Each week, Church News publishes a podcast. These podcasts have featured Church leaders, musicians, artists, athletes, authors, civic leaders, professors, historians and many others. Listening to the more than 250 podcasts, I’ve learned many ways that individuals have been blessed by Heavenly Father.
As I sat down in our studio last week with former BYU President Kevin J Worthen and his wife, Peggy Worthen, I thought I knew what to expect. And I was looking forward to it.
From the first question of the interview to the last, I found myself surprised. I knew the rough details of their life story, but I didn’t really know their life story. And I certainly had no idea how they had come to have the testimonies they do of the Savior and of God’s love for them over nearly 47 years of marriage.
I asked the Worthens to compare raising a family to serving at BYU with its tens of thousands of students. Peggy Worthen answered and spoke of seeing and feeling Heavenly Father’s love when she and her husband first became parents.
“When you become a parent, you realize Heavenly Father’s love for you on a very small scale, and I always reflect on that. Whenever I doubt or have doubts about my relationship with my Heavenly Father, I always reflect on that, on my knowledge of how much I love my children. That’s how I affirm that Heavenly Father does love me to a greater extent, and that gives me great comfort,” she said.
Kevin Worthen said that applying principles from “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” — which was first published 30 years ago — helps parents increase in confidence.
As the two spoke about their life experiences, I could see that they respect each other’s opinions and perspectives — even in reflecting on their past. In working together, they clearly had learned how to counsel with each other and listen to each other.
“God identifies Himself in Moses 7 as a ‘Man of Holiness’ and a ‘Man of Counsel’ (verse 35),” Kevin Worthen said. “I think of all the things that He would choose to characterize Himself as, ‘Man of Counsel’ is one of them. And you find that that is a great way in which it invites inspiration.”
While many thousands of students heard the Worthens speak and share their testimonies over his nine-year tenure as BYU’s president, hearing them talk about how they grew together felt truly special. They spoke with a calmness and poise. There was no emotion-filled plea to hear what they were saying. They know what they know, and they weren’t afraid to share it.
And they were open about some of their challenges in all of this as well. But at no time did they speak as if they sought anyone’s pity. They spoke of their challenges with reverence for what they learned.
At the end of each podcast, we ask our guests to share something they know now. I love the way Kevin Worthen described his testimony.
“What I know now better than I did before is God is good. He is as good as He says He is. He is as loving as He says He is, and we can’t comprehend how good He is and how much He loves us,” he said.
While what Kevin Worthen said in those few lines shouldn’t have surprised me, they certainly hit me right in the heart after having listened to him and his wife speak so lovingly about their journey together. Do I comprehend how good God is? I’ll work on it because I want to have the same level of confidence and faith he has.
“I think the more I turn to Him and the more I see people who turn to Him, the more convinced I am that we only see faintly how much He cares for us, how anxious He is to bless us. He loves us in ways we can’t fathom, in ways that are embodied by His Son, Jesus Christ, whom I love with all my heart. He gave Him as a sacrifice to us, and He is as good. He can take all things — all things — and turn them to our good. I’m convinced of that. … I know I can do my best, and He’ll make up the difference.”
— Jon Ryan Jensen is editor of the Church News.
