I Will Not Cease to Call Upon God

I recently found out about a friend going through serious struggles and have been pondering today what we can do to help.  Knowing that there is not much directly that others can do to help the situation, I write today for her and all those who struggle with serious, heart-wrenching challenges due to no fault of their own.  I know that I have no special counsel to offer, but I believe in the scriptures we can find companionship and strength even in our greatest sorrows.  We might cry out with Jeremiah, “Is not the Lord in Zion? is not her king in her?... Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there?” (Jeremiah 8:22)  Or we might plead with God with the Prophet Joseph, “O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place?” (Doctrine and Covenants 121:1)  We might express our great grief with Nephi when he thought of the vision he had received of the eventual destruction of his people: “O the pain, and the anguish of my soul for the loss of the slain of my people! For I, Nephi, have seen it, and it well nigh consumeth me before the presence of the Lord” (2 Nephi 26:7).  Isaiah described all of us at some point in our lives as our challenges feel too great to bear: “O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted” (Isaiah 54:1).

               So what does one do in such circumstances?  I remember one particularly poignant experience on my mission in southern France when my companion and I stopped by to visit a family in our ward whom we had been helping.  She was a returned missionary from Spain, her husband was a convert from New Caledonia, and they had two rather rambunctious little children.  When we got there that day she was clearly in a bad state, and she told us she was done trying and had lost hope and was leaving the Church.  Her husband had cheated on her and struggled with the Word of Wisdom, and her life seemed to be crumbling.  What were two 20-year-olds supposed to say to that?  We did the only thing we could think of—we stood on her porch and sang these words from How Firm a Foundation:

The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose

I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes;

That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,

I’ll never, no never, I’ll never, no never,

I’ll never, no never, no never forsake!

We did our best to encourage her, to testify that God would not forsake her and that she could hold on another day in the hope of the blessings of the gospel that awaited her.  And sometimes that is all that we can do, to cling to the promises of the Lord and trust that though “the mountains depart, and the hills be removed; [God’s] kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of [His] peace be removed” (Isaiah 54:10).  I love the way that Moses expressed his determination to Satan even when faced with fear and “the bitterness of hell”: He declared, “I will not cease to call upon God” (Moses 1:18, 20).  No matter what happens to us, no matter what terrible trials we are called to pass through, the one determination we must maintain is that, that we will not cease to call upon God for His aid.  And as we plead with Him for His strength, His promise to us is sure: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness” (Isaiah 41:10).