It Will All Be Worth It is a truly wonderful collections of essays written by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There are less than a handful of essays by male contributors, but as always, I like to focus on the female contributions. These contributions are priceless. Each chapter is written by someone who had a different experience; some experiences were easy to relate to, such as Julie Lee’s internal war with depression and anxiety, and others were more difficult and painful to read, such as Fiona Smith’s experience with combatting age-old racism to build and share her faith in Jesus Christ. Some of the voices are familiar and comforting, such as Al Carraway’s experience in moving house, and there are valuable contributions by Reyna Aburto and Elaine Dalton, which ground us in gospel truths.

To be quite honest, I want to somehow order the essays by the ones I love best. But I cannot. Each essay brings something new to the table, and each is a sacred contribution that has helped build my ongoing witness of Christ. Each essay offers the voice and story as if they were speaking to the reader as a close friend. But not just any close friend—we each have a beautiful; labyrinth of friendships that we meet as we walk our very individual paths in life. Friends from high school, home wards, youth camps, university, work, missions, roommates, and so on. Each of our friends, like of these essays, brings a new way perspective about Christ, and when we allow ourselves to remember that God is the author of our story, then we see how each friend in Christ has enriched and challenged us to become better.

The only essay I felt was out of place was the words of the contributor who spent time in federal prison. In other works by repentant LDS writers, the author tells us what they have done wrong in their lives, and their words drip with humility as they tell us what they have learned through the repentant process. I found this essay lacking in humility and repentance, and though I sought to feel the love of Christ in her words, I was unable to. Thus, I felt this single chapter was an awkward contribution.

Each chapter is a lesson that hits differently, depending on where we are on our own path, and what the spirit needs to teach us through the examples of others. In other words, this book is more than worth its current bargain purchase price of $12.59 US. It can also be purchased on Amazon for $20.99.

Please know that as I share quotes from this book—that these are but miniscule drops of goodness; fully reading each essay will bring peace and a witness of Christ in better fullness. Each Quote will also have the tag of “It Will All Be Worth It” and “IWABWI”.