When Help Hinders......

When Help Hinders

Darla Isackson

Her are some of the ways the Lord serves:

*Comforting us when faint…To listen to another person without judging or advising is one of the most helpful of human gifts.  Really hearing the soul’s complaint of one we love without trying to talk them out of how they are feeling is a gift of the heart that often heals and blesses.

*Silencing all our fears…Only the Lord can silence all our fears.  However, our example of leaning on the Lord, of trusting, of choosing to live in faith can be a huge help to silence another’s fears.

*Wiping away our tears…Only Jesus can ultimately wipe away all our tears; in His earthly ministry he exemplified ultimate compassion.  He wept with those who wept. Showing compassion and empathy for each other’s grief is one way we can follow His example.

*Imparting Blessings…The Lord can guide us to know what would be a blessing to those we love and what would not.  He is all-wise in making the distinction between those things that bless and those things that would hinder or weaken.  Codependent parents want to take the place of the Savior—save them, bless them, and give them everything.  But parents possessed of a Christlike love would pray, “Lord, let my children have the experiences they need to bring them back home to thee.  They pray and let go.  Say “Thy will be done.”

When the billowing surge seems to conspire against our children (loved ones), when we are tempted to rescue, to shield children from consequences, to give help that hinders, may we remember the words of the Lord to Joseph Smith in D&C 122:7-9:

If the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.  The Son of Man hath descended below them all.  Art thou greater than he?  Therefore, hold on thy way…For God shall be with you forever and ever.