HELP

This is in response to Elder Burden's message yesterday morning titled, "Are Christians allowed to use the 4 letter word?" I initially thought he was going to talk about love or maybe fear, but his 4 letter word was HELP! and yes, we as Christians are not only allowed to use the word, but encouraged to do so. While Elder Burden was speaking, I was thinking of a situation with Levi a week ago Friday. Levi called me Friday morning and asked if I was on my way home because his stomach was hurting him and he didn't feel well. I told him I was on my way and as soon as I got home I checked on him and told him to lie down because he was obviously hurting. He was having stomach cramps and I could tell by the look on his face that he was not well and that there was probably more to come. Within 2 hours he was in the bathroom and I could tell he was getting sick. I waited a few minutes and then strolled to the bathroom door to see if he needed me. As I stood by the door, I heard Levi crying out to God with these words, "Help me, Jesus. Help me, Jesus." I stood outside the bathroom door with tears running down my face because my little baby was hurting and in the middle of his pain he was crying out to Jesus for help. I had Seth open the door for me (it was locked) and I walked in on Levi in the middle of his mess. He was covered in bodily fluids as was the floor, and the bathroom sink. His clothes and body were covered and he was an absolute mess. The smell was putrid (don't mean to be gross, but I'm making a point). I had to open all the windows in the house to even begin to air out the smell. I proceeded to tell him everything was going to be fine. I made him bath water, stripped him down and began to clean up his mess.

Regardless of the mess we are in, we can cry out to our Jesus. No matter how ugly the mess, how much we're covered in it and no matter how bad it smells, we can hold onto the truth that Jesus will hear our cry for help. Not only does he hear, but he'll be there to hold us, clean us up and move us out. And Jesus is so awesome that he won't just clean us up once, he'll clean us up over and over again. Just like Levi. This initial mess was only the beginning of the messes I cleaned up on this particular Friday and will clean up for his entire childhood.

Thank you Elder Burden for speaking such an incredible truth to us.

Thank you Jesus for allowing us to cry out to you when we're covered in filth and we're right smack in the middle of the biggest, dirtiest, smelliest messes we've ever been in. Thank you for having our answers and for making us clean in you.