How to help each other through transitions
Sometimes our life transitions are planned, such as when we work toward New Year’s goals or get a fresh haircut. Sometimes transitions are planned for us: a child moves from nursery into primary or a job gets reassigned to a different area. But sometimes our transitions are not what we planned and are necessary only because the worst we can imagine has happened.
During all kinds of life’s transitions, we need Jesus, and each other, to carry on.
Kalo Latu shared on the Magnify podcast, “Rains and floods come to everyone. There is no amount of covenant keeping that will make your life trouble free. That’s not what we are promised. What we are promised is we will have power.”
While we make covenants individually, the support we give one another through transitions can help us hold tight to our testimonies and covenants. Sister Amy A. Wright said in the October 2023 General Conference, “I have learned from personal experience that spiritual preparation for the coming of the Lord is not only essential but the only way to find true peace and happiness.”
We learn from the parable of the ten virgins that we can't fill each other’s lamps of testimony with our own oil of conversion, but we can certainly help give each other strength to collect the oil we need. We can turn toward each other, not away from each other.
Maybe during transition you’re leaning on the woman next to you, maybe you need to sit down and one of us sits beside you, lamps still burning, light still shining. We are women lifting each other, waiting for the Savior together, each holding our lamp to share of His light.
Feel Better in 5! How to help each other through transitions
Sharing time:
Be the safe space for someone to share without worry of shame. In her October 2023 conference address, Sister Tamara W. Runia reminds us, “Sometimes what we need is empathy more than advice; listening more than a lecture; someone who hears and wonders, ‘How would I have to feel to say what they just said?’” When we are safe and real with each other, we connect and learn from our vast network of sisterhood.
Lead kindly:
With Christ as your rock, be the one to show what it looks like to ask for help, to give help, to try, to fail, to feel, to work, to smile, to lose, to love.
Journey without judgment:
We support each other best along life’s path when we recognize that how we choose to move forward will not be the same for someone else. Sister J. Anette Dennis said, “We are commanded to love others, not to judge them. Let’s lay down that heavy burden; it isn’t ours to carry. Instead, we can pick up the Savior’s yoke of love and compassion.”
In-the-moment prayers:
When a friend’s name comes to mind, when a social media post hints at something else that isn’t being said, we can say an instant, short prayer in our heart, naming that loved one to God and asking Him how to help.
Quilting bee of kindness:
We show up through kind and encouraging comments, texts, voice memos, Marco Polos, phone calls—we are stitched together in so many ways. We can sit with each other in every transition. We can show up with open arms and a heart full of love.