A Saturday's Warrior Moment

This weekend I was lucky to attend our stake’s Relief Society Conference. They had events Friday evening and Saturday for several hours – including a nice dessert and fantastic lunch on Saturday. It was a great way to relax without kids, enjoy the sisterhood of Relief Society and feel the spirit and love of our Heavenly Father.


I had one particular thought as I was listening to a sweet sister from our ward speak. She was talking about our divine potential and the beautiful people we are. She talked about our Heavenly Father and who we were even before we came to earth. As she talked about the premortal existence I had a little flash to “Saturday’s Warrior”. Don’t laugh – I didn’t start singing, “I’ve think I’ve seen that face before….it seems we’ve talked like this before…..” But I did get to thinking about the relationships we have had before we came to earth.

Have you ever had a friendship that just came so naturally, just seemed like you must have known each other before….? I have had some really special friends in my life that just have felt like we’ve had an extra special place in each other’s lives. I remember my best friend growing up – Jana Huntington (Johnson now)’s mom used to always say she was sure we had been friends in the preexistence –I have to say I agree – it is an eternal friendship. (As are several other blessed friendships I have).

Anyway – as the speaker got to talking about promises we had made in the pre-existence with our Heavenly Father I got thinking about promises I may have made with friends and loved ones even before coming to earth. I wondered if there were relationships that included promises to be friends and watch out for each other on earth. I even went further into thinking about choices that we have made on earth that maybe were somewhat thought out before we set foot on this earth.

• What if I had promised other friends that I would be the friend to go through infertility battles so that we could all learn that joint prayers and fasting work?

• What if I had friends who had offered to be the ones to make grievous mistakes so that we could all learn to forgive and love?

• Are there friends that I promised before we were born that I would be a missionary to them and share the gospel? Were there friendships that included vows to introduce the truth to each other and help teach and lead each other to what was right?

• What if I had promised special friends that when they fell and made hard choices I would be there to help pick them back up and help them to start again?

• I wondered if I had friends who had promised to be examples to me of hard work, dedication and love so that I could get through hard times?

I know that we are given agency when we come to earth, but I also wonder if some of our decisions were somewhat planned out before we came, or if we might have been given a little preview of possibilities of what was to come. I wonder if we had a glimpse of the personality traits we would have in our mortal existence and talked about how we would handle certain situations?

This little glimpse or idea made me think of times when it might seem like too much to serve, or when it might be easier to just pass by the problem without taking care of it. It made me think of times I could reach out a helping hand and “pause to help and lift another”. I am grateful for the reminder that we just might have made promises to love our brothers and sisters a little more than we do on a daily basis.

Then again – maybe not….but I sure don’t want to get to “the other side” and realize that I had broken promises to people I loved the very most….