Mine Angels

“And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.”

- Doctrine and Covenants 84:88

It was during some of my darkest days when I first began meeting with my Bishop. Our discussions were long, but purposeful. He was a practical man, given to practical advice; but he was filled with love. I was just coming to realize, for the first time, that my fight with pornography was an addiction and that the “mighty change of heart” spoken of in the scriptures was a process. I was also just beginning to realize, and accept the fact, that I would never be able to beat this thing alone. I needed help.

The Bishop lived some 20 to 25 minutes away, on the very edge of the Ward boundary. Sometimes the drive was almost unbearably long as I tried to discipline my mind not to rehearse my latest confession so that it would come out better. We met in his home office. I remember sitting on the sofa in his front room, waiting for him to free up from other interviews or from other church responsibilities. From where I sat each week, it was almost impossible to see the picture. It was directly behind me, hung well above eye level; which is probably why I didn’t notice it the first few visits. It was a painting: the picture of a small family pulling a handcart across a rocky, snow laden, mostly barren landscape. It seemed like one of a dozen similar pioneer pictures that I’d seen before; which is probably why it took another couple of visits to the Bishop’s home before I noticed the faint outline of two angels pushing the handcart from behind.

Tears came to my eyes as I finally opened my eyes and recognized the outline of those angels who had come to the aid of this small handcart family in what must have been one of their darkest moments. That picture, hanging in my Bishop’s home, said it all; and took on great significance for me as I struggled with my burden and continued to place one weary foot in front of the other.