The following is a talk/sermon given today in church by a dear brother who gave me permission to share it with the world:

Have you ever stuck a fork or a knife into an electrical outlet just to see what would happen? I want to preface this by saying, kids, do NOT EVER try this at home. But for those of you who’ve already been as foolishly curious as I have, you know it’s not fun. It’s not like it is in the cartoons. There’s a lot of pain, screaming, involuntary body movements, and ultimately, crying and tears. I only mention it because of a random thought I had as I was preparing this talk which reminded me of a Sunday school lesson a few weeks ago. We were discussing the restoration and I had made a comment regarding Joseph being the one to restore the power of God to the earth again. Using the analogy of a lamp that was in perfect working order; the lamp itself worked, the light bulb worked, but when you pulled the chain or turned the switch, the light didn’t come on, because it was no longer plugged in to the power source. Perhaps a better way to see it is the power had been cut off so that NONE of the lights in the house were working. The house being the earth and the lights being all the churches within in. Since Joseph Smith has restored the Lord’s power once again to the kingdom of God on the earth, whenever I speak about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, sometimes it’s like sticking my spiritual finger in the Lord’s spiritual power outlet. The effect is sudden, overwhelming, it can be spiritually jolting and there’s crying and tears – minus the screaming. So if I’m suddenly rendered speechless and tears begin to flow, it’s just the effect of the spiritual BZZZZZ!

The title I’ve chosen for my talk is “Looking for Life in all the Dead Places”.

I perceive a country song playing in your heads right now.

When Mary came to the tomb of Jesus on the third day, she was met by an angel who said, “Why seek ye the living among the dead?”

Those words have taken on new meaning for me. Years ago, when I left the church, it was the beginning of a years long journey of looking for life in all the dead places and in every face except the face of the “light and life of the world” – our Savior, Jesus Christ. My “Alma the younger lessons” didn’t come in a nice compact, concentrated, 3 days of unconscious eternal torment and the harrowing of my soul. Mine took 3 decades of carefully chosen or foolishly chosen (depending on the perspective) yet tailor made harrowing lessons of my own, that I now see how God was using for His good to turn me from the “wide gate and broad way which leads to destruction”, back to the “strait gate and narrow way which leads to life”. He knew very well who I was in the pre-mortal world. He knew what I did there and the choices I made that resulted in me being here now. He knew things about me that I didn’t, and a lot more that I still don’t. Through my patriarchal blessing, it’s like being able to see through a tiny crack in the veil, a glimpse of who I was then, who I am now, and my purpose for being here.

We’re all here in this mortal world that I like to think of as “God University”, where we’re all in class 24/7 for the duration of our lives and the main course of study is “How to become like God”. Each of us has our own set of lessons specific to who we are and who we’re becoming. Some of us arrive here in “school” and from the beginning we’re set on the straight path. Some of us arrive and don’t have that opportunity and our learning in this life happens on a divergent path that hopefully will lead us back to where we need to be. All of it is for one purpose with the same end result, our own immortality and eternal life.

If you’re facing a crisis of faith; if you’re feeling like you’ve done everything right; everything the Lord has asked of you, and your watching your life go down a path that you never saw coming, through no fault of your own, and it’s causing you to question God, and it’s confusing to you because you can’t understand why this is happening. Or if you’ve experienced something or done something in your past that is, in your mind, holding you back from going to the temple and receiving ALL the blessings God has waiting for you for no other reason than YOU haven’t forgiven yourself. I stand before you today to deliver a message, “It’s time.” Time to come boldly to the throne of grace and FULLY surrender yourself to the Lord. Time to stop looking for your life in all the dead places. Cease seeking the living among the dead, and lose your life in the light and life of the world.

It doesn’t matter if we’ve been a conscious deliberate sinner or have repeatedly faced failure and disappointment, the moment we decide to try again; I’ll say that again. The “MOMENT” we “DECIDE”; the SECOND we CHOOSE to try again, the atonement of Jesus Christ can help us with IMMEDIATE effect. If you’re like me, I used to think that I had to jump through all kinds of spiritual hoops FIRST before forgiveness could be received. I was wrong. The powerful effects of the atonement of Jesus Christ happens the instant we repent and choose to try again. All of us have had these experiences at some point in life, multiple times, I’m sure. Some of you may be experiencing a time like that right now. Some may be feeling guilt for something you’ve already repented for and God has long forgiven and forgotten. But your memory of a past transgression has you falsely shackled and feeling unable to move forward. That is just one of the powerful tools of the adversary that he uses to cheat you out of everything God is trying to give you, by causing you to feel as though you’re less than what you’re really worth to God. You are worth EVERYTHING to God. So much so that He sent His only Begotten Son to do that which we could NEVER do for ourselves, and provide a way home to our Father. I encourage you to take THIS MOMENT to decide to allow Jesus Christ and His atonement to help you unchain yourself from the sorrow and guilt that prevents you from progressing higher.

Elder Holland said:

“However late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made, or however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s atonement shines.”

If Christ can overcome death, what can He NOT do?

Someone asked me recently, “What do you do when you feel discouraged?” I’m sure we’ve all been asked the question, “If you could go back in time, what advice would you give your younger self?” As I carefully thought through this scenario, I came to the conclusion that this wouldn’t be very helpful for me. Instead of going into the past, I like to go into the future. Millennia from now. Instead of “GIVING” advice to my past self, I prefer to “RECEIVE” advice from the immortal, celestial, eternal, glorified, future version of me. That conversation goes something like, [my immortal self speaking];

“I know this thing you’re going through right now feels hard, even crushing, perhaps devastating and debilitating. I KNOW how you feel because I was you. But I’m standing before you as living proof that I AM who I AM now because of YOU; because of what you’ve done, because of what you’re doing now, and because of all that you WILL do. All of this that you’re experiencing now is all just part of the process. It’s part of OUR process of YOU becoming ME. You’re doing so well. Just stay the course and remain close to the Lord. Trust in Him and do everything He asks of you without question, without hesitation, and without resistance as Jesus did, even if you can’t understand WHY in the moment. You will come to understand everything in time. He will NEVER lead you wrong.  Have complete faith in that. If you can do this, and, spoiler alert, I ALREADY KNOW you can, you will have NOTHING to worry about. And one day, YOU will be ME.”

Imagine for a moment coming in contact with a creature that is glorious beyond ANYTHING you could ever encounter in this world, and like Joseph said about his first vision, “defies all description”. A creature so celestially glorious and other worldly that if you could see it now you would be tempted to drop to your knees and worship it. Then imagine that after the initial shock and wonder has had a chance to subside enough for you to come somewhat back to your senses, you’re finally hit with mind altering reality that this creature is YOU. What you’re really looking at is the immortal, resurrected, glorified, eternal version of what you’re in the process of becoming. I promise you that if you go and have a conversation with THAT person, your despair would dissipate directly.

I leave you with more words of Elder Holland.

Today is Easter, a time for the righteous principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ and His atonement to “PASS OVER”, pass over conflict and contention, pass over despair and transgression, and pass over, ultimately, over death. It’s a time to pledge total loyalty in word and deed to the Lamb of God, who “bore our griefs and carried our sorrows” in His determination to finish the work of salvation in our behalf. In spite of betrayal and pain, mistreatment and cruelty, and bearing all the accumulated sins and sorrows of the human family, the Son of the living God looked down the long path of mortality, saw us this weekend, and said: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid”.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.