"Lord, I Believe"
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
April 2013A Favorite General Conference Talk
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
This talk, given in the April 2013 General Conference as noted above spoke straight to my heart as Elder Holland spoke about the daily struggles and challenges of raising a child with disabilities. The beauty of the love given by our Savior in his understanding, compassion and hope for healing, are there for each one of us in our individual and unique heartaches, challenges and struggles. In reading these words, I know the Savior knew the depth of my fear, heartache and fatigue in dealing with Joshua's epilepsy and his seizures that were so very frightening and harmful. I know we had more help than I realized, and am so thankful for pure love and compassion from His loving arms.Joshua literally did fall into the water symbolically and literally and into the fire symbolically anytime he had a seizure. Some of the most frightening seizures were in the bathtub or the pool. Each of the kids helped during those times as I would have to call for help because I needed strength beyond my own. I specifically remember a time when my daughter, Jamie, helped me hold Joshua up out of the water when he had a seizure in about 4 feet of water when we were swimming. We both used all her strength to get him through that seizure so he would not drown. Jamie's strength and determination were inspiring and such a blessing. I also know I was given strength beyond my own spiritually as I could never have kept Joshua safe without the love and strength of my Savior, Jesus Christ.
Here are my favorite words, with the link of the full text of the talk below.
With no other hope remaining, this father asserts what faith he has and pleads with the Savior of the world, “If thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.” I can hardly read those words without weeping. The plural pronoun us is obviously used intentionally. This man is saying, in effect, “Our whole family is pleading. Our struggle never ceases. We are exhausted. Our son falls into the water. He falls into the fire. He is continually in danger, and we are continually afraid. We don’t know where else to turn. Can you help us? We will be grateful for anything—a partial blessing, a glimmer of hope, some small lifting of the burden carried by this boy’s mother every day of her life.”
“If thou canst do any thing,” spoken by the father, comes back to him “If thou canst believe,” spoken by the Master.
“Straightway,” the scripture says—not slowly nor skeptically nor cynically but “straightway”—the father cries out in his unvarnished parental pain, “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” In response to new and still partial faith, Jesus heals the boy, almost literally raising him from the dead, as Mark describes the incident.
For the entire text of the talk, go to:
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