You are never too lost!

One of my dear friends has struggled with health issues for several years. Despite his best efforts, he found himself unable to make the changes needed to improve his long-term health. His wife has been supportive and steadfast through the ups and down as he has visited different doctors, therapists and specialists. He would get discouraged and his family would rally around him, but in the end, he remained stuck in the same spot. Eventually, he came to me, and we had a heart to heart. He realized that he would need to take drastic action, if he was really going to move toward the healing he so desperately needed. He began to do more research, got his life in order and made the most difficult decision he had ever made, making a large leap of faith.

He started on this new path feeling nervous and scared. He wondered what others might think, but in the end he came to the realization he was not only doing this for himself, but also for his family and grandchildren. He wanted to become the grandfather that could be included in things without fear of being unable to participate. He learned to not rely on his knowledge, but have faith that things would improve.

Often, we can and do feel the same way. We wake up in the morning, a little further from God than we were the day before. The days turn into weeks and the weeks roll into months and even years, and much like a ship that is one degree off course to start, you add time and you are spiritually and physically miles and miles away from where you hoped you would be. Sometimes you feel so far off course that you feel you will never get back to the warmth and happiness that you miss and desperately want again. We feel empty, sad, alone and perhaps even isolated as we emotionally abuse ourselves for the mess we have find ourselves in.

I am reminded of the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-31 (KJV). One son takes his inheritance and blows it all, while the second and oldest son is wise with it. In the end, the first son realizes that he has no option but to return home ashamed. Verse 19 reads “I am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.” But when his father sees the lost son, he is overjoyed. Despite his son repeating that he is unworthy, the father calls for the best robes, the fatted calf and a celebration, because that which his father thought was lost had been found.

Our Father in Heaven loves us more than this father loved his son, yet some of us feel unworthy of His love and His happiness. The Savior went and visited the poor, both materially and spiritually, in the streets, fields and back alleys in every town he visited. He did not meet people only in the temples. Why do some feel that they have to only meet the Lord in the Temple? He met people where they were, and he can meet us where we are. Whether we’re right by him or a million miles away, the Lord meets us in our place and starts our journey back side by side with us.

Sometimes, like my friend, a drastic change may be needed for us to turn to the Lord, but more often than not, the Lord will find us where we are at and start with us as we return to a place closer to Him. It is my prayer that we realize that the Lord is always near, no matter how far away we may feel.

John Boston is a local physician, husband, father, grandfather and believer in Christ and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.