Pat, who not only encouraged the publication of this book but in every case has had to endure the anguish and travail her husband goes through when he prepares a message for delivery or an article for publication. I am eternally grateful to her and to the perfect children, children- in- law, and grandchildren God has given us.

As I leave the book in your hands, consider this from the Old Testament source which Christ referred to more often than any other: "The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.... The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate" (Psalm 34:1819, 22).

JRH

Santiago, 2003

I AM THE LIVING BREAD

Trusting Jesus

Life in every era has had its troubles. Surely the Dark Ages were appropriately named, and not one of us is anxious to be transported back even to those later years of, say, the Hundred Years' War or the Black Plague. No, we're quite happy to have been born in a century of unprecedented material blessings and abundant living; yet in community after community, in small nations and large, we see individuals and families facing heightened anxiety and fear. It would seem that discouragement, depression, and despair are our contemporary "Black Plague." Ours is, as Jesus said it would be, a time of distress with perplexity (see Luke 21:25).

We know that some of the world's most painful suffering is done in silence, in the sorrow of a lonely life. But some of it has more violent expression. Millions around the world are, as one observer put it, "angry, armed and dangerous." In too many cities, drive- by shootings are becoming as common as drive- through laundries, and too many youngsters are packing a gun to school the way they used to pack a lunch.

There is an increasing feeling that time is out of joint, that no one seems wise enough or strong enough to set it right. In many cases, governments are in office but not in power, community values and neighborhood pride are often superficial or nonexistent, and too frequently the home is an alarming failure.

Furthermore, many of the social and political medicines of our day regularly miss the mark, so those would- be physicians stand by the bedside of "feverish and delirious humanityoutwitted, discredited, dumbfounded... not knowing in which direction to seek deliverance."

If I may be so bold, may I suggest "direction for deliverance"? In words of one syllable, we need to turn to God and trust in His Only Begotten Son. We need to reaffirm our faith, and we need to reassert our hope. Where necessary we need to repent, and certainly we need to pray. It is the absence of spiritual fidelity that has led us to moral disarray in the twilight of the twentieth century. We have sown the wind of religious skepticism, and we are reaping the whirlwind of existential despair.

Without our religious faith, without recognizing the reality and necessity of spiritual life, the world makes no sense, and a nonsense world is a place of horror. Only if the world has meaning at a spiritual level is it possible for human beings to keep going, to keep trying. As Hamlet so wisely implored, so should we: "Angels and ministers of grace defend us!"

My testimony is of the angels and ministers of grace who will always defend us if, as the prophet Alma commanded us, we "take care of... sacred things," we "look to God and live" (Alma 37:47). More prayer and humility, more faith and forgiveness, more repentance and revelation and reinforcement from heaventhese are where we seek remedy and deliverance for "feverish and delirious humanity."

I testify of God's limitless love for His children, of His unquenchable desire to help us heal our wounds, individually and collectively. He is our Father, and Wordsworth wrote more than he knew when he said we came to earth "trailing clouds of glory... from God, who is our home." But in far too many cases, we find no modern belief in a Heavenly Father, and when there is a belief, it is too often an erroneous one. God is not dead, and He is not an absentee landlord. God is not uncaring, or capricious, or cantankerous. Above all, He is not some sort of divine referee trying to tag us off third base.