Sarah Clark, dean of the David O. McKay School of Education, spoke to students about letting Jesus Christ be a co-author in their stories at the campus-wide BYU devotional on Tuesday, May 20.
She has a bachelor's degree in elementary education, a master’s degree in education and a doctorate in curriculum instruction with specialization in teacher education and literacy instruction.
Clark began her speech by emphasizing how important stories are, especially our own stories, in helping us make sense of our lives.
“Storytelling isn't just a personal process, but a communal one. When we speak our truth, we often help others discover theirs,” Clark said.
She explained how we often find new layers of meaning in the Savior’s parables as we continue to revisit them.
“Our Savior, the Master Teacher, knew the enduring power of story,” Clark said.
Clark asked the audience how often they revisit their own stories in an attempt to find new meaning. She said our lives are full of stories whether they are messy or redemptive, and how over time we can learn to be both the reader and the author of our own stories.
“But what if we invited a co-author?” Clark said. “Hebrews 12:2 reminds us of the importance of ‘looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.’ What a powerful invitation — to let Him shape our story, not just edit it, but write it with us, offering meaning, grace and direction.”
Clark told a story about her mother’s perseverance and willingness to let God be a co-author in her life.
Clark’s grandfather struggled with alcoholism and was largely absent in her mother's life. Despite the challenges she faced in her childhood, Clark’s mother brought 13 children into the world.
“Over the years, I watched her grapple with grief and try to define a relationship with a father who had caused so much hurt,” Clark said. “She didn’t shy away from sharing the hard truths of her experience. But she kept returning to her story — again and again — this time with the Savior at her side.”
Clark’s mother was able to find compassion, understanding and love for her father. Clark said her mother’s story is a powerful example of rewriting pain into purpose.
“Through her, generations have felt the strength of redefined legacy — one centered on eternal covenants, healing and joy in our Father’s plan,” Clark said.
Clark later went on to have children of her own. When she was 27 years old, she gave birth to her second baby girl.
When her daughter was six weeks old, she was admitted to the hospital for three days as she battled a respiratory virus. During this time, Clark was called to be Relief Society president.
Clark became overwhelmed and exhausted, wondering how she was going to fulfill her responsibilities in both motherhood and her church calling.
One night when she couldn’t rest, she found herself pleading to God for direction on what to do as she rocked her baby in her arms.
“In that dark room, seven words came to my mind with more intensity than I had ever received before,” Clark said. “These words were, ‘Treat her like she is your last.’”
Clark pondered what this meant and decided by the morning that God was encouraging her to pour her heart into being a mother to her two daughters and rely more heavily on her counselors and secretary to fulfill her Relief Society duties.
Five years later, Clark and her husband found out they would be unable to have more children, despite Clark’s dream of having a large family like her mother.
“I remember shuddering at the new realization of those words. ‘Treat her like she is your last’ was actually God’s way of preparing me for the reality that she would be my last baby,” Clark said. “All these years later, I acknowledged and thanked God for His sweet and thoughtful care for me. Such a gift.”
Still, the pain of not having another child haunted Clark for a long time. For years, she would silently count the number of children in other families and use it as a measure of her own worthiness and righteousness in God’s eyes.
She worked hard to trust God’s plan for her, and eventually began to feel some peace as she revisited the parable of the talents where one servant was given five talents, another two, and the other, one talent.
“I committed then and there that I would take the number of children God had given to me and make the most of these incredible blessings and talents,” Clark said. “Over time, my heart healed as I accepted the path that God had placed me on, even though it differed from my original plans.”
A few decades later, Clark was asked to be the dean of the McKay School of Education. In an interview leading up to the position, Clark thought back on the impression she had received while rocking her new baby all those years ago, “Treat her like she is your last.”
“I realized that those seven words weren’t just about healing my heart but were now about realizing that God had a different plan for me,” Clark said. “I realized that my life wasn’t an alternative or backup plan that I was living. No, this was His plan all along. Plan A. I felt a wave of His deep love for me, His daughter, wash over me. And I was reminded again of President Worthen’s plea to all BYU students, ‘Please, let Him love you.’”
Clark reminded the audience that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ know our whole story, and whether we acknowledge it or not, the Master Teacher has already become a co-author of our story.
His Atonement is the climax of all of our stories, if we choose to accept His offering.
“Just as much as the Savior is an integral and key character in our own story, we too are a main character in His story,” Clark said. “It is His hope that we will remain forever a part of His story.”
She said we must remember that God’s imagination and creativity far exceed our own, so even when we want to give up, we must continue to demonstrate our faith in Him so our story becomes one of beauty instead of ashes.
“This is how we can write our own chapter within God’s story,” Clark said. “It is through our commitment, testimony and covenant keeping. We become a main character in His life as we demonstrate our eternal loyalty to our Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ.”