I am writing my Easter list.
I used to love writing my Christmas list every year as a child. It would often be quite lengthy and include all the things that I wanted. As I look back, it makes me laugh because the things I wanted were relatively unimportant. My Easter list is a little different. It’s a list of things that I struggle with, accompanied by a blessing that is made possible because of Jesus and His gift of compensatory blessings through the Atonement. My list is getting lengthier as I get older. I have to start earlier every year!
A friend recently taught me that when the difficulty in our lives increases, so does the potential for happiness. That’s exactly what Easter is all about. Because of the gift the Savior gave to each of us as He carried the weight of all of our worries, sadnesses, sins and difficulties, we can be secure in the knowledge that happiness will be the outcome. The timing of that happiness is unknown, but the assurance of it is certain. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland recently stated, “Begin your search for happiness by embracing the bounty we have already received from the giver of every good gift” (Jeffrey R. Holland, “Fear Not: Believe Only!” Liahona, May 2022).
That’s what my Easter list is.
It doesn’t matter who we are, or what our life circumstance is, we all have things that keep us up at night. Money, health, travel, education, occupation, friends or any other good thing can never, and will never, solve all problems. In fact, the great paradox is that any of those things can cause problems as often as solve them. Mercifully, the Savior can help us with any challenge. His gift is the great balm and best source of comfort.
General Relief Society President Camille Johnson has said, “Jesus Christ is relief. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we may be relieved of the burden and consequences of sin and be succored in our infirmities” (Camille N. Johnson, “Jesus Christ is Relief” Liahona, May 2023).
Jesus Christ is our rescuer, our healer, and our Redeemer
Many things, especially sin, draw us away from the Savior. That can be of our own doing, or the influences of other people's choices on our lives. But the Savior is a master in equalizing those things. “Jesus specializes in the seemingly impossible. He came here to make the impossible possible, the irredeemable redeemable, to heal the unhealable, to right the unrightable, to promise the unpromisable. And He’s really good at it. In fact, He’s perfect at it” (Patrick Kearon, “He Is Risen with Healing in His Wings,” Liahona, May 2022).
He stands with open arms to welcome us no matter what foolhardy thing we may have done and He stands also with those same open arms to comfort us and figuratively shield us from other people’s poor choices. “In the Garden of Gethsemane, our Savior took upon Himself every pain, every sin, and all of the anguish and suffering ever experienced by you and me and by everyone who has ever lived or will ever live” (Russell M. Nelson, “The Correct Name of the Church,” Ensign, November 2018).
As Elder Holland has counselled, “It is precisely because there would be dark days and difficult issues that God promised He would, out of a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, guide prophets, give an iron rod, open a narrow gate leading to a strait path, and above all grant us the power to finish the course” (“Fear Not: Believe Only!” Liahona, May 2022).
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The Savior will not forsake us
Finishing the course can feel very overwhelming some days! Years ago, my husband and I participated in a 60-mile bike ride in Tucson, Arizona. As luck would have it, the most rain Tucson had seen in many, many years happened to fall on the weekend of the race. About three quarters of the way into the race there was a massive collision of bikes on a side road due to muddy, slippery conditions. We narrowly missed the bike collision, but I decided at that point that I was done with the race. I wanted nothing to do with completing it. As my husband encouraged me and with tears streaming down my face, I half-jokingly said that the only way I would keep going was if at the next aid station there was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, because I had had it!
Not far down the road as we turned the corner, we found the next aid station, and on the side of the road were a group of young women in yellow Helping Hands vests handing out homemade peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in Ziploc bags. I could barely breathe as I recognized the incredible blessing I was experiencing at that time. It was as if I felt enveloped in the arms of His love, and I felt that the Savior was aware of me and my circumstance, even this relatively small circumstance.
The help we need may not always come as quickly as it did for me that day but we can be assured that because of the Savior, and His committed, consecrated sacrifice for us, we will always be comforted, consoled, helped, guided, succored and loved. His love is greater than anything we can experience or find in any other place. It comes in the form of peace and hope.
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It looks different at different times. It comes in the most incredible, miraculous ways. It comes in quiet moments when you’re all alone, or it may come through the actions of someone else. His assurances are sure. He has promised, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John
14:27).
Look for Him meeting you exactly where you need Him. He will always find you as you invite Him in. Watch for miracles that will be all around you. Then, perhaps you can create your own Easter list.