If The Savior Stood Beside Me

Mr. MoSop and I recently signed up for a brutal [ ‘intense’] 6-week fitness Boot Camp! We are on Day 4, so currently are limping around as our muscles whine and protest. This is proving to be a really huge challenge, and also a blessing. I am so grateful for dear Mr. Mo who is my best friend and champion. It is also very cool to be doing this together! Anyway, this morning as my drill Sargent was doggedly [‘relentlessly’] pushing me on, showing no mercy [‘encouraging’] me this morning I was tempted to let loose a few “choice words”. I suddenly thought to myself  – “Hey girl! This actually offers a spiritual metaphor of the Savior standing beside you pushing and rooting and encouraging you on. If you saw Him standing there, would you start cussing?” Needless to say, I bridled my tongue! . . . [and naturally, a blog post was born!]

One of our beloved modern LDS Composers is Sally DeFord, who writes a lot of beautiful songs! I especially love  “If the Savior Stood Beside Me“. Sister DeFord has written a song for each of her children, and this song was written for her daughter Holly who tells the following story:

On my eighth birthday, I was baptized. At my baptism, my mom sang the song “If the Savior Stood Beside Me,” which she wrote specially for me. I remember her saying “I wrote this song for Holly, not because it’s a lesson I wanted to teach her, but because she has always acted as if the Savior really was there beside her.” That meant a lot to me, and I was so proud of myself and my beautiful song!
It has been more than 15 years since that day, and though there have been times that I have not acted as I would if I could see the Savior next to me, I know that even when we make mistakes and choose to do the wrong thing, Jesus stays near us and watches over us anyway, waiting for us to reach out and hold His hand again. Because He loves us so dearly, we are always in His watchful care, even when we don’t know it, and someday we will all look back and realize how close He was, just when we needed Him. I am trying every day to “be the kind of person that I know I’d like to be if I could see the Savior standing nigh, watching over me.” -Holly Deford

Ponder the words and the Spirit as you enjoy this sweet choir from the 2007 General Young Womens Meeting.

If The Savior Stood Beside Me

Music downloads available here

“My testimony to you is that safety, peace, joy, and security are found only in the life and mission of Jesus Christ, the son of Almighty God and our loving Savior.

We embrace His teachings, strive to give up all of our sins, repent of our mistakes, and do all that is in our power to come unto Him in a true spirit of discipleship. We know that it is only through His grace that we are saved, even after all that we can do. However, we do Good Works as a sacred trust, essential to our personal sanctification. As we give ourselves to Christ, fully and completely, we find safety, peace, joy, and security in Him. That is the ultimate priority that brings balance to our lives. That is the highest accomplishment of straight thinking.” – Elder M. Russell Ballard