In my second-year high school French class,
My teacher told us that at the beginning of class every day, we would write a paragraph by ourselves.
IN FRENCH.
My French skills were dismal at best, but I would pull out my English-French dictionary each morning and write the best paragraph I could.
After a couple of weeks, she asked us to turn in our notebooks.
The next day, she handed them back.
I opened mine and found tons of red marks.
My heart sank.
And then I realized…
She had underlined everything I had written CORRECTLY in red pen.
She also left a personal response in very simple French for each entry.
I felt so empowered!
She was pointing out everything that I was doing right.
My accuracy was below 50%.
But I suddenly felt that my teacher was on my side and really wanted me to learn French.
And I felt like I really could do it.
This is what our Savior does on a much grander and much more serious scale.
“Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him.” (D&C 45:3)
He is looking for every single thing that we do correctly!
He notices every righteous desire (even if our actions don’t line up with those desires)
Every righteous effort (even if the results don’t turn out the way we wanted)
And every righteous action (even if someone else took offense).
He is underlining in red every single good thought, effort, action, ordinance, sacrifice, and service.
He gives us the benefit of the doubt.
And He will give us all the credit.
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black
