This weekend as I was cleaning I came across an old journal. It happened to be the journal from my last year at Utah State. This was one of my most memorable years; I learned and grew so much that year. I came to know people that would influence and shape me for the rest of my life. One friend in particular came to mean more to me than I had ever before imagined. As I read through this old journal of mine his name filled the pages. Then I came across a letter, this was a letter I had written to him but had never managed to give him. As odd as it may sound I wanted to share part of this letter with you today.
We have been friends for a while now and I feel I have gotten to know you pretty well. I think at times I see you in a completely different light than you see yourself. You are an amazing person and you have so many wonderful gifts to share with those around you. You have so much inside of you just wanting to come out. For so long I have wondered why you choose not live up to that potential. I wonder if you can see what I can see? Do you realize that you are not only hurting yourself by holding back? You are hurting those people who love you. What are you afraid of? What is it that holds you back? Let go of your fears and look within yourself, search your soul and become the person that you and I and God know you can become. Because as wonderful as you are now if you could just let go of all that fear and doubt you could be so much more. “Mike” I know this church is true. I know if we have the gospel as our foundation we can succeed. The Lord will not let us fail if we put Him first. The love he has for us is something we cannot even comprehend. The blessings and gifts he wants to give us exceed anything we could imagine. We just have to be willing and worthy to accept them.
I never gave him this letter and to be honest I don’t know if I ever told him what was in it. Who I wrote this letter to and why is not all that important. What is important is the effect this letter had on me as I read through it again more than 7 years later. Because this time the words were directed towards me. The words I so badly wanted to share with a dear friend all those years ago were the exact words I needed to hear today, in my life right now. I am not a perfect person. In my life I have made mistakes, big and small. Lately though I have let these mistakes hold me back. I have let the thoughts I have about myself be tainted by the adversary. But as I read through this letter during this amazing Easter weekend I realized I need to have as much faith in myself as I have in others. As personal as it may seem to share this story, I felt it was something that needed to be written down and shared. The Lord reaches out to us in mysterious ways. He loves us, He loves me. He made the greatest sacrifice for us, so when we are in our own Gethsemane he can reach down and lift us out.
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