Oct 23, 2023

This week’s Come, Follow Me lesson asks, “How might Timothy have felt, knowing that he might soon be without his trusted mentor and leader [Paul]?” Wilford Woodruff may have had a similar experience upon the death of President John Taylor.

In his journal, Wilford wrote,

President John Taylor died to day . . . which lays the responsibility of the care of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints upon my shoulders . . . this places me in a very peculiar situation, a position I have never looked for during my life, but in the Providence of God it is laid upon me, and I pray God my Heavenly Father to give me grace equal to my day. It is a high and responsible position for any man to occupy, and a position that Needs great wisdom . . . I can only say marvelous are thy ways O Lord God Almighty, for thou has certainly chosen the weak thing of this world to perform thy work on the Earth.¹ 

Though most of us won’t be called as Prophet or President of the Church, we are at times given callings or challenges that seem to be more than we can handle. However, as Paul instructed Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:7, “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

When we rely on Jesus Christ we are strengthened and enabled to do things that we previously felt we were unable to do.

Amber Becker was born and raised in Modesto, California. When she was 24, she met her husband while riding the commuter rail into Boston, Massachusetts. They were one of the first couples married in the Boston temple in October of 2000. They are blessed with four children and one grandchild. She and her husband now reside in Fort Worth, Texas, with two of their children.