This is the most perfect message I could have possibly received at this time. I thought I'd share.
A man said his bishop and stake president had encouraged him to come to the temple and if possible visit with me. This good brother told me he had some serious challenges and had been coming to the temple regularly, seeking understanding and strength, but so far they had eluded him. He asked, “What am I doing wrong? I thought by coming here more often I would receive more help and answers. Why am I still confused?”
I encouraged him to continue coming to the temple and striving to increase his faith in the Lord. I bore my testimony that in the Lord’s time and way, he and others would receive the inspiration and help they needed. He humbly accepted that counsel and promised to continue coming to the temple and to keep praying for help.
As he stood to leave, I felt impressed to say, “The next time you come to the temple, try not to concentrate on your challenges but concentrate instead on the challenges of the person you are representing. Ponder on such things as, When and where did he live? What kinds of challenges did he have? What was his family like? What did he do for a living? What was his daily life like?
“As you do this, you will understand that many of his challenges are similar to yours and maybe even harder. Concentrate on each person you represent, and pray for him to understand and accept what the Savior has done for him. That person likely had many challenges while here and perhaps still has many. Through the Savior and the temple you are his best hope.
“The Lord smiles on those who use their time and effort to help others. As you concentrate on the person you are representing and on his challenges more than on your own, I believe solutions to your challenges will become more clear.”
He thanked me for the suggestion and promised he would do so.
Many months later I attended a stake conference where a man was sustained as a member of the high council and asked to bear his testimony. As he came to the stand to respond, he passed in front of me, and I recognized him as the same man who had spoken with me in the temple much earlier. He smiled and gave a brief nod of acknowledgment.
He stood tall and confident and spoke beautifully and powerfully. He expressed his love for the Lord, his wife, his family, and all the good people who had helped him and his family overcome their recent challenges. He testified that the Lord hears and answers prayers in the way and at the time that is best for us. He bore testimony of the importance of attending the temple and truly working for others by putting forth effort both physically and spiritually on their behalf. He said he knew personally how deeply these people needed and appreciated our help.
He encouraged everyone going to the temple not to just act as a proxy but to actually put forth spiritual effort to try to help those they represent.
Then he said, “I have two questions for you. I have thought a lot about these questions and would like you to ponder them seriously. First, Why should the Lord bless us if that blessing simply stops with us? Second, Why should He not bless us if He knows we will use that blessing to help others?” His sincerity and the powerful effect of those questions and his testimony were felt by everyone present. He had learned an important truth and had effectively shared it with others. As he returned to his seat, we simply exchanged smiles, both grateful for the important truths we had learned and been able to share with others.
Receiving impressions from the Lord and following them becomes its own reward, and we don’t need outside confirmation. Can you think of a greater blessing than knowing that the Lord trusts you enough to give you an impression that can help someone else? What a blessing to know that the Lord trusts you enough to allow you to help someone else, as his or her proxy in the temple! We should not hope for praise for acting as a conduit for the Lord’s truths but rather feel to express gratitude for the privilege of being such a conduit.
I have come to know that we learn much more of what is important when we concentrate on helping others than when we concentrate on our own challenges. When we use the blessings the Lord has given us primarily for our own benefit, we close doors to eternal understanding and progress. When we energetically seek to use the blessings the Lord has given us to help others, we open many more doors of heaven, and there is no limit to what we can understand and do.
I know that as we put forth more effort to help others, we gain deeper understanding of where we fit in this big and expanding universe, where we fit in our eternal families, and where we fit as one who wants to help the Lord “bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). The temple is a place where we can more effectively be a useful part of this great eternal round of helping others.
This man had learned where he fit in. Because of his humble but sincere service to others, the answers to his questions no longer eluded him. He had learned the truth of King Benjamin’s assurance that “when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God” (Mosiah 2:17), and in return for that service to others, the man had himself been greatly blessed.
