You are Never Alone

I thought I'd share an experience that I wrote down this month in response to the talk "None Were With Him" by Jeffrey R Holland.

When I was in highschool, I went on a tour in England with a group from school. One of the places we visited was about 2 hours from our hotel in London, in a small town square, with a wall around it. You could leave in four different directions through an arch in each wall. I was thumbing through a book in a little shop, when I looked up I gradually realized that not one single person from my tour group was still in sight. They had vanished without my noticing, it was almost time to meet the bus back to London. I didn’t know where the meeting spot was, but I instantly realized what had happened. It was time to go and my group had taken off at a run because the bus driver had an exceptionally tight schedule that day. It was very possible that because of the rush I would be accidentally left behind!

I had a serious problem though, I had no idea which of the four exits they had taken. I remember instantly realizing with terrible clarity that I had never been more dangerously alone in my whole entire life. It was a very long lonely moment. I had to act quickly, but I didn’t know what to do, I doubted anyone would be coming back for me in time. I only had one hope, it was that the Lord would help me. In the same instant that I caught onto this hope, I was suddenly running. Without thinking, I ran through one of the arches, down one street and turned down another little side street, as I turned, I miraculously saw my tour bus. They were nearly finished loading, no one had noticed my absence. I jumped on the bus and it pulled out of that little English village minutes later, I don’t recall a head count in all the rush.

I was rescued from this situation almost immediately, before I could even phrase words to a prayer, the instant I even hoped for help, I was nearly carried in the right direction to where I needed to go. If I had been truly alone, even if I had remained calm enough to think, the odds of me randomly choosing the right exit, the right twists and turns, and choosing quickly enough to meet my group in time were almost zero. That is one time in my life I am certain I had divine assistance. The truth is, He is always there. I know we are never truly alone.