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This devotional address entitled, The Lord Thy God Shall Lead The By the Hand, was given on December 1st of 1998 by Janet S. Sharman, then a BYU assistant student life vice president, and the dean of students.

The basis for my remarks this morning come from a scripture found in Doctrine and Covenant,

Section 112, verse 10, Be thou humble, and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand

and give the answer to thy prayers. I think this means be open to letting the Lord help you.

That is not to say that you should take a passive stance or be helpless or dependent. Rather, it suggests that in this time of both pressure

and uncertainty, the Lord can be there to guide you through your important decisions of life

and to support you in times of trial. Let's start by reflecting on what we know about our pre-existent life.

We get a sense of how important it must have been to our Heavenly Father

for us to learn to work through a process,

to be faced with choices and then have the ability to make our own decisions.

During that time, he presented a plan to all of us.

Lucifer said that he could ensure that not one soul would be lost during this earthly phase of our lives. As a parent, there have been times when I would have done anything to protect my children and to have such a guarantee. That makes the Lord's decision in this situation all the more powerful and meaningful to me.

He rejected the option of a guarantee that would have ensured our return, but which would also have taken away our ability to learn and grow and progress.

What the Lord wanted us to experience on this earth apparently was so important that before our mortal

existence even began, he was willing to lose one-third of his children, who refused to acknowledge

the wisdom of his great purpose, children that he loved and cared about, just as your earthly

parents love you. I believe he had and has the power to make all of us return to his

presence. But while he was not willing to create a structure which would force our compliance,

he promised to be at our side, coaching, comforting, and directing each step of the way.

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