Live strong

Last April, as Henry B. Eyring delivered these words about adversity, I couldn't stop thinking about them.

Particularly when the comfortable times have gone on for a while, the arrival of suffering or the loss of material security can bring fear and sometimes even anger.

The anger comes at least in part from a feeling that what is happening is unfair. The good health and the serene sense of being secure can become to seem deserved and natural.

It was the part about deserving good health or security that really struck me because I realized at that moment that what President Eyring was saying was that we don't deserve good health any more than sick people deserve to be sick. It's just part of life.

While my children have been playing with cousins, aunts, and uncles, they've also been missing Grandma and praying special prayers for her to be able to come home soon.

Last night I had the opportunity to accompany the sister missionaries serving in my parents' ward to a couple of appointments. And because I was tired of people asking me what they can do for my family, and because it's the kind of thing my mom would do if she could, and because it's been nearly ten (!) years since I've been teaching with sisters, and because I needed to do something for someone else, I decided to go with them. It was amazing. How has your relationship with Jesus Christ helped you, Sister Starks? How did you come to know that Joseph Smith is a prophet, Sister Starks? These are questions I needed to think about and answer out loud to remind me that Heavenly Father does have a plan for us, knows us, and loves us individually.

At our second visit, the man (who had no idea who I was) began telling the sisters about the yellow Live Strong bracelet he had gotten for himself and his wife to wear "because we found out that Sister Jackson has cancer." I said, "That's my mom." Then he said, "We're thinking about her and praying for her. I don't think she'd want everyone coming up to her and asking what they can do and saying they're sorry. She'd want us all to keep on going and doing our best to live the gospel, and to be strong for her."

My mom has been living strong for a long time, and she hasn't been doing it alone.