Me Thinks

I think this book is incredible and very insightful. I gleaned something from every single page of it.  What a man! I cannot include here every part of the book that influenced me, but here are a few:

“The Lord likes effort. He could have said to Moses, ‘I’ll meet you halfway.’ But Moses had to go all the way to the top of Mount Sinai.  He required effort from Moses and Joshua and Joseph Smith and from all of the subsequent Presidents of the Church.  He requires effort from bishops and stake Relief Society presidents and elders quorum presidents.  There is always a test.  Are you willing to do really hard things? Once you’ve shown you’re willing to do your part, He will help you.” (President Nelson, pg. 197)

(President Nelson performed surgery on Gay Lynn Hatfield and she died.  This was the third and final child of the Hatfield family to die, two of whom had surgeries from Dr. Nelson.) Russell drove home distraught, overcome with grief.  “This third heartbreaking loss in one family literally undid me,” he explained.  He threw himself on the living-room floor and sobbed.  This went on for hours. He declared he would never perform another operation on the heart.  He could not risk putting another family through what he felt he had put the Hatfields through. Around 5:00 the next morning, Dantzel uttered words that would shape his future.  With love in her voice but also a strong dose of backbone, she asked, “are you finished crying yet? Then get dressed.  Go back to the lab.  Go to work! You need to learn more.  If you quit now, others will have to painfully learn what you already know. (pg. 62, 63)

In 1982, just two years before being called to the Quorum of the Twelve—Russell Nelson would say, “I never ask myself, ‘When does a prophet speak as a prophet and when does he not? My interest has been, ‘How can I be more like him?’” He then added, “My belief is that we should stop putting question marks behind the prophet’s statements and put exclamation points instead.” (pg. 93)