The Lord Alone

THE LORD ALONE

Step 1 – day 2 (p.13)

2 Nephi 12:11 – And it shall come to pass that the lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.

From the first 12 step recovery meetings I attended in 1981 in Mesa, AZ, I’ve known the old saying, “Keep coming back. It works!” And then one day, I heard the Truth open to me what the “it” in that declaration meant: Keep coming back, Colleen. Coming back works! With that enlightenment, I realized we were being invited to never give up. I was being invited to remember the precious eternal truth of repentance.

And so here I am, again, coming back. Coming back, this morning, to the words of 2 Nephi 12:11 that I need to remember and humble myself in the Truth of: “the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.”

Today, for me, the most expedient application of this truth is to turn my mind and heart to the fact that I must let go of all other “lofty” plans and assumptions about how I expected my last years on earth to go. I see now that I had jumped to the conclusion that I would spend the rest of my life—right up to my last breath—with Phil beside me. I see that has been my “lofty” expectation.

And, as the 16 months since Phil’s diagnosis, I have been refusing to humble myself and bow before the fact that God’s will for Phil and my time together is not what I assumed, what I had expected, . . . and most recently that denied expectation has been tempting me toward resentment. I’ve cried out to the Lord, What! Why? But wait! Phil’s my rock, my safe-place, my secure base.

And in the honesty those words ripped from my heart, I realized that somewhere over the years I had started worshiping the gift (Phil) instead of the Giver. I realized that I was putting someone (my husband) and something (my so very happy marriage) ahead of the Lord who had given me those gifts. I realized that I needed to humble myself and return to working (applying) this principle in my life.

Prayerful thought: Dear Father, I thank Thee for Thy patience and mercy toward me as I waver in and out of learning to surrender my will to Thine. I thank Thee for Thy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray to remember that He alone is my rock, my safety and my security—my salvation. I am reminded that I must let others—even my dearest loved ones—have their own life experience. Phil is so willing to trust and exalt Thee and Thy Son—no matter what. Please let me be also, I pray.