Hank Smith:                      00:03                   Hey, welcome to followHIM Favorites. This is where John and I share a single story to go with each week’s Come, Follow Me lesson. John, we’re in the book of Numbers. I know it’s pretty exciting. And I have a story for you. I thought of this when I read Numbers 14, verse 11, where the Lord says to Moses, “Moses, how long until this people believe me?” I noticed he doesn’t say believe in me. He just says, “Believe me.” I think they all believe in him, but do they actually believe what he says? This story comes from Stephen Robinson in his book, Believing Christ. Notice it’s not Believing in Christ, it’s Believing Christ. John, this story’s about Brother Robinson’s wife, Janet. He’s pretty sensitive to it. He says, “I need to say a word here about Janet. She is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me.” He says, “When we get to heaven, they’re gonna be so excited to see Janet and they’re gonna say, Janet, what on earth is that sorry thing you’re dragging behind you?”

                                           00:56                   Just so you know, he doesn’t want to make her look bad. She gave him permission to tell this story, which I think is awesome of her. He said, “A number of years ago, we were living in Pennsylvania. We had our own little home in our little neighborhood. We liked our neighbors. I had a good job. Our family was happy enough.” He says, “We had family home evening, we had family prayer. Janet and I said our prayers together every night. I was in the bishopric and Janet is Relief Society President. Janet had had a really exciting year. She was the Relief Society President. She’d graduated from college a second time. She passed the CPA exam and she gave birth to our fourth child, all in her spare time.

                                           01:37                   Janet was under a lot of pressure that year and like many husbands, I didn’t notice how much pressure she was under until something blew. He said one day the lights just went out. It was as though Janet had died to spiritual things. She was burned out. She came very passive in her attitude about religion. When her Relief Society counselors called her, she told them they could do whatever they wanted and that she wanted to be released from her calling. She wouldn’t talk about it. Finally, after almost two weeks, I made her mad with my nagging one night and she said, Do you wanna know what’s wrong? I’ll tell you what’s wrong. I can’t do it anymore. I can’t lift it. The load is too heavy. I can’t do all the things I’m supposed to do. I can’t get up at 5:30 and bake bread and sew clothes, help the kids with their homework and do my own homework.

                                           02:22                   Make their lunch, do the housework, do my Relief Society calling, have scripture study, do my genealogy, write to my congressman, go to PTA meetings, have our year supply of food organized, go to my stake meetings and write the missionaries. She just started naming all the things she could not do or couldn’t do perfectly. All the bricks that had been laid on her back in the name of perfection had crushed the light out of her.” She said, “I try not to yell at the kids, but I can’t seem to help it. I get mad. I yell. So I try not to get mad, but I eventually do. I try not to have hard feelings toward this person or that person, but I do. I’m not very Christ-like. I don’t have the talent that Sister X has, and I’m not as sweet as Sister Y. Steve, I’m not perfect.

                                           03:05                   I’m never going to be perfect, and I just can’t pretend anymore that I am. I’ve finally admitted to myself, I can’t make it to the celestial kingdom, so why am I breaking my back trying?” He said, “that was a tough moment.” He said, “I need to make this clear. The reason I proposed marriage to Janet was because she is the finest, sweetest, most genuinely loving and selfless person I have ever met. So what she was telling me just didn’t add up. So we went back and forth for some time with her cataloging all her faults, inadequacies and imperfections. And with me knowing she was a better person than most and trying to find out what was really wrong. And finally, it occurred to me what the problem was, and I was astounded. Here I was supposed to be a doctor in the field of religion, and I couldn’t see right was in front of my nose.

                                           03:53                   When I finally realized Janet knew the demands of the gospel, but not the good news. You see, Janet was trying to save herself. She was trying to do it all with Jesus Christ as an advisor. Janet knew why Jesus could be called a coach, a cheerleader, an advisor, a teacher, an elder brother, the head of the church, or even God. But she didn’t understand why he is called the Savior. You see, we believe in Jesus, but we don’t trust him. We get so frightened and intimidated, so horrified by our own imperfections that we don’t see how he can possibly save us from them and we lose faith.” So he says he and Janet have a long talk about the Atonement and they both learn. He says “at the end of the conversation, she just bloomed. I remember her saying through her tears, something like this.

                                           04:40                   I’ve always had a testimony of the Savior and believed that he is the son of God. I’ve always believed that he suffered and died for me, but now I know that he can save me, that he can save me from myself, from my sins, from my weaknesses, from my lack of talent.” Brother Robinson finishes, he says,” In simple terms, this is the arrangement. We do what we are able to do, and Jesus Christ, the object of our faith, out of his love and mercy and grace, does all we are not able to do. And we must believe he can do it. We must believe Christ.” Notice in Numbers 14, “Moses, how long until they believe me?” What do you think, John? What’s the difference between believing in Jesus and believing him?

John Bytheway:               05:26                   Such a good connection because believing in him is just that he exists, but believe? You can believe every word he says. Who else can you say that about?

Hank Smith:                      05:37                   Right.

John Bytheway:               05:38                   Ever. And if he says, I am mighty to save. If he says he loves us, if he says he can save us, believe him. I love it.

Hank Smith:                      05:45                   Yeah, he is mighty to save. 2 Nephi chapter two, “I know that thou art redeemed because of the righteousness of your redeemer.” Believe him. Yeah. We hope you’ll join us on our full podcast. It’s called followHIM. You can get it wherever you get any of your podcasts. We’re with Dr. Dave this week, Dr. Dave Thomson. He walks us through the book of Numbers. You might not think it’s very exciting, but it actually, he brings out a lot of principles that will really bless your life. And then come back here next week. We’ll do another followHIM Favorites.