Leadership for Saints:
Part 72
Letting the Lord “Make Up the Difference”
by Rodger Dean Duncan
and Ed J. Pinegar
Challenge:
Although I can satisfactorily answer all
the questions in a temple recommend interview, and although I’m
not guilty of any serious transgression, I wonder if I’m really
worthy to serve.
Opportunity:
Let me share a story that may provide some
perspective.
As stake president I worked closely with
a woman who had lost her membership in the Church because of a
serous transgression. Her bishop and I nursed her back to spiritual
health, and she was rebaptized. But with Church members who have
been excommunicated, priesthood and/or temple blessings are not
automatically restored with rebaptism. That comes only after an
additional time of careful rehabilitation, testing and healing.
A year or so after this sister’s rebaptism,
her bishop and I petitioned the First Presidency of the Church,
asking that her temple blessings be restored. The brethren considered
the matter, then sent to our stake a general authority who was
specifically authorized to perform the restoration of blessings
ordinance. He met with the woman in a final interview. Finding
everything in order, he invited her husband, her bishop and me
into the room. And in a priesthood ordinance lasting only about
three minutes, he restored to this sister the blessings of the
temple that would tie her soul to God throughout the eternities.
It was a splendid day. We all wept with
joy. The general authority had another meeting, so he kindly
bid us farewell. Then, just before he opened the door, he stopped.
He returned to the sister, took her gently by the hand and said:
“I know you have worked very hard for this day. It has been a
long struggle. Now your spiritual healing is complete. But you
do understand, don’t you, that you did not earn this? It
is a gift, a gift from the Savior who paid an unspeakable price
for every one of us.”
The principle taught that day applies to
all of us in all things. What a tender moment that was. And what
a tender moment it is when we come to the realization that we
never fully earn the opportunities offered us by the Lord.
That includes opportunities to serve. A call to serve is a precious
gift. Our challenge, always, is to be as good as we can be. The
Lord then makes up the difference.
– Rodger Dean Duncan
Note:
The excerpts of Leadership for Saints posted on Meridian
are only a fraction of the contents of this 349-page book. To
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click
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