The Grace of Christ

Tiffany Skaife

I believe in giving 100% whenever possible. I genuinely love helping others and love participating in opportunities to serve.

But my nature is to be very independent, and I have a very difficult time asking for help for myself. I find that it’s very uncomfortable for me even when I’m asking for help from my Heavenly Father. I feel like I should be able to handle things on my own. I’ve always been the primary provider for my children and I’ve always had a lot of responsibilities that extend beyond the needs of my children, so working and staying employed has always been important to me.

Recently I had an experience at work. I was working in the REO department and enjoyed what I was doing, and who I worked with. It was a great department, everyone got along, worked well together, and had a lot of fun!

At work one day, I was approached by a senior leader who let me know I was being moved to manage another department. At first, I was excited to be thought of for this new opportunity, but within a month

I disliked everything about it. The department was a mess with its high turnover, lack of communication, and lack of support. It felt like no one wanted to do their part of the project. It was overwhelming and I struggled with everything I tried to accomplish. I felt alone, I felt weak, and unsure of myself, but I also felt very humbled.

Feeling defeated and depleted, I turned to prayer. Every morning in my car before I left for work, I would pray. On my way to work, I would pray. In the parking lot at work, I would pray. And before conference calls, I would pray. I was praying constantly asking for help and I tried to always remember to have a short, but meaningful prayer of gratitude whenever I ‘got’ through something. Slowly things started to make sense. Assignments didn’t take as long, I figured out who to go to for what I needed, calls were no longer uncomfortable and I was meeting project deadlines. I wasn’t feeling alone anymore.

Recognizing this, I looked for opportunities to show gratitude. I signed up for volunteer opportunities and started attending the temple regularly. Something remarkable happened in that my desire to stay close to the Lord increased, and I looked forward to going to the temple. I still try to go weekly if my schedule permits.

I’ve reflected on this experience many times and how it drew me closer to my Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. Going through this experience I was able to feel the extra attention of my Heavenly Father and felt the Savior walking with me. As I have felt Him near I’ve realized that I shouldn’t try to handle things alone. And with Him, I’ve been able to overcome hard things, sad things, discouragement, and many other trials.

But I’ve also learned how to handle hard things gracefully! I make efforts to handle hard things in my life with grace because I’ve been given grace. I feel kinder and more mindful of others.

I love my Savior. And I love that Christ’s grace gives us the power and potential to become like Him!

-Tiffany Skaife