Jeff Erickson, Friend

In March of 2012, I was going through a particularly challenging and difficult time in my life.  There were times I felt like I couldn’t keep going.  I was anxious and afraid and it seemed like my prayers were falling on deaf ears.  I received a blessing from my Dad that told me that the Lord would “sustain” me through my trials.  I looked up the word sustain in the dictionary and it said: 1) To support, hold, or bear up; 2) To keep a person from giving ay, as under trial or affliction; 3) To support by aid or approval.  I turned to the scriptures more fervently than ever at this time, and read conference talks.  I remember one in particular by Elder Robert D. Hales titled “Waiting Upon the Lord” that I must have read 10 times.  I felt like I was doing everything I could to draw near to the Lord --- but yet, I couldn’t find any peace.  And things didn’t seem to get better at all --- in fact they seemed to be getting worse.

During this time, I remember reading in Mark 4:36-41, where the disciples are on a boat with Jesus and a storm or tempest arises.  The disciples cry out, “Master, carest thou not that we perish?”  This seemed to capture my feelings so eloquently at the time --- and I thought back to a hymn I remembered learning when I was younger, called “Master the Tempest is Raging”.  I tried to remember the words and could piece together some of the first verse, but I hadn’t heard this hymn for many years.  I wondered if it was still in the hymn book.

As my week progressed, it seemed that the tempest was raging stronger every day and I often thought of the words, “Carest thou not that I perish?”  I felt abandoned by God and wondered where is the Master to calm the storm.  So, when I got to church Sunday morning the first thing I did when I sat down was open up the hymn book and try to find the hymn “Master the Tempest is Raging”.  I was surprised to find it still in the hymn book and I read all 3 verses over and over again before the sacrament was passed.  I felt like this hymn was talking to me, but I still felt like the Lord had forgotten me and I was in the midst of the first verse where it says the billows are tossing high and the sky is overshadowed with blackness and no shelter or help is nigh.  Aaron was sent as an Ensign of hope for me at this time.  A sustaining influence that I will never forget.

This was on March 11, 2012.  I know, because I wrote about this experience in my journal.  I believe Aaron was serving on the high council at the time, and we had the privilege of having him speak to us in his home ward.  I had heard Aaron speak on several occasions, and I always thought it was like listening to one of the general authorities or the Apostles speak at General Conference whenever he did talk in church.  The manner in which he spoke and the warm caring spirit that radiated the room seemed to be felt by all present whenever he stood at the pulpit.  This Sunday was no exception.  I am sure I wasn’t the only one who felt this way, but the moment Aaron stood up to speak, I honestly felt like he was speaking directly to me.  The message he prepared stuck me so powerfully that I recorded this in my journal, and I wanted to share my notes from this talk he gave almost exactly 3 years ago.

Notes:  Aaron Thatcher (March 11, 2012)

·         Stop and consider how our Father in Heaven and His Son have blessed us:

o   Privilege of living when there are prophets on the earth

o   Blessing of living in America

o   Knowing of the Savior’s atonement

·         Count your many blessings
·         Contrast Nephi vs. Laman & Lemual

o   Nephi had lots of trials (left a nice home to live in the wilderness, brothers tried to kill him, his family was split apart because of him, he was tied up and left to die, etc.)

o   “Nevertheless, I did look to God and praise Him.”

·         No matter how difficult things are, how sad we are, how terrible it is --- Hopefully, we can still look to God and praise Him
·         Story of Parley P. Pratt

o   Laying on his bed filled with discouragement

o   He was in debt, had no children after 10 years, his wife was gravely ill (Wife’s name was Thankful Pratt)

o   He received a blessing from Heber C. Kimball

o   In this blessing he was told to go on a mission to Canada (despite not knowing if his wife would even live)

o   Despite all of this --- he said, like Nephi, “I will go and do what the Lord commands”

o   He obeyed the Lord, trusting in Him

o   He was blessed immensely for going on this mission and things all worked out

·         “Sometimes it seems the Lord sends His richest blessings during times of great distress.”
·         Find ways to recognize God’s hand in all things
·         Story of Aaron and his family

o   Master the Tempest is Raging  (Aaron read all 3 verses of this hymn.  The very same hymn I had been reading moments earlier after wondering if it was still in the hymn book.  I remember feeling very strongly that this was the Lord’s way of telling me that He was looking out for me.  He would sustain me through my trials.  There was hope and I could count on the Lord being near.)

o   Tears welled up in my eyes as I listened to Aaron share some of the difficult challenges and trials he had faced --- and how he related his experience to this hymn.  I appreciated him sharing this more than I could ever express.

o   He noted that in the 3^rd verse there is finally deliverance and rejoicing as the Lord calms the storm. 

o   There is hope in the midst of the storm --- and with the Lord’s sustaining we will joyfully reach the harbor and rest on the blissful shore.

I wrote down all 3 verses of this hymn in my journal.  As I read through these verses again, I cannot help but think of Aaron and his wonderful wife, Lorraine.  I know they have navigated the stormy seas of the tempest before.  They are in the midst of yet another storm now, with the billows tossing high.  I find myself praying for Aaron and Lorraine throughout each day -- that they may be blessed by the sustaining hand of the Lord.  That He will strengthen and uplift them and bless them with hope, comfort, and peace in this storm.  I don’t know of a more Christ-like man than my friend Aaron Thatcher.  May the Lord sustain him and his family as they praise Him in this storm.

1.     

2.    Master, the tempest is raging!
The billows are tossing high!
The sky is o’ershadowed with blackness,
No shelter or help is nigh;
Carest Thou not that we perish?
How canst Thou lie asleep,
When each moment so madly is threat’ning
A grave in the angry deep?

3.    Master, with anguish of spirit
I bow in my grief today;
The depths of my sad heart are troubled—
Oh, waken and save, I pray!
Torrents of sin and of anguish
Sweep o’er my sinking soul;
And I perish! I perish! dear Master—
Oh, hasten, and take control.

4.    Master, the terror is over,
The elements sweetly rest;
Earth’s sun in the calm lake is mirrored,
And heaven’s within my breast;
Linger, O blessed Redeemer!
Leave me alone no more;
And with joy I shall make the blest harbor,
And rest on the blissful shore.

o    Refrain:
The winds and the waves shall obey Thy will,
Peace, be still!
Whether the wrath of the storm-tossed sea,
Or demons or men, or whatever it be,
No waters can swallow the ship where lies
The Master of ocean, and earth, and skies;
They all shall sweetly obey Thy will,
Peace, be still! Peace, be still!
They all shall sweetly obey Thy will,
Peace, peace, be still!

-- Jeff Erickson

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