SUCCOR

President Nelson stated in 2018, “Our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, will perform some of his mightiest works between now and when he comes again. We will see miraculous indications that God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, preside over this church in majesty and glory. But in coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.” In college, I met President Nelson and he had the kindest eyes I have ever seen. I knew in my heart he was a servant of the Lord and I trusted him implicitly. So...I believe what he says. I believe we have to seek the companionship of the Holy Ghost more than ever. I do not worry about what the prophet says, but sometimes I worry I make too many mistakes. AND sometimes I worry that the Holy Ghost will quit wanting to hang out by me. Like maybe my mistakes will make me gnarly, muted, or even a little stinky! Like the kind of stink that only LUME deodorant can stifle(thanks to social media-I thought my body was simply ugly, but now I know I stink too). Anyhow, I even know people with religious scrupulosity that worry their mistakes are so heavy that nothing could or would ever be enough to make up for their natural man selves stumbling around in a fallen world. Figuring their souls are already damned, they give into the natural man and even beyond. Not realizing the whole point of this weird earthly experiment we are in is that we are going to mess up. BUT and I'm saying BUT again cuz it's the biggest BUTT of all time(pun intended-see my dark humor is one of my hang-ups)but there is an actual Savior! He did die for us and take away our sins. Not only that, but I have discovered He does this cool thing called succoring!!! He cannot interfere with some of the literal crap we go through, but HE is able to run towards us with outstretched arms and can"...give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified"(Isaiah 63). This means He is able to help turn things around, like He is literally the silver lining to our clouds. So, I repent daily! I tell God and Jesus that my natural man creature messed up again! I lost my temper in traffic, saw a naked person AD, tried to cheer someone up, and just made them feel worse. I googled a person who was being a meanie head to my husband and found out some raucous information about them and told people about it. (Yeah, I'm not proud of that one). Anyhow, repenting is my LUME deodorant so my sins don't stink so bad. I do not want to lose the companionship of my BFF the HG cuz then I will kick against my own pricks (Acts 9:5)!!!! While I was repenting today---all the times the HG did help me out started flooding my mind. All the times I was so desperate and reached out and the HG, Savior AND God came running to my aid and provided succor(sometimes my problems are so bad I need all my BFF's) ...these times came back to me, and my heart filled with hope. Maybe I will write a few experiences to remind me that the HG, Jesus, and God all know how to succor. There was the time I had night terrors as a child. I prayed and prayed that somehow I would be able to wake myself up as these horrible dreams were so vivid it was almost like I was living in a different universe at night. Why do we never hear about childhood night dreams being happy? Why do we never hear of kids seeing rainbows and unicorns, but instead, there are plenty of devil horns, flames, and screaming? When I found out I was given the gift of the HG after my baptim I prayed very hard to get help me with this. FINALLY, after a few months, one night the HG whispered, "This is just a dream, Nicole, you can wake up and it will be OK". Ever since then, I have not only been able to wake up on command from any dream, but many of my dreams now include rainbows, unicorns, and even many happy messages. It's almost like that weakness was turned into a gift or strength. Another time I needed help finding a missing pocket knife. I mentioned earlier I have many hang-ups or glitches. One of them is I lose almost everything I touch! I am not kidding. One of my teachers once said, "I do not know how you do so well in school. You lose almost everything around you". So despite this and many other setbacks, as a teenager I had met some great friends and all of us started really growing our testimonies. There was a summer we went on a pioneer trek and had a great time sweating, eating bad food, and singing campfire pioneer songs. The last thing my mother told me before this trek was, "Nicole I will let you borrow my pocket-knife, but do not lose it. Your dad gave it to me and it was very expensive". I made her that promise and headed off on my adventure. The last day of the trek we had the morning free from chores and walking in circles. We were told to find a quiet place in the woods to ponder and mark our scriptures. I had just thought that morning, "Wow, here it is the last day and I have done such a great job keeping track of that pocket knife." I went off and found one of the most beautiful groves of aspen trees I had ever seen. As I read my scriptures and wrote in my journal, I suddenly thought, "Maybe this is what the sacred grove looks like!!! You know what? I have a lot of faith right now. I think I could even ask for a Joseph Smith-type grove experience and it could happen for me just like it did for him!" I actually started kneeling and praying about having a sacred grove experience when I suddenly reached for my back pocket. I realized my mom's pocket knife was not there. Forgetting my sacred grove prayer, my new prayer turned to one of complete desperation. "Oh, Heavenly Father, I did it again! I lost something valuable and I do not think my mom will forgive me this time. Forget about the sacred grove thing, do you think you could help me find that pocket knife?" Tears streamed down my cheeks and I felt so intensely my faults, weakness, and natural man tendencies overwhelming me. The sun slowly came down through those Aspen trees and their warmth started drying my tears. A soft breeze wrapped itself around me like a hug and I felt the love of God and a feeling of peace enter my soul. With my eyes closed I suddenly saw not the sacred grove, but a vision of my mom's knife glinting in the sun, hiding under a bush. I opened my eyes and even though I had been traipsing  all around up and down hills that morning to find my grove,  it was like my feet knew where to go this time. I walked in a direction that felt right. I hiked until I saw the bush from my vision! I reached underneath its green leaves and the steel silver of a knife's blade glinted in the sunlight. As I placed the blade in the back pocket of my jeans, the HG bore witness to my mind. "You did not need a sacred grove experience. God needed you to have this experience instead. He needs you to know He will help you with your weaknesses". So maybe like Joseph Smith did not have to part the Red Sea or lead a people out of Egypt like Moses, I did not have to see Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father in a vision in a sacred grove like Joseph Smith. God knew me, knew what I needed help with, and would continue to help me and does answer the prayers I need, though not always the ones I utter. "Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart. Now, behold, this is the spirit of revelation; behold, this is the spirit by which Moses brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground". Doctrine & Covenants 8:2-3 He helps us all find the dry ground we might not always want, but the ground we definitely need. He helps us with high seas, visions of glories, and, yes, even with pocket knifes.