The Doer of Our Deeds

The following is my write up assignment for "The Doer of Our Deeds" address:
What a great address to read. I thought that Sister Thomas had some wonderful thoughts and insights on this topic. I was interested with her thoughts that perhaps our search for self-esteem comes from our feelings of vulnerability and pain that came from “the fall of man.” And then added to this fall that we experienced we also became subject to Satan and to sin. It makes complete sense to me that the combination of those things would make it easier for us as human beings to try seeking out some sort of self understanding and some sort of self importance. As I read through this article I kept thinking about what an important job motherhood is and Fatherhood too. If all parents would teach their children about Heavenly Father, and try to instill in them the knowledge that they are children of God, and the importance of putting their trust in Him, perhaps there would be less of a need for people to seek after “self-esteem.” As I read this article my found myself feeling very thankful for my good parents who have taught me well, and who have taught me to trust in the Lord always.
As I read, I was also reminded of a special experience that I had with someone that I care about. This person has become inactive in the church and has married a man who is not a member of the church. She knows the church and its teachings are true, but she has gotten caught up in the idea that she must “find” herself before she can truly become devoted to the church. I was talking with her over the phone one evening about the importance of going to church and becoming a worthy member. I told her I wanted her to be able to receive the blessings that I knew she could and would receive if she would just come back. The conversation was going well, and then she made a comment something to this effect “Catherine, I do want to go to church, and I want to come back, but I am still just trying to find myself, and I think I need to do that before I can start going to church again.” I didn’t really know what to say when she said that, but I had been praying silently during the course of our conversation and quickly a scripture came to my mind. The scripture was Matt. 16:25 which reads “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” I grabbed my scriptures and read it to her. She expressed gratitude to me for reading that scripture and we had a good conversation about it. I relearned a couple of different things from that experience. The first thing that I relearned was that the only way for us to truly find ourselves is through the Lord. He is the only one who can show us who we truly are and what we can become, he is the only source of truth and happiness. He is where we should look to if we feel like we are missing ourselves. The second thing that I relearned was the importance of trusting in the Lord and having a sincere desire to do good. If I had not been asking the Lord for help, and if I had just been trusting in my own knowledge to try to convince my friend of the truth, then I would not have gotten very far in the conversation and I certainly would not have had a perfectly applicable scripture pop into my head just at the right time.
There were so many wonderful thoughts in Sisters Thomas’s talk, one that I found particular good was this one: “They received ‘peace of conscience, because of the[ir] exceeding faith . . . in Jesus Christ’ (Mosiah 4:3). They probably had not realized just how spiritually sluggish they were until that Mighty Power consumed in love all their sins and their pain and their sickness and their infirmity. They became acquainted with God's goodness and tasted his love.” I think I love this thought so much because I can relate to it. Those times when I have received true “peace of conscience” have been some of the sweetest most important experiences of my life. It is during those experiences that I have grown to truly understand who I am and who I can become if I will continue to turn my life over to the Lord. He truly can make me into much more than I can make myself into.
Sister Thomas made this comment “I propose that self-esteem becomes a nonissue for the person who is perfecting his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.” I could not agree with that comment more. What an important thing for everyone to remember! Those who are seeking the Lord always, and are continually striving to do their best to follow Him will find out who they truly are.