Pacific Area President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Elder Tad R. Callister, shared the following message recently:
The New Year is a time we traditionally resolve to set new goals to improve our lives. In essence it is a time to acknowledge our weaknesses and shortcomings, and resolve to overcome them one by one. It is a time to take control of our lives and become the master of our own destiny—to let the internal rather than the external forces of life be our guiding star.
Many years ago our eight year old daughter, Angela, come home from school distraught. Teary-eyed she presented to us her report card. There was a checkmark by the category “handwriting” suggesting she needed to make improvement. We tried to console her but it was to no avail. Her sensitive spirit caused her to feel discouraged. As parents we prayed the Lord would give us guidance. It seemed like such a simple concern but to our daughter it was very important. Then a thought came to us—read Ether 12:26-27 – a scripture we both knew and loved.
We read Ether 12:26-27 to our daughter and emphasized the portion that said, “if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.” We asked our daughter if she believed that promise. She said she did. So we went to work to make it come true.
That night I gave our daughter a blessing to assist her in improving her handwriting. We knew the blessing was not an end in and of itself, but a stepping stone. Our daughter made a poster of the scripture and put it in her room to remind her of God’s promise. She prayed that God would help convert this weakness to strength in her life. She agreed to rewrite her homework if we as her parents thought it was sloppy. My wife bought her a calligraphy set to further whet her appetite for improved handwriting.
Some years passed and our daughter graduated from primary school. To our surprise, at the graduation ceremonies, the principal announced the names of the five finest hand writers in the school—one of them—Angela Callister. More years passed and she went to BYU. I remember visiting her dormitory and seeing on her room wall a copy of Ether 12:26-27.
Further years passed and she became the Primary President in her Ward. One day she was telling the Primary children about her experience with her handwriting. She said tears started to well up in her eyes. Then she said, “I am not crying here today because God helped an eight year old girl improve her handwriting; I am crying because God helped an eight year old girl learn that no matter what her weakness was in life, that with God’s help, it could become a strength.”
It is a remarkable promise from God that allows us not only to overcome our weaknesses, but to do so much more—to transform them into strengths. If we are proud He can help us be humble, if we struggle with morality He can help us acquire the gift of moral purity, if we are plagued with doubts He can strengthen our faith and testimony.
Yes, if we are humble enough to acknowledge our faults, and have faith in the promises of Jesus Christ, then we are ripe for the conversion process to take place in our life—from weakness to strength. May this be a year where we consciously strive to “attack” our weaknesses and make them strengths in our lives
