In 2 Corinthians 7:10, we read “for godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation…” I had only thought of that scripture as a relates to sorrow for sin. With Ashton’s death as a backdrop, this scripture takes on an added meaning for me: perhaps as I mourn as God would have me do, that can lead me to humility, which can help me recognize flaws that require my repentance and further reliance on the Atonement, which leads to my salvation.

I was also reading in the July 2014 issue of the Ensign magazine, published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The last article is about a father and son on a canoe trip. As they neared their destination on the opposite lakeshore, they encountered a very strong headwind that essentially stopped their progress. The son said to his father, “You’re looking at the waves, Dad. You won’t get anywhere doing that. You’ve got to keep your eyes on the shore. See that tree on the hill? That’s our goal. Focus on that, and we’ll make it.” As the father did so, they made gradual progress and did reach the shore. Later, he reflected on teachings by current Prophet and Church President Thomas S. Monson, who taught about the lighthouse of the Lord: “It beckons through the storms of life. It calls, ‘This way to safety; this way to home.'”

In The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ, a group of people were led by God from Jerusalem to the American continent – the promised land. God miraculously provided for them a “compass” or “director,” which guided them through the more fertile parts of the wilderness to the seashore, where they constructed a ship to sail to the American continent.

Later in The Book of Mormon, the prophet Alma taught his son, “For behold, it is as easy to give heed to the word of Christ, which will point to you a straight course to eternal bliss, as it was for our fathers to give heed to this compass, which would point unto them a straight course to the promised land. And now I say, is there not a type in this thing? For just as surely as this director did bring our fathers, by following its course, to the promised land, shall the words of Christ, if we follow their course, carry us beyond this vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise.”

I had thought of this “vale of sorrow” (a “vale” is a valley) as being the entirety of our mortal existence and the “far better land of promise” as the post mortal existence of the righteous with God. Since Ashton’s death, the words of Christ can and will and do carry me through this “vale of sorrow” into a “far better land of promise” – in the arms of God’s love and comfort. I sometimes feel God’s love and comfort in very direct and personal ways that are difficult to put into words. However, quite often, His love and comfort is manifest through the kind words, thoughts and deeds of those around us.

God bless you as you have mourned with us and comforted us!