Story

"It had been one of the worst days I’d had since we’d moved. For the most part, things had been going very well in these past months. Our new ward was friendly, and the girls my age had made a special effort to include me in the group. They brought cookies and flowers soon after we arrived and even held a breakfast in my honor. But somehow, remembering these things didn’t help on this particular night.

"There had been a misunderstanding with one of the boys in the ward whom I especially liked, and a few words were spoken that left me hurt and confused. I came home feeling depressed. My mother’s cheery ‘hello’ and reminder that it was my turn for the dishes only made me more upset. I went to my room and lay down on my bed.

"I thought of my brother Robert who had left on his mission just a few weeks before. If only he were still home, he would understand my problem and help me. Then I started thinking about our move. As I thought of this, I began to doubt the sincerity of my new friends. Little words or glances that hadn’t bothered me before now became proof that these friends really didn’t like me very much. Even some little problems at school started to grow larger.

"Then a picture of my father came into my mind. He had died several years before, and I began thinking about how hard it had been for us since then. These things only deepened my loneliness and despair, and it seemed like all the warmth and security I had known were rapidly slipping away from me. All of these feelings welled up inside of me and finally exploded in tears—tears that came freely from a deep well of frustration and loneliness. I cried for over an hour.

"Then almost unnoticed, other thoughts began to tumble over one another in my mind until they slowly made sense. I had been crying for someone to understand and help me. I had been crying because I felt there was no one to turn to. But all the time, Heavenly Father and Jesus existed and only waited for me to recognize their great love and willingness to listen. As my feelings changed to a grateful security, the feeling in my room changed also. It was almost as if I could feel Heavenly Father and Jesus there with me.

"I realized that they could fully understand my problems. Jesus had gone through the experience of mortality and suffered far more than I was suffering. He and my Heavenly Father knew me better than I knew myself, for they had been with me in the premortal life, and they also knew of my earth life. They could and would listen with a feeling of concern coming from the vastness of their love. That night, I exchanged my burden of loneliness and frustration for the calm assurance of their love and the special knowledge that they live much closer to us than I had known before."

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