Open the Door

I was struck by a story that Sister Michelle D. Craig told in the most recent general conference. She recounted how her family was recarpeting their house, and the night before the new carpet came her brothers were removing furniture and ripping out the old carpet from some of the bedrooms. She related, “My then seven-year-old sister, Emily, was already asleep. So, while she slept, they quietly removed all the furniture from her room, except the bed, and then tore out the carpet. Well, like older brothers sometimes do, they decided to pull a prank. They removed the rest of her belongings from the closet and off the walls, leaving the room bare. Then they wrote a note and tacked it to the wall: ‘Dear Emily, we moved. We’ll write in a few days and tell you where we are. Love, your family.’” Sister Craig continued, “The next morning when Emily did not come for breakfast, my brothers went to find her—there she was, sad and alone behind a closed door. Emily reflected on this experience later: ‘I was crushed. But what would have happened if I had just opened the door? What would I have heard? What would I have smelled? I would have known I was not alone. I would have known I really was loved. The thought never even crossed my mind to do something about my situation. I just gave up and stayed in my closet crying. And yet if I had simply opened the door.’” That seven-year-old girl had decided that her situation was hopeless, that she was alone, and that there was nothing to do except stay put and cry. Sister Craig’s point was that even when we are weighed down with sorrow or anxiety or suffering, we can still act in faith in Jesus Christ to get out of our situation—we can open the door.

                After telling this story Sister Craig suggested, “The scriptures are filled with examples of men and women, disciples of Christ, who, when facing the impossible, simply acted—who got up in faith and walked.” One of those stories is when Nephi was tied up by his brothers on their return journey from getting Ishmael and his family. He recorded, “[My brothers] did bind me with cords, for they sought to take away my life, that they might leave me in the wilderness to be devoured by wild beasts.” He could have easily lost hope in life itself for he was left for dead with apparently no one willing to stand up for him. But instead he acted in faith doing the only thing he could think of: “But it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea, even give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound” (1 Nephi 7:16-17). With faith in the Savior he was able to break the bands that tied him down and rise again. We find a similar example of acting in faith when all seems lost in the account of Alma and Amulek in prison in Ammonihah. They had been beaten and mocked, cast into prison, witnesses to the cruel deaths of many faithful believers while being powerless to help them. They could have easily lost hope after days of this suffering. But like Nephi they did not lose hope and instead acted in faith: “When the last had spoken unto them the power of God was upon Alma and Amulek, and they rose and stood upon their feet. And Alma cried, saying: How long shall we suffer these great afflictions, O Lord? O Lord, give us strength according to our faith which is in Christ, even unto deliverance. And they broke the cords with which they were bound.” The people fled before them, the prison “rent in twain”, and Alma and Amulek walked out unharmed “for the Lord had granted unto them power, according to their faith which was in Christ” (Alma 14:25-28).

                I think that Mormon’s words to his son Mormon in their extreme difficulties living amongst a wicked people sum up well the message of these stories and that of Sister Craig. He wrote, “And now, my beloved son, notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor diligently; for if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God” (Moroni 9:6). No matter how bad things seem to have gotten, we cannot cease to labor in keeping our covenants notwithstanding the hardness of the situation. We must figuratively open the door and walk out, even if we fear that we are completely alone. We must pray with all our hearts even if we feel we have been left for dead. We must act in faith in God even if it seems that He has abandoned all the faithful. Sister Craig summarized her commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ this way: “When I stumble, I will keep getting up, relying on the grace and enabling power of Jesus Christ. I will stay in my covenant with Him and work through my questions by study of God’s word, by faith, and with the help of the Holy Ghost, whose guidance I trust. I will seek His Spirit every day by doing the small and simple things. This is my path of discipleship. And until the day that the everyday wounds of mortality are healed, I will wait upon the Lord and trust Him—His timing, His wisdom, His plan.”