Candace Berrett, associate professor in the statistics department, delivered Tuesday’s devotional. She spoke about waiting and recognizing the efforts from those around us to lift and strengthen in our behalf.
Waiting is a constant theme in life, she begins by saying. Waiting to finish a class or degree, waiting for a promotion, waiting for an answer to prayer or waiting for a pandemic to lift and activities to resume.
Berrett gave an example of a hungry baby crying while its parent prepares the baby’s food, noting that the child is oblivious to the fact that the parents are preparing exactly what is needed and wanted.
“How often when I am waiting do I recognize or look at the pieces that are falling into place exactly as I need them?” she asked. “Or, how often am I unaware of others or my Heavenly Parents working on my behalf?”
Angels, as well as Heavenly Parents, can and do minister to those on the earth, Berrett said. These angels can manifest in those with whom we live, work and pass by in life. This is possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
“It is by Christ and through His Atonement that we are able to repent and to make and keep sacred covenants to return to our Heavenly Parents,” Berrett said. “Therefore, not only did Christ enable our return to our Heavenly Parents through the Atonement, but He also enabled the descending of angels to earth to aid in our making use of that Atonement that we may ascend to heaven.”
Berrett pointed to temple workers as an example of these angels. Moving in and out of various temple rooms as needed, they fulfill their calling and help those they are ministering to as they make and keep their sacred covenants.
While her father had cancer, Berrett waited first for treatments, then for healing and ultimately for him to die. One of her father’s CNAs brought peace and humor to their home during a dark time and ministered to her family as much as to her father. Berrett has also waited for her anxiety and depression to be healed and for the accompanying heavy burdens to lighten. Through this process, her therapist has taught her valuable tools and thinking patterns that Berrett could not have achieved on her own.
“These more temporal waiting periods have sometimes brought on spiritual waiting periods where I wonder if my Heavenly Parents are really aware of me and if I’m fulfilling the missions They and I had hoped,” she said. “Thus, those I identify as serving as angels in my life most often bring me messages of my Heavenly Parents’ love and awareness of me.”
When having a particularly bad day, Berrett prayed to ask for help. She received a prompting to invite a friend to a movie. Though she doubted the prompting, she invited the friend anyway. She felt better, and initially thought that was the reason behind the prompting. She later learned that the friend needed Berrett just as much as Berrett needed her. The call let the friend know she wasn’t alone, and the two served as angels to each other. A small effort can be all it takes to lift someone up who is in need, emphasized Barrett.
“We will feel and recognize more angels in our lives as we do what angels – or more precisely, what our Heavenly Parents – would do,” Berrett said.
We need each other. We are not meant to go through life alone. Angels have been sent by our Heavenly Parents to lift us up and help us keep going.
“I testify to you the power of everyday mortal angels in our lives that we can see if we will look. They will show us our Heavenly Parents’ love for us individually,” she said. “They will help us to fulfill our divine missions, and we can also be that for others through even simple acts, one by one.”
Next Devotional:
Bishop Gérald Caussé, Presiding Bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will deliver the devotional address on October 13, 2020.
His remarks will be broadcast on BYUtv, BYUtv.org, Classical 89 FM (89.1 FM) and BYUradio (107.9 FM).
