Lift + Love

FAMILY AND FRIENDS. 

What a week. 

We had exchanges, specialized training, MLC, and zone conference is tomorrow!! And more exchanges to follow! I started taking every sister to get a snowcone now hahaha..... It's a new tradition I guess. :) 

We definitely were able to see some tender mercies happen this week! The mom of the family we be been seeing had her sister over while we stopped by, and now her sister wants in on everything!!! They're the sweetest, we are so excited about them! 

We also have started visiting this older single woman who has been struggling finding God again after going through some thing really hard that's taken her away from the Church for over 3 years. We asked if we could come over each week and she accepted. This week we taught about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We asked her a lot of soul searching questions and she began to remember those tender feelings she once had. It resulted in her bearing her testimony of how she knows in her heart this is true and she cannot deny it. It was sooooo special. Then she began to cry and looked at us and said, "I know Jesus loves me because you two are here. I feel like this is my new beginning." Our hearts melted. I love her so much! She is still learning English, so she mostly speaks Spanish! I said the closing prayer in Spanish and she was SO HAPPY hahaha. If you've seen the movie Coco, this woman is basically the grandma! She even takes of her chanclas to wack her dogs if they try to run away hahaha. I love her so much. She even came to church to hear us speak it was the best!! :) 

We walked into one members house, and found her crying on her couch and her house was a mess. She was so embarrassed and didn't even know where to start. It just hit me while I was on my hands and knees with a tiny vacuum just how much joy and love I was feeling- it was even kinda fun. Hahaha. But I was just reminded of the real power in choosing discomfort for another's sake. We started with the rug, then the rest of the room, then the next, and the next, and pretty soon it was a brand new house and this lovely lady had the biggest smile on her face.

Over and over and over again this week we experienced the power of meeting people exactly where they are and as they are. A principle Christ always lived by. 

Let me give an example. The Lord is called to judge a woman taken in adultery. Remember though that this was thrust on the Lord unexpectedly, to which the Lord was called to react. There was a big crowd and they were setting Him up to be in an impossible situation, asking and tempting and trapping Him into a no-win position. They were trying to make Him forget who He was and lose His patience.

In John 8, it records that Jesus stoops down, and begins to write in the dirt with his hand. When the woman gets thrown on the ground into the middle of crowd- think about where they are all looking. And who they are looking at. Who are they thinking about and who are they judging and who are they condemning. It’s ALL on her.

Then Jesus, stoops down and starts writing on the ground- He shifts all the attention off of her and puts it all on Himself. All the shame, all the daggers, all the accusations- and brings them off of her and onto Him. That’s what Jesus came here to do. He did it in the garden and on the cross. And He’s doing it for this woman.

Jesus soon arises and He responds to the crowd, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” Rather than giving some authoritative lecture, He gave the woman love. Which is exactly the lesson the accusers and the woman needed. The situation called for mercy and compassion.

Then, again, Jesus stoops down to the ground- this time to be on her level and everyone else is gone. It is just one on one. And the woman is there broken and in the dirt. And I love that Jesus puts His hand in the dirt almost like He’s saying, “I’m going to come and be in this mess, in this dirt with you.”

And what did the woman do to earn Jesus’ tenderness and invitation? Nothing. He came down to her and offered it. He is the only one who can condemn her and the only one who doesn’t. She leaves with a another chance. We do not have to hustle for our worthiness to be healed. We are always enough. Again, and again His hand is outstretched no matter how far down He has to reach.

What did the woman come in feeling?

And what does she leave knowing?

I pray that when we have opportunities to lift, comfort, strengthen, serve, and love- we don't let them pass by. That we choose to meet people exactly where they are, but have them leave better than they came. 

Elder Holland shares, 

"Brothers and sisters, we have a heaven-sent opportunity as an entire Church to demonstrate “pure religion … undefiled before God”—“to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light” and to “comfort those that stand in need of comfort,” to minister to the widows and the fatherless, the married and the single, the strong and the distraught, the downtrodden and the robust, the happy and the sad—in short, all of us, every one of us, because we all need to feel the warm hand of friendship and hear the firm declaration of faith." 

I wanna hear about your experiences this week as you look for ways to lift and love and choose your own discomfort for another's sake. So please send me a quick email of how it goes and how you felt :) 

I promise your charity is far greater seen than it is ever looked past. 

ALL MY LOVE, 

ox sister rich