A book by Elder Jeffrey R Holland.
I picked up this book the first part of February, but had been too "afraid" to open it and begin reading. This book stared me in the face each morning and night as it continued to sit, unopened, on my nightstand beside the bed. Today I opened it.
The dedication page reads,
"To all who feel that someone - or something - they love is
irreparably broken or irretrievably lost.
It is not."
Perhaps it's because I saw Elder Jeffrey R Holland and (now) President Thomas S Monson speak at a church youth conference in Juneau, Alaska, when I was 18; perhaps it's because Elder Holland spoke in our church's Stake Conference in October 2007; or perhaps it's because Elder Holland's words always pierce my soul. I truly feel something when he talks, like he's talking to me directly. I know that Elder Jeffrey R Holland is a true & faithful disciple of Jesus Christ. And, after reading & sobbing from the dedication page, I believe that Elder Holland knows that "Broken" can be "Mended."
Might I share an excerpt from the first pages of this book. I haven't been able to move beyond these pages yet - I keep reading & re-reading them, soaking in each word.
"Many people are facing personal trials and family struggles, enduring conflicts fought in the lonely foxholes of the heart, trying to hold back flood waters of despair that sometimes wash over us like a tsunami of the soul. What follows is especially for those who feel their lives are broken, seemingly beyond repair.
"To all such I offer the surest and sweetest remedy that I know. It is found in the clarion call the Savior of the world Himself gave. He said it in the beginning of His ministry, and He said it in the end. He said it to believers, and He said it to those who were not so sure. He said to everyone, whatever their personal problems might be:
'Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and
I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for
I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls'
Matthew 11:28-29)."
"...I know of no other way for us to succeed or to be safe amid life's many pitfalls and problems. I know of no other way for us to carry our burdens or find what Jacob, in the Book of Mormon, called "that happiness which is prepared for the saints" (2 Nephi 9:43)."
And so the mending begins.