Jan 18th : It'll All Work Out...

Hello Loves!

The story for the week:​

My sweet Sister Bagget whose 78 years old and who I love so much, took us to Rayville (the outskirts of our area) this Saturday.​ We went there searching to find some of our media referrals.​ One of these referrals was a woman named Regina who requested a bible. As we approached this broken down white house in a very rough neighborhood, I could see children swarming out to see the two white girls walking to their front door. We ask for Regina and she lets us in. The moment we entered into this home, I felt nothing but sadness, and I didn't completely understand why until the more time I spent there.

We sat in her front room trying to explain who we are and what we are doing. In the mean time, ciaos is all around the house. There's a man paranoid and hastily walking back and forth because of the drugs he is taking, there's a 1 year old boy with a metal fork hes trying to hide while getting very close to his sisters eyes who has no idea what to do, another young boy that was handled roughly a few seconds before we walked in the room was crying hysterically. After a little rub on his back and a smile on my face, he latched onto me for safety. The look on his face was evident that he wanted me to stay close to him as long as possible. In the meanwhile, a little girl with a "big bubble" on her belly button because of lack of professional help when she was born caused it to be a sore and disformed. Some of the other kids were getting too close to a hot curling iron that their mother was using for her "night time" job on the street corner and was preoccupied as she handled two drug deals at the front door to completely two different estranged men.

For the 25 minutes that we were in the house, I saw nothing but hurt, pain and harmful conduct.

No matter how many times I see it, I will never get use to this...My heart could have easily been 100 pounds as I left the house that day. I could barely get myself to leave. Sister Bagget who was sitting in the car with Rudy her dog, witnessed some of the events that occurred. We got into the car and nothing but silence came out of our mouths. We started heading down the road and the feelings finally overwhelmed me. Sister Bagget looked at me in the rear view mirror, noticing the emotions behind the tone of my voice as I asked...

"...How do you know everything will turn out right?" "...How are some of these precious souls born into these horrendous lives and others can be so blessed to never know this much evil?"

She answered simply..."I don't know Sweetie.... but I know that God will take care of each one of those beloved children." She then proceeded to comfort me, explaining that because of the Christ, things will be made right. Tears streamed down my face as the realization that no matter how hard I tried I could never do as much as I wanted to help everyone in the world experiencing this turmoil. A statement from a speech that I read crossed my mind, "You believe in Christ; you just don't believe in Christ...you believe Christ makes promises He can't keep." In the very instance, I knew that I needed to strengthen my faith in the Savior and His Atonement. I needed to believe in Christ as much as I need to believe Christ.

I thought back to Elder Oaks talk this past general conference, "Strengthened by the Atonement of Jesus Christ." He said in part of it, "Our Savior experienced and suffered the fulness of all mortal challenges “according to the flesh” so He could know “according to the flesh” how to “succor [which means to give relief or aid to] his people according to their infirmities.” He therefore knows our struggles, our heartaches, our temptations, and our suffering, for He willingly experienced them all as an essential part of His Atonement. And because of this, His Atonement empowers Him to succor us—to give us the strength to bear it all. ..."Our hymns contain this true assurance: “Earth has no sorrow that heav’n cannot cure.” What cures us is our Savior and His Atonement."

Through these discouraging times I think of the lyrics to one of my favorite hymns that brings comfort to my soul and the calm assurance that things will be okay...

Where can I turn for peace?

Where is my solace

When other sources cease to make me whole?

When with a wounded heart, anger, or malice,

I draw myself apart,

Searching my soul?

Where, when my aching grows,

Where, when I languish,

Where, in my need to know, where can I run?

Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish?

Who, who can understand?

He, only One.

I know that the ONLY way to understand and believe that things will be okay is through trusting in Christ and His eternal gift, His Atonement. I know that faith is a continuous action that is needed for our benefit. He knows the struggles of our heart, the despair we feel and the darkness that swarms us everyday. With that being said, I ask that we follow this counsel...Let Him help you...let Him in, to bring that peace that we are all looking for.

I love you all,

Sister Huffaker