Week after week, I went to church and I felt nothing. I thought I was broken. But I learned that even broken people can walk the covenant path.
Something was definitely wrong with me. Each Sunday when I sat in the pews at church, I felt nothing—not even a whisper of the Spirit, not even a hint of God’s warmth in my heart. I thought I was broken.
Photo by Feyza Dastan
When I dragged myself to the couch to watch the Sunday morning session of the October 2023 General Conference, I doubted that any talk would revive my numb spirit. But as I half-heartedly listened to Sister Emily Belle Freeman’s address, “Walking in Covenant Relationship with Christ,” I heard something that gave me hope.
Sister Freeman describes arriving at the “Jesus Trail” (which stretches from Nazareth to Capernaum) with a broken ankle, crutches, and a knee scooter. She recalls, “Mya, our guide, took one look at my cast and said, ‘Uh, I don’t think you can walk this trail in that condition.’” But when Sister Freeman insisted on trying, Mya simply nodded and began leading the group along the trail. “I love her for that,” Sister Freeman says, “for believing I could walk the [‘Jesus Trail’] broken.”
Those words stuck in my mind. I remember wondering if I, too, could walk the “Jesus Trail” while broken. But my “Jesus Trail” wasn’t a road from Nazareth to Capernaum—rather, it was the covenant path. In the months leading up to general conference, I often felt like my spirit was too broken to have the meaningful relationship with God that comes from following the covenant path.
But Mya believed that Sister Freeman could walk the “Jesus Trail,” even though she had a broken ankle. I realized that I, too, had a guide who believed I could walk the covenant path with a broken spirit: Jesus Christ.
That day, the Spirit taught me that no one is too broken to walk the covenant path. Christ knows our struggles intimately and welcomes us with open arms as we join him along the path, no matter how broken we may feel.
Read and watch Sister Emily Belle Freeman’s full talk “Walking in Covenant Relationship with Christ” for more teachings about the importance of walking the covenant path.
Source: ChurchofJesusChrist.org
—Sarah Griffin Anderson, Latter-day Saint Insights
FEATURE IMAGE BY FRANK HOLLEMAN
Find more insights
For additional insights on living imperfect lives while living up to God’s expectations to “be ye therefore perfect,” read or listen to “Be Ye Therefore Perfect—Eventually” by Elder Jeffery R. Holland
To learn how cracks in our spirits make room for Christ to penetrate our lives in a deeply significant way, take a look at “The Beauty of Broken” by Latter-day Saint Insights writer Elizabeth Gallacher.
Sister Freeman’s talk came up in my elders’ quorum meeting recently, and I was able to reference this article. Sarah’s insights were really helpful in understanding what it means to walk the covenant path broken.