The meaning of specific scripture verses can evolve throughout our lives because of greater life experience, better understanding, or increased faith. Melissa Everett, BYU-Idaho's online instructor manager for English Connect and Ensign College, experienced an epiphany regarding the way Christ loves and serves when her eyes were opened to the meaning of the verb “to succor” while pondering scripture in a Sunday school class.  

In an interview with BYU-Idaho Radio, Sister Everett shared what she learned after studying more closely what is meant in the book of Alma when Christ suffers many pains and afflictions to know firsthand “how to succor his people according to their infirmities” (Alma 7:12). 

“I don’t know if people realize what [to succor] means…It literally means ‘to run to and provide relief,’ and so I just love the imagery of Christ running to us whenever we have needs,” she said. 

Sister Everett recognized that the Lord often meets our personal needs through the good works of other people, prompting them to act by the Spirit. At the waters of Mormon, Alma taught the people “to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort” (Mosiah 18:9). Sister Everett asserted that connecting with others and ministering to them is one of the main purposes of earth life. 

“I think that’s a huge part of why we’re here on the earth together… We’re not here to be on an island all by ourselves. We need each other. I think it takes a lot of courage and humility for someone who is in a pit of despair to actually reach out and say to someone ‘I need help’ or ‘I’m just not doing well’…There’s just so many different ways that we can minister to one another,” she said. 

Within her devotional talk “Succored by the Lord,” Sister Everett encourage students to pray for a prompting every day, act on each prompting as soon as it comes and ignore the “second voice” that rationalizes those promptings away. In the same interview with BYU-Idaho radio, she bore witness of how capable we are to become tools in the Lord’s work of lifting and succoring. 

“I just love that we CAN be so in tune with the spirit and that the Lord CAN use us as instruments in his hands wherever he needs us as long as we’ll just be willing, be a willing vessel to do his work,” Sister Everett said.