Now let us rejoice.

The news has been sobering the past few weeks. Part of me wants the people whose greed facilitated the financial disaster we've found ourselves in to pay the resulting consequences. Let 'em have it. And yet I fear that allowing such a thing to happen would, as the folks pushing for the bailout package keep telling us, result in a fallout that could have lasting consequences for all Americans. The imagination runs wild considering all the possibilities that could befall us. Selfishly, I prefer to avoid them. It's not as if our family is overextended or that we have been caught up in the tide of indulgence that has swept our country. On the other hand, are we so prepared that we'd be unaffected by a severe financial crisis? Not at all. There is much more we could be doing.

Despite Tim's reassurances that we can ride out whatever storm comes our way, I've had a hard time mustering the faith to accept that we might be collateral damage in a situation to which we (and so many others) did not contribute. Last night, as I attended the General Relief Society Broadcast at our stake center, I received the answers I had been looking for. The talks were, of course, inspiring. But what really moved me were the lyrics to the last verse of a song that we sing at just about every General Conference I've watched, Now Let Us Rejoice:

With faith we'll rely on the arm of Jehovah
to guide through these last days of trouble and gloom.
And after the scourges and harvest are over
we'll rise with the just when the Savior doth come.
Then all that was promised the Saints will be given
and they will be crown'd with the angels of heav'n
And earth will appear as the Garden of Eden
and Christ and his people will ever be one.

I knew that. I knew that. But the Spirit brought peace that passeth all understanding. It was an answer to a prayer.