Mountains to climb

This is a post written by my husband Wesley the night we dropped off our 3rd son Kyle at the MTC on Feb 19th.

 

I am extremely proud of My Son, Kyle Stephens. Not just because he has decided to serve a mission. Lots of young men and women serve missions, and that is a great and noble thing, but this goes a little deeper.

When I asked Kyle if he was... nervous this morning, I was a little surprised by his reply, but only for a moment. Kyle said that he was not nervous at all, if anything, he was anxious. Now as I further explain, I want everyone to know that I am well aware of the struggles of many young men and women who have a desire to serve missions but need to do a little “housekeeping” in their moral and emotional Houses. The Church does have a pretty high standard to live up to in order to serve the Lord on a mission. The difference here is that I KNOW Kyle’s story.

When a mistake is made, there are two paths that one can follow. One path will take you down to the depths of despair, anger, indignation and selfish “Not My fault” thinking. This path is one that the adversary wants all mankind to follow so that they may suffer as he does, thinking that there is no hope. The second path is a journey of humility and responsibility, accepting the truths that are there in front of you and owning your actions and accepting the consequences. To journey down this path, one must turn toward the Savior for hope and forgiveness as opposed to turning away from the Savior. One must then Pray to Father in Heaven, who loves us with perfect love, for forgiveness, strength, guidance and peace, and this must be done in the name of Our Savior, Jesus Christ, the very One who has, in fact, already atoned for the sin(s) that we have committed. Kyle chose the path that leads to Happiness; he chose to follow the Savior.

Kyle did these things and through this “Refining Fire”, he has allowed God to shape and forge him into a masterpiece that will help to show the children of God the pathway to truth and happiness. Kyle has become my spiritual Hero.

God has a plan for each of us. God has a plan for Kyle. That plan is in action and is unfolding in front of our eyes. All the while I am feeling like Kyle is getting an unfair shake, Father in Heaven is preparing him for the glorious work that is now, the only focus of Kyle’s attention. In other words, Heavenly Father was blessing Kyle’s life and preparing him for the work of Goodness and Love.

Kyle was not nervous because he KNEW that he was where he was supposed to be. Kyle was Anxious because he knew what he was there to do and was ready to get it done. I Love Kyle and I am so proud that he has CHOSEN to follow the Savior and be an instrument in the Masters Hands.

At Kyles Farewell, he spoke about doing hard things and having mountains to climb.

We all have mountains we have to climb and struggles that sometimes seem insurmountable. The journey here was never meant to be easy, and through those struggles and "climbs" we become stronger . We become who our Heavenly Father wants and needs us to be. AS I look back at my life, I can see those times when I had a mountain to climb that just seemed like I would never get to the top, but I did. Now that doesn't mean there was not another one right behind it, but that one I conquered.

Whether it is the mountain of dealing with 2 special needs children, or trying to reconcile having a gay son and being Mormon, or just trying to keep the house clean, I knew I would have them. I may not have expected that particular climb or how hard it would be, but I knew I would have to climb them. Our saving grace is that we don't have to do it alone.
On Kyles  mission, he will have a companion at all times, physically and spiritually. We too have the companionship of others on our climbs. But more importantly we have the companionship of a very loving Heavenly Father. He can see the top, he will carry us when we just don't think we can take one more step. he is cheering us on, and hoping that we might even be able to get strong enough to help others on those same mountains.