"Come, follow me"

One year when I was about 14 years old and my older sister, Kaylin, was about 17, her, I, and my parents were on a hike. Kaylin and I, being teenagers, had no desire to hike with our parents so we pulled back a little ways behind them so we could have our own conversation. As we were walking we noticed we were following almost exactly in our parents footprints. We began to laugh as we pointed out that we could just hear some old church leader using that experience as a way to teach a gospel principle. We joked about how some of those leaders always seemed to find gospel principles and thoughts using the smallest things in everyday life, and we then proceeded to figure out what they might say to share this thought on following exactly in your parents footprints. I don't remember exactly what we planned out for this dynamic talk but I'm sure it was very spiritual. But, as I can't remember what Kaylin and I came up with, I thought I'd share some thoughts I've had on my own about this gospel application and hope she'll forgive my memory and the fact that I'm turning into one of those old church leaders myself..not in age or leadership role but in applying the gospel to obscure situations.

Whose footprints do you follow in? Whose footprints would you like to follow in?

I would like to focus on the second question: "Whose footprints would you like to follow in?" There are many great answers to this question. The example of the parents footprints that originally spurred this idea can be a very good one. If you have good, faithful parents who love and teach gospel principles then following in their footprints is an excellent idea. Also, following in the footprints of older siblings, or church leaders (yes, even old ones) can be very uplifting. But I'd venture to say the very BEST footprints we could follow in are our Savior, Jesus Christ's. "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." (John 8:12) We are promised as we follow the Savior that we will have the light of life. Because the Savior lead a perfect life, as we do our very best to follow in His footsteps we will be able to free ourselves from sin and worldly sorrow. No, we will not be perfect. Yes, we will make mistakes. But as we strive more and more every day to follow in His footsteps we WILL find more joy and strength. We will be kept from much heartache and we will be able to move forward with faith.

 Come Follow Me

(vs.1)
"Come, Follow me," The Savior said.
Then let us in his footsteps tread,
For thus alone can we be one
With God's own loved, begotten son
(vs. 2)
"Come, follow me," a simple phrase,
Yet truths sublime effulgent rays
Are in these simple words combined
To urge, inspire the human mind.
(vs. 5)
We must the onward path pursue
As wider fields expand the view,
And follow him unceasingly,
Whate'er our lot or sphere may be
(vs. 6)
For thrones, dominions, kingdoms, pow'rs,
And glory great and bliss are ours,
If we, throughout eternity,
Obey his words, "Come, follow me."

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart"

Before coming out on my mission my mother made me a beautiful quilt with messages and scriptures from many of the people that are most important to me. It took months to get all the messages gathered and the quilt put together. I received the quilt one Sunday afternoon after I spoke in church. I had a week and a half before I left on my mission and I decided to bring the quilt with me to visit friends so I could catch the few of them that hadn't signed it yet. My mother put the quilt in a big, black garbage bag and set it by the front door, among many other items she wanted my dad to carry out to the car. I then followed my parents into St. George where we attended the temple and did some shopping. When it was time for us to part ways I went to get the quilt out of their car and couldn't find it anywhere. My mother and I pulled out practically everything that was in the trunk to no avail. When we asked my dad about it, and explained that it was in a garbage bag, he responded calmly: "Oh! I threw that away" ... "You, WHAT?!" Yes, mistaking the bag for garbage my father had done the dutiful thing and taken it out to the dumpster. Something else worthy of noting is that this so happened to be garbage day (of course). My mother and I were speechless. Then and there I gave up hope. I thought "Well, it's gone. Can't do anything about it". I was heartbroken. This quilt that had been months in the making, that had special messages just for me written on the fabric, was gone. With nothing else to do I climbed in my car and drove away, feeling forlorn.

My mother, however, did not give up hope. She immediately started making phone calls as her and my father drove back towards home. She found out that yes, in fact, the garbage man had come. She contacted the garbage company who told her that they were welcome to search the dump but the likelyhood of finding the quilt was slim to none. They expressed to her that there is no rhyme or reason for how they bring in garbage and dump it so it could be anywhere. And still, my mother did not give up hope. Instead she did the one thing I should've done immediately. She prayed. She prayed and she prayed and she prayed. All the way home (2 hours) she told me she was saying silent prayers. When her and my father arrived back in town they immediately headed to the dump. Upon seeing the mess they had to sort out they headed home and changed into grubby clothes, grabbed shovels and rakes and gloves and prepared to dig through trash. On the way to the dump my dad came up with a game plan for how to find this quilt. He assigned my mother and area to start and himself an area to start. He figured they could begin at the outer edges and work their way in to the middle. When they arrived, he began unloading the tools, and my mom started heading straight for the middle of all the garbage. He, of course, asked what in the world she was doing. "I had a plan!", he expressed, "we start at the edges then work toward the middle". My mom simply waved him off and told him to just wait a minute. She then proceeded to walk directly to the middle, move one item out of the way, and pick up my quilt, still in it's deceitful garbage bag. 

She expressed to me that she was guided by the Spirit on exactly where she needed to go to find that blanket.

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."-Proverbs 3:5-6 

This is the perfect example of what occured on this day. My mother put her trust in the Lord, not wavering, and her path was lead directly to that quilt. I, on the other hand, leaned unto my own understanding. I thought there was no way we were ever going to find it, it wasn't logical. If it had been up to just me, I'd be without that precious quilt today. But because of my mom's complete trust and faith in the Lord, He answered her prayers and lead her exactly where she needed to go. In the long run losing that quilt wouldn't have been a huge deal. Lives wouldn't have been lost and I would've still served my mission, but because it was important to myself and my mother it was important to Heavenly Father. He loves each and everyone of us so much that he cares about those things that are important to us. That is a true Father's love and I am so grateful for that and so grateful for the faith of my earthly mother, who was able to be lead by the Spirit. Because of that, I get to sleep under that quilt every night here in Montana and get to receive constant reminders of the love my family and friends, as well as my Father in Heaven, has for me :)