Healer of Hearts

Living in these latter days, rubble of our telestial world surrounds us. Wickedness and iniquity abound. Men crazed by diverse lusts create widespread harm. We have seen this happen this week with the bombing in Boston. My community saw it today with the suicide of a young teenager in our town.
But, sadness and wickedness is not the end! Christ and His infinite love, mercy, and glory prevail. He always will!
Because I was disturbed by the recent events, this evening I wrote a poem. I am only an amateur poet, but I'm pleased with how it turned out. It depicts my faith that Jesus Christ can and will heal us.

Healer of Hearts

Amidst the clamor of tragedy and woe

A man sweeps up the shattered fragments

Of all the broken hearts,

Splintered by the shrapnel

Spraying from a wounded world-

A planet pierced by poison darts

Of cunning crafters.

In the safety of an empty room

With sunlight streaming in,

He lays the shards he carefully gathered,

Calmly on the ground.

Appraising every piece,

Understanding what's been done,

One by one he gingerly

Lifts each fragment-

His fingers caressing

The jagged edges of the broken hearts.

Then, holding one beloved piece

He scans the room until

His eyes rest upon

A scrap which it completes.

Bit by bit he pieces

The splinters of the hearts

Piece by piece persisting

To heal the shattered shards.

Then One day when he searched the room

To find another broken part ,

There were none, and so he knew

He'd mended all his cherished hearts.

You Can Be Better

I've been going through a lot of hard times lately. I've had health issues, lots of health issues, and everything that accompanies them. Through these trials, I've been struggling to identify why I was in the pain I was in, and why I felt the way I did, physically and emotionally.  I knew trials and hardships are in life to "polish us", but I felt like I was a bad person because I had trials. As if, I wasn't good enough because I had to be polished.

Then in General Conference, as I was pondering these things, the words came into my mind:

"You are always good enough for me, but these trials are an opportunity I'm giving you to become better."

Then, I began see the trials I'm facing as a gift, a privilege, and an honor. These trials are hard, but that means that Heavenly Father trusts me with difficult tasks. He loves me enough to give me opportunities to grow. 

These next months of my life are not going to be easy. Before, I would have faced the future with fear. But now, I can take bold leaps into the face of tomorrow because I know that Heavenly Father loves me and that He knows I can accomplish these tasks He has placed before me. By viewing my trials as privileges instead of pain, I can have courage to beat them and learn something from them. I will not let Satan get the best of me by using self-pity and self-doubt. I can be, and will be stronger than these trials that shroud my current life.

"And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I ^awill go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no ^bcommandments unto the children of men, save he shall ^cprepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."

-1 Nephi 3:17

He'll Raise You Up

Lately I've been having some really hard times. I've had an injury for the past six months that has been hindering my progress in orchestra. It's been quite awful, actually. I've been in so much pain. I've been to different doctors, but I have an appointment tomorrow that should diagnose my problem.
The last three weeks, I've had a cold/bronchitis thing. We're not really sure what it is. I haven't been able to sleep well, and I've just felt horrible.
Due to lack of sleep, expectations, make-up work from being sick from school, etc., I've been kind of depressed lately. But, I just had this thought keep coming back to my mind, "I should ask for a blessing about my shoulder before the appointment tomorrow." Every time I would blow it off, It would return. Finally, I realized that this thought was a prompting that I needed to get a blessing. So, I asked my dad, and he called the home teacher, who agreed to come over.
Meanwhile, I'm just becoming more and more emotional from a billion different factors, mainly from lack of sleep. I just felt so horrible, and i was just afraid. I sheepishly admit that I wanted to have dad call the home teacher and ask him not to come because I was afraid I would start crying in front of him after/during the blessing. But, I knew I would look more foolish by canceling.
So, our home teacher came over, and I received a priesthood blessing. And I am so glad I did. The words of my blessing were the perfect words to help me feel God's love for me as I'm struggling right now. And I was promised that I would be able to play viola again. What a promise that is. I'm so grateful that I will be able to play again.
I'm so grateful for the priesthood. It has blessed my life in more ways than I could probably ever imagine. I'm so grateful for my Heavenly Father who loves me more than I could ever know, and whose light is visible, even when darkness is closing in on me.

This reminds me of one of my favorite songs, You Raise Me Up (Josh Groban). This song is so inspirational to me because it tells of how Jesus strengthens us when we are weak, and how He catches us when we are falling.

 

To learn more about the Priesthood, click here.

To learn more about God's love, click here.