Letter To Dad
Summer 2009, Age 14
“…I have felt so alone at times, that I did not know where to turn. I did not know which path to take, and honestly, no offense or anything, I did not know if I, Brooke Folkman, were truly loved or accepted by anyone. I have come to find that the Lord will not forsake us, He is always there for us. He loves us eternally and is quick to forgive and very, very, slow to judge. Our Heavenly Father, and Christ are always there for us, even in the darkest ditches that seemed nothing could help us escape, He can, and you can bet that He will. We are quite frankly lost without Him, and He knows that we can be stubborn, and try to force ourselves to honestly believe that no one was there or is here for us, this is Satan, and Satan only. When we believe this we are forcing ourselves to believe a lie. I was taught to never lie, so why try and lie to ourselves about the most obvious thing possible, and that is true.
He loved us, and we are nothing without Him and His forgiveness.
The Atonement is one of; actually, it is the most important thing to take place on this Earth; and because of the Atonement, we can repent, and He will forgive us. Never think of it as too late, or that you have made that mistake too many times, because, may I remind you, we are only human. I make mistakes every day, and repent with the hope of being a better person the next; and the outcome is, I make that same mistake the next day, or a different one. And yet, He is there reaching out to me, asking, but not ordering me, to take His loving, caring hand. This is where I want to share another experience that I had with you.
(Christ’s Hand Reaching Out to Brooke)
I was in my bedroom (the one in the basement) and I had just switched rooms. I has having a bad day. I felt completely alone, that no one was there for me, that I was really forsaken and forgotten. It was not you guys fault that you had to spend so much time away from home dealing with things that had befallen us. So it was alone, and I felt and made myself believe the worst possible lie that I ever could , or that anyone ever could. And that lie is that you are alone, and no one is there for you. Well, just as I was feeling this, I walked into my closet to change into more relaxing clothes, and when I walked in/ of course, there was a picture of Jesus, of My Christ, and My Savior, sitting there on my closet shelf. And I immediately felt comfort, but what is truly more amazing, is that I knew I was not alone in that room. Know what I tell you right now, I am not completely one hundred percent of, but I am one thousand percent sure of. When I looked at that picture of Jesus, just His Face, no hand in the picture, or anything else; I saw a hand reaching out to me, it was most likely not the real hand of God, but possibly and Angel, sent to me to help me, in place of God, just like the elves do for Santa each Christmas I saw a hand reaching out for me dad. And I reached out to take it that day, and since then I have never doubted that He is there. I have felt alone at times but not entirely alone.
Love, Brooke Folkman, Your Eternally Grateful Daughter”