Hank Smith:                     00:02                   Welcome to followHIM Favorites. This is where John and I are sharing a single story to go with each week’s lesson. John, we need a story you told me you have one.

John Bytheway:               00:12                   Yeah, this story is from Abraham 3:25, and we’ve used this verse a lot. We love it. And we will prove them herewith to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them. Kind of this amazing verse about life. What’s going on? Well, we’re here. It’s like they’re watching to see if we will do what we were commanded. I think I have a daughter who just loves animals. That’s Ashley. And my son, Andrew, you know them both. We were at the Hogle Zoo one year. I think Ashley was like four. Loves animals. So excited to see lions, tigers, bears, everything. We go there and guess where they spent most of their time. It was on a swing set and a jungle gym outside of the- it wasn’t the animals. It was on the swing set. And I was like, oh, this is crazy.

                                           01:01                   I remember watching Andrew so determined, he was three, to climb to the top of this jungle gym. He was struggling and he’d climb and then he’d come down. Here I am watching the whole thing. And then he’d try again. I kept thinking, should I run over there and help him? The smarter part of me, maybe some inspiration was no. Let him do it. Let him struggle. Let him try. Just think of this verse of scripture, right? Let’s see what they will do maybe when life is hard. I kept wanting to help and then staying back and it took him a long time, but he finally got to the top. Even a three-year-old has a look of satisfaction and of joy. A lot of times, you know, we hear questions, “Well, why didn’t the Lord just put us where we’re gonna end up anyway?” Well, there’s a lot of growth and a lot of struggle and a lot of triumph even that comes with seeing what we will do.

                                           01:58                   And the whole verse will prove them to see if they will do that if, means, yeah, there’s agency. We get to choose what we will do. Sometimes the Lord lets us struggle and wrestle to see what we will do. And sometimes we have those moments of, “Oh, I did this with the Lord’s help. I did this. ” I have a little quotation from Elder Paul V. Johnson that I love. He just sums this up. He said, “Sometimes we want to have the growth without challenges to develop strength without struggle, but growth cannot come by taking the easy way. We clearly understand that an athlete who resists rigorous training will never become a world-class athlete. We must be careful that we don’t resent the very things that will help us put on our divine nature. Not one of the trials and tribulations we face is beyond our limits because we have access to help from the Lord.” So there it is. We’ll prove them now herewith to see what they will do. I know he’s watching, I know he’s eager to help us sometimes, but maybe he’s going, “They can do this. I know they can do this themselves and I want them to have the growth.”

Hank Smith:                     03:06                   Wow. We hope you’ll join us on our full podcast. It’s called followHIM. You can get it wherever you get your podcast. Then come back here next week. We’ll do another followHIM Favorites.