Be Still My Soul

1. Be still, my soul: The Lord is on thy side;
With patience bear thy cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In ev'ry change he faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: Thy best, thy heav'nly Friend
Thru thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

2. Be still, my soul: Thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as he has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: The waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while he dwelt below.

3. Be still, my soul: The hour is hast'ning on
When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: When change and tears are past,
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

I have been procastinating this post, because I know I am not good with words. I have been thinking of things to say, trying to put it the best I could. This Hymn came to me- what a powerful one- and struck me deep. "All safe and blessed we shall meet at last" No words could be of greater comfort in such a trialing time.

On May 12th, my dear uncle passed away from complications from Cushing's Disease. He had been suffering for 15 years and our Father in Heaven decided that he had hurt enough, and took him from this earthly life. He was 44, so young. He left 2 kids. Jeremy 27, and Aidan 12. He is my moms younger brother, and we all loved him dearly. Michael and I were fortunate enough to leave what we were doing and take off to Utah to say our final goodbyes. We saw him before he was taken off life support. He looked so calm, so peaceful, so much like him self physically, and yet not like himself spiritually. He looked at peace for once, not hurting from the pains of this world. I introduced him to Michael, whom he had not met before, and told him that he was glad to finally meet him. I held his hand, I kissed his forehead- that forehead that usually had a bandana on it- I said I loved him, and that I was sorry I hadn't talked to him in a while. Regret- you can't let it get you - once it has you it won't let you go. I quickly blotted that thought out of my mind and remembered that I knew that he loved me very much and would be laughing at me if he knew that I was upset about that. I said goodbye. Later that night I saw his cell phone... my number was in it. I didn't have his number.
Regret.
I didn't let anyone see my eyes tearing up. This was hard enough, my regret and sadness would only make it worse. I toughened up again and someone said to me later. "Gosh Megan, he loved you- he loved all of you guys so much! He loved his neices and nephews like crazy". Sweet words, and sweet relief from... that word.

Michael and I finally left Utah a week later, and tried to get back to real life. We had the great opportunity to celebrate our One Year Anniversary. What a happy year of marriage we have had, but I never knew quite how grateful I was.

A horrible phone call in the middle of the night- that night that we had just celebrated our marriage. "Michael, your sister has suffered a very bad asthma attack, she is not responding, please get on your knees and pray". Hop out of bed. tears flowing. Heavenly Father listening closely, and granting an extra portion of his spirit. Through many days of waiting and wondering, Heavenly Father took sweet Amber to live with him again. Her husband- unwaivering faith. I would like to compare the whole Zant family to Moroni! Moroni was awesome!. "Yea verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men" (Alma 48:17) Amber could not have asked for a better, or more faithful husband. And her parents too. They too have unwaivering faith, and courage. The Gospel of Jesus Christ. How do people do without it? Amber was sealed to her husband just 10 months before she was taken to do a greater work. Amber lived her life in faith, and was on the path to eternal life, and lived it that way because she knew that this earlthy life is but a grain of sand on a beach, it is a small portion of eternity. Eternity. How did I get to so lucky, first to have the knowledge of the gospel, and second to have my eternal family, and know with a SURETY that if I remain faithful and follow the commandments that I will be there too?

No Empty Seats

So what will you do today? Will you call those you haven't talked to in a while, just to say you love them? Will you hug your parents, or your siblings a little tighter and tell them you would do anything for them? I hope you will, because life is fragile, but luckily it can be eternal. So when hard times hit, rely on the gospel. Rely on Jesus Christ because he knows pain...your pain.

In the gospel of Jesus Christ you have help from both sides of the veil and you must never forget that. When disappointment and discouragement strike -and they will- you remember and never forget that if your eyes could be opened we would see horses and chariots of fire as far as the eye can see riding at reckless speed to come to our protection. They will always be there, these Armies of Heaven in defense of Abrahams seed - Jeffrey R. Holland