Read full address by Sister Michelle D. Craig

“Sometimes, it helps to know what to expect.”

I love the first line of Sister Craig’s talk because there’s just something that takes away my worry when I know what to expect. (I love agendas and maps!)

But what can we expect on our journey of discipleship?

When Sister Craig spoke about this journey of following Christ, these are some of the words that stood out to me:

Inner strength

Grit

Perseverance

Dig deep

Lean in with our faith

Gradually receive

Sincerely strive

Wholehearted, whole-souled action

This list doesn’t describe a passive process. Discipleship is active and intentional. We can expect the path of discipleship to have times of exhaustion, worry, wrestle, and stumble. We can expect, like Sister Craig said, hard times. “Christ’s disciples have always encountered hard times.”

Sometimes we expect the path of discipleship to feel like a race. We compare our stride, distance, and speed to others’. It’s easy to want to not to feel left behind. 

While this isn’t a perfect metaphor, let’s talk about a race in the poem “The Race” by D.H. Groberg. At the beginning, the boy begins a race and is in first place, but then he falls again and again. Some people laugh, but then he hears his father encouraging him from the sidelines:

“Get up, you haven’t lost at all, for all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall.”

Winning the race wasn’t the lesson for this boy, and “winning” isn’t the point of the path of discipleship. Just like Sister Craig said, “The point of walking the covenant path is to approach the Savior. He is the point, not our perfect progress. It is not a race, and we must not compare our journey to others’.”

This is what's so beautiful about knowing what we can expect. We can expect Jesus to be our patient coach on the path of discipleship. With every step, we come to know Him in a new way.  No matter where we are right now, we can get up and move forward because of Him, even when those steps are more like a stumble or a crawl. We can expect He will hold us up and keep us from falling (Jude 1:24). He is your Divine Cheerleader, always rooting for you.

Affirmation

I lean in with faith as I approach my Savior and gradually receive His light, strength, and peace. I expect opposition and hardship with a wholehearted trust that the He will meet me there.

Written by Madison Peery