No matter where we are, Jesus Christ will always be right on time.
When I turned 14, my family was preparing to move and leave behind everything I had ever known, and I felt lost. I didn’t know where to go or what to do, but the Lord was aware of me. He met me in my wilderness when I needed him and gave me direction by turning me to his words and teaching me how to follow him.
In his address “In Times of Discouragement, Remember the Widow of Nain,” Dr. Keith J. Wilson teaches of another who was facing a loss greater than she could bear. The widow of Nain had just lost her only son, and with him everything she owned. In her darkest hour, right as her son was to be buried, Jesus Christ arrived and brought her son back to life.
Photo by Francesco Ungaro
Christ’s arrival in Nain was not a coincidence. Dr. Wilson clarifies that Christ planned to be there at that specific moment. The Savior was in Capernaum the day before he helped the widow of Nain. He would have had to walk 30 miles uphill, likely through the night, to reach her in that hour of need. Not only did Jesus Christ arrive on time, but he knew exactly how the widow was feeling and what help she would need.
We all, in our own way, are like the widow of Nain. It is difficult to wait for blessings to come, and it is easy to despair, but Jesus Christ—through his Atonement—has already walked the laborious climb that stands between him and us. He has already suffered all the pain we will experience, and he knows when we need him to intercede, even if it is not when we think. Dr. Wilson assures that “Jesus came to the widow in her time of desperate need, and He will come to us as well.” We can press forward while we wait for promised blessings by turning to Jesus Christ and by turning outward to help others who are also waiting.
It doesn’t matter whether we are crying out in Nain or struggling in Capernaum or wandering in a strange land because Jesus Christ will be there in our moment of need.
Learn how the Savior can help us overcome discouragement in Dr. Keith J. Wilson’s address “In Times of Discouragement, Remember the Widow of Nain.”
Source: Liahona
—McKenna Tolman, Latter-day Saint Insights
FEATURE IMAGE BY TIM EIDEN
Find more insights
Read “Waiting Upon the Lord: Thy Will be Done” by Elder Robert D. Hales to learn more about how to grow in the waiting periods of life.
Read Susan Martin’s Latter-day Saint Insights article “Accepting the Lord’s Timing and Standing Firm” to discover more about God’s plan for each of us.