The Joy of Making Promises

Now the joy overflowed. More tears. They wouldn’t stop, and neither would my smile. Later, I got to see a picture of her in front of the temple, and I felt completely full, I felt so much joy I felt like it was oozing out of every part of me. All those hot and wet days on a bike were worth it. 

It was a hot and wet. I could see sweat drip down my nose as I peddled my bike down the little town road in Sibu, East Malaysia. My companion, Jackie Catota, and I stopped outside a gate and called out, “Apa khabar?” A little woman with glasses who looked to be between 65 to 70 years old, came to the door and let us in. “It’s nice to meet you Daong. We are looking forward to getting to know you and share a message we know to be true with you.” We proceeded to her home and sat down, cross legged on the floor. We got to know each other over biscuits, fruit, and juice. 

Jackie and I began to share God’s plan for his children. Before we came here we lived with God. He created this earth for us. A place for us to come to receive a body, to learn, grow, and be tested to see if we would follow Him. After we die we can return to live with Him, and receive all the blessings He has. He knew we wouldn’t be perfect so God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to show us how to live, suffer, and die for us, so that we can be forgiven of our sins. He established his church with prophets and apostles, and gave them the power to act in His name through the priesthood. After apostasy, that power was lost from the earth. That power has been restored to the earth. Because of the restoration of His power, through the guidance and teaching of His prophets and apostles, we know that after we die, we can still be with our families forever. God has given temples for us to be united by his priesthood power and provide opportunities for others who have not received a fulness of his truth to receive it on the other side. We showed her a picture of the Manilla, Philippines temple. 

Daong stared at the picture with emotion in her face. She looked up at us with tears in her eyes. “You mean I can be with my husband again?” “Yes.” we answered. Tears streaming down her face, she shook her head back and forth and said, “You’re so young, and I’m so old, but you know all this.” She looked at Jackie and I, and expressed a concern, “Sisters I think I am too old to make it to Manilla. Maybe in the next life.” Very few people had been able to make the trip to the temple at that point. It was expensive, required time off work, and being able to travel the distance to get there. Jackie and I looked at each other. “Daong, we don’t know everything, but we do know that your family can be together forever, God will bless you. We know He can help you get to the temple.” She wasn’t sure and we weren’t either with her age. But she continued to learn more. She felt the truthfulness of the gospel and was baptized. We bid each other goodbye, not knowing if we would ever see her again. 

Years later, I was finishing up college. I got a call from another family we taught in Sibu. They called to let me know they had been sealed in the temple. They sent me a picture over the phone and we cried because we were so happy. Others had gone as well. They began telling me more about the trip and who else had gone, “And Daong, her daughter, and granddaughter…” Wait, what? “Did you say Daong?” I asked. “Yes,” they said. Now the joy overflowed. More tears. They wouldn’t stop, and neither would my smile. Later, I got to see a picture of her in front of the temple, and I felt completely full, I felt so much joy I felt like it was oozing out of every part of me. All those hot and wet days on a bike were worth it. 

I now reflect on this story when I think of the goodness of God. It is an evidence of the joy that we all feel as we make and keep covenants, or promises, to God. When life feels so unknown, confusing, and hard, these types of experiences remind me that God is aware. God keeps His promises and I can count on Him and the timing of His blessings in this life and in the next. It reminds me about what matters most. It reminds me of where real joy comes from. Deep joy, not fleeting, or even immediate. I change the way I live and the choices I make because of the choice I have made to keep the commitments I have made to God. I know God will always come through for me. It may not be in my time table, but his time table is better. 

My imperfections teach me how much I need the Savior. I can’t live with hope and become better without Him. My covenants help me access that help. Elder Bednar, an apostle for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, taught, “Covenants help us access the power of the Savior’s atonement—and in covenants we use our agency, we express and exercise our agency, to accept the terms and conditions of the covenants as they have been established by God.  In doing so, we give to God, the only thing we can give him, which is our agency. And in so doing, in essence we say not my will but thy will be done. Then and only then are we free. And then and only then do we have access to the full power of the Savior’s atonement. And only in that way do we really understand what it means to be happy.” 

I’m grateful for covenants to guide, direct, and help me in this life. I’m grateful for the power of Christ they bring into my life and the reminder that I am not alone. When life gets hard, if I remember my covenants, and all they mean, I know that “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13. And acting on, living with, that knowledge is enough. Living in God’s way brings real joy.

When have you felt joy from making and keeping promises to God?

Please share your thoughts or experience below!