He is That Good
By Claire Farnsworth
Editor’s note: We are so grateful for this guest essay! If you’d like to contribute a guest essay, please email thegodiknowblog@gmail.com.
“And he numbereth his sheep, and they know him…and he shall feed his sheep, and in him they shall find pasture.” 1 Nephi 22: 25
Today I want to talk about the word “compensatory.” I was a teacher for four years before having a baby, so indulge me. It’s an adjective, first off.
This is what the definition says: “Intended to recompense someone who has experienced loss, suffering, or injury. Offsetting the unpleasant or unwelcome effects of something.”
To use it in a sentence: The God I know gives us compensatory blessings.
Let me share a quick, maybe simple example of a recent compensatory blessing. Last month, at the apartment complex I live in, they hosted a candle making class. I went and made a candle, which felt like a luxury to me as a new mom. My little son and I had had some long, wintry days together stuck in the house. I was grateful to go out while my son was asleep and my husband was working from home. Plus, I also love crafting so this was right up my alley.
So I made this cool, little red candle that was perfect for Valentine’s Day. My son and I went to pick it up after it had been set and cooled, and I had the thought to give it to a lady I minister to. This prompting from the Spirit made me a bit sad because I was really looking forward to this candle. I know it’s not a big deal, and that it’s just a candle. But I was excited that I had made it myself and I was proud of my work.
I considered buying another candle or asking the apartment complex if they had an extra. After all these ideas I had the thought, “Heavenly Father will provide for me as I serve others.” Compensatory blessings always come, so I gave the candle away.
Well, I didn’t think too much more of it until later in the day when Donna, an older lady from the ward, asked if she could bring me something. Guess what she brought me? A candle.
I know that Heavenly Father is aware of our little things and our little sacrifices to help others. But on a grander scale, I have seen that He will provide compensatory blessings for all losses, both big and small, that we experience here on Earth.
This is a quote from Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin on compensatory blessings: “The Lord compensates the faithful for every loss. That which is taken away from those who love the Lord will be added unto them in His own way. While it may not come at the time we desire, the faithful will know that every tear today will eventually be returned a hundredfold with tears of rejoicing and gratitude.” (Come What May and Love It)
How does God do this? Why does He do this? Here are a couple of my thoughts.
God can fix anything. I listened to a podcast that talked about how God is so good, that things that are lost are never really lost. And I’m not talking about a lost dream of burning my own candle, although that candle did smell lovely. I’m talking about lost dreams due to divorce or broken marriages or lost dreams of a family after infertility or miscarriage. Or even a lost plan of our futures due to our own mistakes and shortcomings.
Even when we think we’ve lost all hope for future blessings and happiness, because of the atonement of Jesus Christ, we can be taken to “greater views,” meaning greater things. As we turn to Jesus Christ, He can create beauty from our ashes.
Think of that concept: “beauty for ashes.” How can we find compensatory blessings in the shattered pieces? Can blessings come out of something broken? Is there something better ahead after heartache?
Of course! As we come to know Jesus Christ more and more, we will know that He can and will create beauty again for us. But we have to come to Him and trust Him. We have to bring the broken pieces of our lives to Him for his molding and care.
This process reminds me of the famous Japanese kintsugi pottery, where they take shattered pieces of pottery and put them back together with a gold adhesive. We, like children, bring a shattered piece of pottery to the Savior and say, “Help. It’s all broken and I don’t know where to start again.” He takes our broken pieces, dusts them off, and helps us create something new and beautiful.
How hopeful is that?!
Jesus Christ can do this even when we were the ones who messed things up! He can still help us fix the situation so nothing (or no one) is ever really lost. It might be different than we thought, but He will make it what we need. Jesus Christ is that good.
My life has felt shattered at times. Once, after making mistakes and expecting perfection from a significant other, I was left feeling the most depressed I had ever felt after a breakup. I thought I had ruined my future and that my one shot at happiness or getting married was lost. I felt lonely, isolated, and misunderstood. I felt I had put this pain on myself due to poor choices.
How wrong I was! As I brought my brokenness to the Savior, He healed me.
It wasn’t what I wanted at the time. I just wanted to be married. But when I brought the broken pieces of my life to Christ, He was able to put me back together.
The gold in the kintsugi pottery reminds me of compensatory blessings. Through the shatters of my life, I saw glimmers of hope.
During this time of loss of companionship, I was provided compensatory blessings in the form having of understanding friends and gaining more empathy for others after heartbreak. I was given opportunities academically. I made new wonderful friends who ended up setting me up with my now husband!
I was buoyed up by compensatory blessings and comfort that only Christ can give. And during the rebuilding process, those compensatory blessings sustained me and gave me joy that was sustaining and stabilizing.
To those who come unto Him with heartbreak and hopeless situations, He promises compensatory blessings. Always. That is a silver, or gold, lining.
Looking back on this experience, I didn’t even know what joy was waiting for me. Christ built my broken pieces into something more beautiful than I had originally planned. He is that good. I just had to trust Him and trust the process.
Life will not be perfect or how we envision it. We will not be perfect and always make the right choices. But when we choose to draw near to our Savior Jesus Christ, He can compensate for our pain and sadness and mistakes. He can make our lives more beautiful than we think. He can take us to “greater views.”
Elder Renlund said it best when he said, “the Savior loves to restore what you cannot restore; He loves to heal wounds you cannot heal; He loves to fix what has been irreparably broken; He compensates for any unfairness inflicted on you; and He loves to permanently mend even shattered hearts.”
The God I know is a compensatory God. I choose to follow Him because I know that I can’t pick and choose trials in life. I know that hard things will come. But as I stay close to Him, I will see compensatory miracles. He loves me that much. I choose Him because He can make me better, even when I fall short.
He is that good.