Finding Peace in Jesus Christ: My Talk for Sacrament Meeting

I was asked to give a talk in Sacrament Meeting in my Latter-Day Saint ward on June 12, 2016. This was the talk I gave:

My name is Carissa Davis. My husband Danny and I have been in the ward about 3 ½ years, and we have a 3 year old son. To help in preparing this talk I was given the General Conference talk A Pattern for Peace by Bishop W. Christopher Waddell from this past General Conference. As I read and pondered his words and my own life experiences I came to find that the ultimate source of peace in my life comes from our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Bishop Waddell says, “In our journey through mortality, as glorious as our intended destination may be and as exhilarating as the journey may prove, we will all be subject to trials and sorrow along the way. Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin taught: “The dial on the wheel of sorrow eventually points to each of us. At one time or another, everyone must experience sorrow. No one is exempt.”1 “The Lord in His wisdom does not shield anyone from grief or sadness.”

Emma Lou Thayne wrote the hymn "Where Can I Turn for Peace" in 1971. In researching her life I found that she had many trials that led her to seek her own peace in life. She said, “The words to the hymn came for me out of a troubled time for our family. We had one daughter ill, (I found out her daughter was actually mentally ill), I was facing a spinal fusion and interruption of teaching mid-quarter at the University of Utah. My husband was about to become bishop of a student ward, and 4 daughters were under the age of 17 with busy lives.” Emma Lou knew what it felt like to lack peace.

The first two verses of the song capture what I wish I convey to you today:

1. Where can I turn for peace?
Where is my solace
When other sources cease to make me whole?
When with a wounded heart, anger, or malice,
I draw myself apart,
Searching my soul?

2. Where, when my aching grows,
Where, when I languish,
Where, in my need to know, where can I run?
Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish?
Who, who can understand?
He, only One.

Text: Emma Lou Thayne, b. 1924. © 1973 IRI

Music: Joleen G. Meredith, b. 1935. © 1973 IRI

He , only one. If you walk away with nothing else from my talk today, I want you to know that I know that Jesus Christ is the one true source of peace in this world. He understands every heartache, every sorrow, and every hard time we have. He understands because of the Atonement. Alma 7:11-12 says “And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.” There is nothing that we can go through that our Savior has not felt Himself. This has always been comforting to me, but in the last year it has meant the most.

This past year has left me searching for peace as I never have before. In September 2015 we found out that our 27 week along pregnancy would be ending. Our daughter Sadie was stillborn soon after. We left the hospital without a baby. We buried her tiny body in the Bountiful cemetery. We picked out a headstone. We celebrated her due date a few months later by visiting her grave. I have cried many, many tears over the past year. I have been angry, hurt, felt grief like I didn’t know was possible, wondered why this had to happen, wondered what might have been, and felt incredibly sad.

When I felt the saddest, most broken, and most alone the thing that helped the most was knowing that Jesus Christ suffered the Atonement not only for my sins but also so that He would know how to succor and comfort and bring peace to ME. I have spent many nights in prayer holding onto this truth and seeking comfort and peace in it.

The hymn says “When other sources cease to make me whole…” This line from the hymn rings true to me. The world offers many sources of false peace: drugs and alcohol dull pain but don’t give lasting peace. Other sources are offered up that might help for a time. Support groups, hospital staff, books about stillbirth, and online resources were searched out extensively by me in my yearning for answers and peace. Sometimes these things helped, and sometimes they increased my anxiety and grief. It was exhausting to search through all these things! And when I felt like I couldn’t search any more, I would always kneel down and pray to my Heavenly Father in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and there I finally found the true peace I so desperately needed.

Because I know each individual and each trial is different, I would like to offer you four different ways to find peace in Jesus Christ. These come from the "Pattern for Peace" that Bishop Waddell offers and from my own experiences in searching for peace. All of them point directly back to Jesus Christ. I have found that 1) praying in the name of Jesus Christ, 2) attending the temple where all teaching points to Christ, 3) studying words of ancient and modern prophets who speak the words of Christ, and 4) asking for and receiving Priesthood blessings, which is the power of God, the same Priesthood that Christ gave to his apostles who then restored it to the earth through Joseph Smith, are the four main ways that I have found true and lasting peace.

The Bible dictionary says under the topic of Prayer that “Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other.” It is hard to give up what we want for what He has planned sometimes. But Proverbs 3:5-6 says: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.” Whenever I  am able to give up what I want and accept His will in prayer, I find that nothing else matters and I again feel peace. I find that that peace helps me to trust in the Lord and let him direct my paths. I remember being newly married and trying to figure out where to spend the 4^th of July, with my family or with Danny’s. This silly decision seemed so important to each of us, and we ended up arguing.  The contention that came with stubbornly holding onto what I selfishly wanted made me feel sick inside. In our small apartment there wasn’t much room to be alone, so I ended up hiding in the closet and praying. As I prayed I started out by complaining, but I felt as I prayed that His will would not be for me to argue with Danny. I gradually let my heart change to align with His will. I realized I didn’t care so much about what we ended up doing, but I wanted peace and love to come back into our home and our relationship. I gave up my will for the will of the father and said I was sorry and that I only wanted to be friends again. Danny did the same and we somehow compromised so that we had a great holiday. When we give up our will through prayer to the Father we can find peace.

Another way to find peace that seems to always work for me is to attend the temple and ponder, pray, and meditate inside its walls. President Thomas S. Monson has taught: “The world can be a challenging and difficult place in which to live. … As you and I go to the holy houses of God, as we remember the covenants we make within, we will be more able to bear every trial and to overcome each temptation. In this sacred sanctuary we will find peace.”7 That’s a promise from a prophet. "In this sacred sanctuary (in the temple) we will find peace!"  I have attended the temple a few times since Sadie died. Each time I have found specific, personal revelation or answers that have brought me a tiny peak into God’s plan for her and for me and have also brought me tremendous peace. The temple is an incredible place. I often feel like Heavenly Father is just waiting for me to come to His house so that he can whisper the next little answer to my heart that will help me on the next step in my journey on earth. The temple is a sanctuary where we can escape the trials of this earth and find peace in Christ.

Studying the words of ancient prophets in the scriptures and words of modern prophets in General Conference talks can also bring great peace. In the introduction of the Book of Mormon it even says that the Book of Mormon “puts forth the doctrines of the gospel, outlines the plan of salvation, and tells men what they must do to gain peace in this life and eternal salvation in the life to come.”-Book of Mormon intro. Whenever I am making a big decision or searching for answers in life I search out these words and have found much guidance and peace in them. I have a whole list of favorite scriptures that have brought me peace at one point or another in my life. I can’t read them all to you, because it would take too much time, but I encourage each of you to make your own list of favorite, peace bringing scriptures or quotes from the prophets. Keep the list in your scriptures or in your phone so that when you are having a bad day or desperately need peace you can open one of these and read it to speak peace to your soul. If you memorize one or two you’ll be even better off, as you can recite it in your mind any time you need that extra measure of peace. Many of you probably already do this. The words of prophets can bring direction and peace because they speak the words of Christ.

(Not included in my talk because I didn't have time: When Sadie died I searched out medical journals, support groups, stories of other children born still and other grieving mothers, and read a few books about stillbirth and grief. I think the grieving process for me has been a lot of searching, processing, and bit by bit understanding and acceptance. But I didn't only search out these secular sources. I searched extensively on lds.org and in the gospel library for references to stillborn, stillbirth, baby, angels, mourning, grief, Job, trials, atonement, and anything else I could think of to find answers that would bring peace to my heart. I studied and prayed. Studied and prayed. This was a time for me of processing, grieving, searching, and praying that brought me bit by bit to a place of peace. When I talk about finding peace through prayer and scripture study and the power of the atonement, it's not just a nice idea, it literally works.)

The last way to find peace that I want to talk about is receiving priesthood blessings. My first year of college I was feeling overwhelmed and depressed. It was around November, and I just couldn’t seem to find peace or happiness in my life. I couldn’t seem to adjust. I asked a friend who held the Meclhizedek Priesthood if he and his roommate would give me a blessing. For some reason, this friend had his roommate give me the blessing. I was so glad he did. This roommate didn’t know me very well, yet he spoke the words of comfort and peace I needed to hear. More importantly, I felt Heavenly Father’s love through the blessing, and I was able to carry on and make it through that year. Every time I receive a priesthood blessing, even just to be set apart for a calling, I feel comfort, peace, and an added direction to my life. Priesthood blessings can indeed bring peace.

When other sources cease to make us whole, where can we turn? To Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, and the peace that His Atonement can bring. We can turn to Him through praying to Heavenly Father in His name, by attending the temple to learn of Him, by studying the scriptures and conference talks to listen to His words, and by asking for Priesthood blessings, which was the same power He held. In John 16:33 Jesus said, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”  Peace may not come immediately. Over the past year I have spent a lot of time searching for peace, and there are some days I still don’t have it. Some trials are never taken away, some pain never ceases, some sorrows we must learn to live with. Alma 34:41 says "But that ye have patience, and bear with those afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions." We can find peace to our soul in this life, but even if our trials never cease here, we are also promised that one day we will have complete and lasting peace, with no more afflictions, in the world to come.

I bear my testimony that because Jesus Christ atoned for us and died for us we can find peace in this world and eternal life in the world to come. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.