The Savior and Elder Holland to the rescue.

One night I was driving downtown and I got called to go to 4th south and Main to pick up a guy. I went to that location and I could not find him. I looked everywhere and he wasn’t around. We have a feature where we can call them and so I did. He said that they were at the train station and it was for the lady who he had just been on a date with. That’s a long ways away and I get in trouble from the company if I go that far off of the grid. Somehow either they had made a mistake or the car service had made a mistake but I was the one that was on the line here.I was about to just let it expire and go when the prompting came to go find her. This was going to be a tough thing because really I had no idea. I had no GPS or address. A veritable needle in a haystack.

It was raining that night so I decided I should go. I drove down to the train station which is in a terrible area if you’re a lone woman at night to try to find her. Without any help or any way of contacting her and ignoring the repeated warnings from my driver app I searched for a minute and finally was led right to her. She got in the car and was very grateful once she understood the situation. She said, I feel something special here in your car.

I asked her if the man who booked the ride was her husband or boyfriend. She said neither but she had been on a date. These days, dates don’t bring the girls home I guess. It may have been an indication about how the date went. I perceived that she was not escorted home because she had not met his expected level of activity compliance.

She was an attractive woman who was quite young (under 30 passes for young to me these days). I felt the prompting that there was a woman here that needed to hear a message. I didn’t know which one and I felt the need to get her to talk about who she was.

I told her that she seemed to me that she had the temperament to be good with children. That they would come to her and trust her. That’s the thought that came to my mind so I said it. She looked at me and said well that’s good because I have five of my own under 7 years old. I’m guessing maybe that’s what put that guy on the train and got him rolling fast out of town. I said five? That’s awesome! She said she had two sets of twins in that bunch.

I said that it must be a lot of work but inside of me the spirit was telling me that I was onto something and to keep asking questions. I asked her how she managed their family. She started to tear up and said that last year her husband had committed suicide.And now she was left to raise these children alone. She said it was incredibly hard and I could tell her heart was breaking.

She started talking about what a difficult situation that had put her in but the spirit let me know that she was blaming herself for his suicide that had left her life in shambles.

Then she pivoted and started blaming herself saying that there had to be something that she could’ve seen that would’ve helped her change the outcome for him. It became obvious to me that she was beating herself. I knew then why I was there and kind of an outline of what I was supposed to say came to my mind and I got an assurance in my heart when I thought about it so I knew I was supposed to say it.

I asked her if she had a church, she said yes. I asked her what they had to say about it, she said most of them tell her he’s going to hell. I said, do you believe that? She said, I don’t know what to believe but she did say she had quit going to church because of what she said to be harsh judgment on her husband by the people in the ward. Even though she hadn’t said it now I knew she was a member of the church. I received a prompting that she had not been terribly active to begin with so this was kind of a final straw.

I told her that in our church we believe that families are eternal and the mothers and fathers with their children can be together forever. I told her that death could not break that bond. I told her that her husband, now free of his affliction was around her and around the family. She said she believed that and she felt that daily. I told her I believe that he was around her tonight and was the reason that I was able to find her. She teared up and said that she felt his presence when she was scared and alone before I came and she also felt it now. I did too but was happy that she recognized it.

I told her about a talk and video that Elder Holland, one of our churches leaders and an apostle of Jesus Christ, had said about mental illness. I told her that one of the things that struck me in his talk was that he discussed how when somebody has a broken arm we can see it, we support them and we understand. We know how to treat it and how to make it better. However when somebody has a mental illness it is every bit as debilitating yet no one can see it, we don’t account for it and most of the time we don’t understand any of it. He went on to talk about the atonement of Christ and how it helps people with mental illness.

The bottom line is that he is telling us that her husband didn’t go to hell because of his death. Her husband had an illness and he died from it. I told her that there are many that teach that what he did was an unpardonable sin and a horribly selfish act but that our church did not teach that. It falls well within the scope of the atonement and Christ’s power. I gave her the link to an Elder Holland video discussing this. Here is the link. https://ldsmissionaries.com/new-video-elder-holland-talks-about-mental-illness-and-depression-with-members-and-new-church-website/

I felt hope and I felt the spirit and I could tell she was feeling it too. She said, are you a Mormon? I said absolutely. I said Elder Holland is one of our 12 apostles and you are a daughter of our father in heaven and he want you to know he loves you. Because of his plan he wants you to know that you can be happy again. She started to smile. I asked her what she felt right then. She said she felt hope and love. I told her that that’s how she felt in the presence of her father in heaven and he wanted to give her a hug. I told her that if she would go to church and do the things that she needed to do, her father in heaven could always be with her and could send the comforter to her and this is what it would feel like.

She said, what do I need to do to make sure of this? I said you need to read your scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon every day. I said you need to say your prayers multiple times a day But especially in the morning and at night. You should pour out your heart and talk with your father about your life, your fears, your frustrations and your sadness.

I told her that if she would do this she would feel his hand in her life to support her in the things she discussed with her father in heaven. I said she would feel the spirit walking with her and she would understand more clearly the plan of God and how she fit in it. I told her she needed to start going to church and doing the best she could to live the gospel.

I told her that because of the temple her family could be an eternal family and that God would give her the help she needed to get it there if she would just reach out. She said that this has changed her entire perspective on her life. She said she felt like she could do this for the first time in a long time.

She made a commitment to me to read, pray and go to church that week to start this process. I assured her that God intended for her family to be eternal and that it could be if she would do her part because Christ had already done and always does his part.

This talk by Elder Holland brings a lot of hope to a lot of people. I am so glad that we have it as a guideline in these types of situations.