One of the sweetest experiences happened recently when I was feeling sorry that I wasn’t better at family history work. I have a goal to work on family history research each Thursday for a certain amount of time, but perfectionism paralysis keeps happening when I search for family names. So, lately I have been indexing records on Family Search to fill my goal quota of time. It feels mostly like a defeat when I turn to indexing instead of working on my own family line. Fear of entering my family names wrong has really been chasing me.
So, I prayed about it, and said I was sorry I wasn’t more brave. I expected some direction from the Lord about how to fix my paralysis, but instead, I felt unreserved love. Also, I felt assured that I am doing family history work that I hadn’t thought to claim. I may need a guide to help me with my Finnish family line, but there is plenty I can do without assistance, and lots of things that I AM doing to help.
“Anytime you do anything that helps anyone—on either side of the veil—take a step toward making covenants with God and receiving their essential baptismal and temple ordinances, you are helping to gather Israel. It is as simple as that.”
Russell M. Nelson, “Hope of Israel,” worldwide devotional for youth, June 3, 2018.