It is Well With My Soul

Today, I am writing a scene about a funeral. And as I was writing, I needed to bring up from the depths of my soul all the raw and tender emotions of my main character. And I found myself weeping. I grieved for the loss of loved ones, particularly my dad, who graduated from mortality almost four years ago. I grieved for the loss of loved ones who are still alive, yet have let hatred pull them away from those who love them so dearly. Mortal life is too short to cling to hate.

But with both types of losses, of the dead and of the living, these losses are temporary. Through the Savior, all will eventually be healed, all will be restored. I have to cling to that.

There are times when the darkness presses upon me, when I feel as if I’m clinging to my covenants and my faith by my fingernails. We all go through this. We feel as if we are abandoned by Heaven. In truth, God never abandons us, but there are certainly times when we feel like it.

That’s why I write the stories that I do. I call them Latter-day Saint horror, but they are really about redemption and hope. Hope that good will eventually triumph over evil. Hope that all our wounds will be healed by Jesus Christ.

I was told once that rather than speak of my own faith, my own religion in my stories, I should make up some parallel religion. But I just can’t do that. I can’t water down the love of the Savior or the power and miracle of redemption and forgiveness and healing He wrought through His atonement. It is only through Him that all this can be healed. It is only through Him that we can all be reconciled after all that we can do.

Through the psalmist, the great Jehovah said, “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalms 46: 10)  In the times when the darkness presses upon me, when I’m clinging to hope by my fingernails, I need to remember that He is God, and eventually, all will be well. We will come through the storm. And when we do, it will be glorious.

My dad is not lost. Neither are those whom I love who are currently estranged. Eventually, we will all be reunited in love and joy. Until then, I will say, “It is well with my soul.”