Be Still My Soul!

     Recently B and I attended a fireside to listen to Kitty De Ruyter, an LDS woman who suffered through World War II in a concentration camp. The opening hymn for the fireside was “Be Still My Soul”. As I opening my mouth to sing the familiar words


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

their meaning sunk deep into my being and I found I was unable to speak let alone sing, as I was overcome with gratitude to my Father in Heaven. Truly this hymn was for me in that moment to be reminded that I need to trust in him. So often I question the path I cannot see lacking the faith to trust my footsteps in any direction at all.

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.

     So I will continue on with peace in my soul and, as we all know, I will stumble and fall and I will get back up knowing it is God’s arm that I am using for support.

     I have also been reading a dramatized book of the prophet Abinidi and for those of you who know the story it also includes an account of Alma as a priest of King Noah. In the book Alma has not yet heard the words of Abinidi and isn’t living the life he should and is often making wrong if not terrible choices. I have found myself reading and my heart aches for Alma and I want to shout “Don’t do it…you are better than this…don’t you know who you are and what you are to become”. You have probably guessed that this was a light bulb moment for me. I realized the irony in my statements and that they could very well be what my loved ones here on earth and on the other side, and surely my Father in Heaven, are saying as I go through life making mistake after mistake.