Young Women General President Emily Belle Freeman told missionaries at the Provo Missionary Training Center on Tuesday, Dec. 24, to think of the times in their lives when they’ve come to know Christ is there for them.
In the Christmas Eve afternoon devotional, President Freeman shared her own experiences of coming to know Jesus Christ, many of which came during Christmases when she was going through a trial. She called these “different Christmases.”
One Christmas when she was 12 years old, President Freeman had to be quarantined away from her family while recovering from a serious illness. While alone on Christmas Day, President Freeman said, she felt sad and lonely, but she learned an important lesson: “Jesus comes.”
“My heart turned to a familiar carol, ‘Silent Night,’” she said. “And I thought of a mother and her child and angels. I thought of Jesus.”
President Freeman told the missionaries how they will have a different Christmas this year away from family but that it will be a special Christmas, one they will likely never forget.
“In the unexpected moments, He shows up. Just like He did in a stable,” she said. “In quiet moments, often when life isn’t going the way we thought it might, in places that feel unfamiliar, Jesus is there.”
John 5 tells the story of a man whom Jesus Christ healed at the pool of Bethesda. In Hebrew, “beth hesda” means “house of grace.”
“John tells us that this certain man had been waiting for a long time,” President Freeman said. “And I wonder if you have ever had to wait for an answer to a prayer or something of your deepest longing.”
President Freeman said there are three important lessons from the Savior asking the man, “Wilt thou be made whole?” (John 5:6).
“Jesus saw, Jesus knew, and Jesus had the power to change that situation,” President Freeman said. “It was Jesus who had made him whole, and the same will be true for us.”
President Freeman invited her husband, Brother Gregory Freeman, to share how he has seen Jesus Christ working in his life over the last six months while undergoing cancer treatments. President Freeman said the chemotherapy treatments have made this Christmas a different one for their family.
“This is a Christmas where we have lived in a house of grace,” she said.
Said Brother Freeman: “The phone call that I got from the doctor who told me that I had cancer was an immediate humbling experience that I’ll never forget. I quickly turned to Heavenly Father and said, ‘Help me through this.’”
Brother Freeman told the missionaries to be grateful for the opportunity to be refined in this mortal life.
“And to really become more like our Savior,” Brother Freeman said. “He seeks us individually and will touch us every time we ask for help.”
President Freeman held up a sign with bold letters reading “Be healed,” created by the Primary children in their ward after Brother Freeman’s cancer diagnosis.
“It is a statement of faith in a time that has been really uncertain for us,” President Freeman said.
Twice during the devotional, President Freeman went to the piano to play music while her brother-in-law, Drew Norton, sang. She encouraged the missionaries to think of the Savior and any lines that stood out to them from the songs “Savior, Redeemer of My Soul” and “I Know That My Redeemer Lives.”
Elder Joshua Chang, from Bellevue, Washington, and headed to the Japan Tokyo Mission, said the Spirit really spoke to him through the music.
“I just love the main focus on the Lord being here with us and to carry Him within our hearts,” Elder Chang said. “I know in Doctrine and Covenants 84, we have that scripture of ‘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.’ And so that just reminded me of that and how Jesus Christ is always with us, even through our tough times.”
Elder Bradley Gavin, from Grand Saline, Texas, and going to the Japan Nagoya Mission, loved President Freeman’s story of her Christmas spent in quarantine.
“When she said we can be seen and known and changed by Him,” he said. “And when she was in her room for two weeks without anyone actually being able to see her, she knew that God was there for her, and that just touched my heart.”
Sister Grace Knudsen, from Elko, Nevada, and headed to the Canada Winnipeg Mission, said she also felt the Spirit as President Freeman taught how this Christmas will be different for her as a missionary.
“This Christmas is for me to serve Christ,” she said.
