When you think of someone who is “active” in the Church, who do you picture? 

 

The primary teacher who can keep up with the hyper Sunbeams? The bishop meeting with members daily? The consistent and reliable organist? The youth leader who attends weekly activities, dances, temple trips, treks, camps and firesides with the young men and women? The missionary serving the Lord full-time? 

 

Too often commitment to the gospel is mistakenly equated with the ability to attend all meetings and activities or the ability to hold a demanding calling. It can be difficult to identify what is good enough for the Lord when we live with chronic illness.

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I am not writing this book from the perspective of an expert (by any means). I regularly struggle to find what is ‘good enough for now’ in my Church attendance and participation. 

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Instead, I am compiling this book as someone who is genuinely seeking guidance, support, ideas, and hope from others in these situations. My prayer is that the answers I find in my search will help you as well.

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Destiny Yarbro has lived with chronic illness since her mission in 2009. Writing Good Enough For Now during the hardest time of her life seemed counter-intuitive, yet unexpected layers of healing and fresh scriptural insights came even while living in 'survival mode'. The beautiful interviews of 28 other members with chronic illness are also included in this real, yet hope-filled, book.

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Chapter 1: What Is Enough?

Chapter 2: Intimate Healing

Chapter 3: Wounded Healers

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What has the Lord taught you about what is ‘good enough for now’ in His eyes?

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Dan

"I'm enough even though I can't always physically serve others. I'm enough even though traveling to the temple or Church isn't always easy. I'm enough even though the basic life steps for others, like going on a mission, getting married in the temple, raising a family, etc. is a complex process for me. I’m enough because I know that this is somehow God's perfect plan for me."

 

Liahona 

"The more I succeed in accepting my situation, the more I see the good in myself. My body never has two identical days. In my good times I'll be at Church for the whole 3 hours and even stay for choir practice. But when I'm not, I will show up for Sacrament Meeting and sometimes leave before the end of the hour. The fact that I try is enough for me because if I could, I would."

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What do your Sundays look like? 

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John

"Sundays are difficult because meeting houses are hot with everyone’s body heat added to my own. I sit in the foyer to avoid the chapel’s extreme body heat. I have cold water to drink, a spray bottle / fan combo to help keep me cool, and my feet are raised onto my walker so I can cool my legs and feet. It is worth the extra pain and effort to attend Sacrament Meeting, to receive the Lord’s healing sacrament, and to renew my covenants with Him. And having social interaction with my ward family lifts me up for the coming week."

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What was the moment when you realized your offerings to the Lord may be different than others’ offerings?

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Alexa

"I was called to work with the cub scouts in our ward. However, my health was just getting worse and making it impossible. I feared for my future in the Church. I prayed constantly for something that could help me serve Him in a way that I could. Heavenly Father let me know exactly what He wanted me to do. I like to think that Heavenly Father gave me this assignment as my unofficial Church calling when I physically couldn’t do anything else. " 

 

How do you navigate Fast Sundays, last minute requests, Church meetings held at difficult times of the day, or temple service? 

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Emma

"I have had my autoimmune disease since I was ten years old. In terms of the gospel, I didn’t really pay that much attention or work on developing my own testimony until I was eleven or twelve, which means my whole “gospel life” has been while I’ve had my disease. I have never been able to participate in Fast Sundays. I don’t ever go to the temple in the winter (really from October to April) because of the cold weather. Typically if there are meetings in the evening I don’t go because by the time dinner is over I am really tired. I have never had a real job, which means I don’t earn money and therefore don’t have any tithing to pay. There have been many Sundays when I have had to miss Church, and there have been many other Sundays when Sacrament Meeting was all I could get through. But even though my “gospel life” is different than most peoples’, I don’t feel guilty about it. One of the reasons I think I feel at peace with my gospel experience is because I have developed a good relationship with God."