Peace Replaced Our Pain

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people gathered in front of temple

Illustration by Ellen Marello

It seemed like nothing was impossible for my father. Despite breaking his leg, he built a concrete, two-story home for our family while he was on crutches. A broken leg didn’t even stop him from attending to his priesthood responsibilities or from serving others.

When President Russell M. Nelson announced in 2020 that sacrament meeting would be held in our homes, my father, full of integrity and love for the Lord, knelt every Sunday on the concrete floor with his broken leg to bless the sacrament. He said it was important to kneel to show respect for this sacred ordinance.

On May 18, 2020, my beloved dad, my hero, died from COVID-19. His death came so suddenly that we were not prepared. He was only 61 years old. I learned that just as God respects agency, we must respect God’s timing. That’s why I am grateful for His promise, taught by the prophet Alma, “that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life” (Alma 40:11). All men and women!

My dad’s funeral was small and sacred. Twelve of us sang happy hymns of gratitude to God for my dad’s mortal life. When we started singing “There Is Sunshine in My Soul Today,”¹ the family next to us, previously weeping for their own loss, became quiet. They seemed surprised that we weren’t shattered by our loss, but we experienced the peace of knowing there is a plan for us. I believe they also felt the peace that Jesus gives.

Life isn’t easy without my father, but there is peace in Christ. My father and I were very close, but I can feel him closer to me now than ever before. I am sealed to him and my mother for eternity, and I know my father lives. I miss him terribly, but now I have two fathers on the other side of the veil—my Heavenly Father and my earthly father. I know that Heavenly Father will guide me until we all meet again.