Welcome.

Although we live in a fallen world, there still can be found scattered sparks of celestial wonderfulness. Even more delightful than pleasant things on planet earth are lovely people who remain here because they are such a prevailing and influential force for God, and He needs them to accomplish great things in small ways for the advancement of His kingdom on earth.

If ever you wanted to meet a one-of-a-kind, off the charts converted, and full of Jesus kind of human, I present her – at Untoalltheworld – unto you today.

World, meet Leslie (she goes by Les) Johnson.

If you are looking for the face of optimism in the 21^st century, you just saw it in the human form of Les Johnson. Anyone that knows her will agree she has a spiritual gift for optimism (it’s really that obvious).

She was three years old, she told me, when the gift was first recognized. No doubt it’s a heavenly bestowal, but it’s also an intentionally cultivated gift as well. She gives voice to optimism because she chooses to see the bright, positive side of everything. Of choosing to live with optimism, Les said,

“It’s better. Any other choice is yucky…

There are plenty of grumps out there…”

Hardly has there been a truer observation. She makes a very compelling case to disengage from the grumps, come to the side of positivity, and purposefully stay there.

Take note of the shirt (in the picture above) she is fond of wearing. It simply says BLESSED. That’s how she sees her life. She would die on that hill, never accepting that she is anything but favored of God.

This is particularly impressive given the fact that she’s had what seems to be an almost crushing amount of trials during her life, but they did anything but extinguish the grit of her spirit. Rather, she has been molded, shaped, and perfected by her sufferings. She has experienced incalculable losses and setbacks, but she presses on, moving all the time closer to total sanctification.

She had some friends recently give her a shirt that says, “Half holy, half hood. Pray with me. Don’t play with me.” Of that hood to holy journey, she told me,

“[God] never left my side and brought me home.”

Regarding her time before she found The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Les testified,

“I just wasn’t [ever] home, and now I’m home.

And it changes everything…It gave me a wholeness inside…

My patriarchal blessing said [God] made me like I am…

not to fit in. It was the most empowering thing God

could have told me, because I have been trying to fit in my

whole life, and now I do fit in because I’m His…”

She fits like a perfect glove.

The truth is that we (in her ward and stake) couldn’t be happier to have her home where she belongs, to share in her acquaintance and friendship. Her presence is an extraordinary gift, and if ever you are privileged to call her friend, your life will never be quite the same (in the best of ways).

Make no mistake about it. This Les lady is a Jesus lover. She remarked,

“I think of Jesus as my brother,

kind of like a brother from another mother

kind of thing.

I am mesmerized by the fact that He showed up

here knowing what was going to happen to Him

before He ever came.

That blows me away.

He actually asked to do it…

It blows my heart away that somebody

could love you that much…

I talk to Him all the time.

I ask. I thank. Sometimes I question.

Sometimes I argue.

He’s there all day.

It feels like fabric.

I’m the left string.

The Holy Ghost is the right string,

and Jesus makes it all stay together.”

Concerning choosing faith in Christ, Les put it bluntly,

“…If you know the story, you have to believe…

It’s real.”

Something else that’s genuinely real is the way Les starts each day. She begins by being grateful, asking for guidance, and then she listens. If something unexpected shows up, she permits it to gently slide into her daily space while letting the original day’s plan slip away. She cautioned,

“…Don’t worry about the plan.

Go with the things (that show up)…

[they] might be really good gifts.”

I asked her (because I knew she would have some really great life gems to pass along) what three of life’s most important lessons had been for her. Her answers didn’t disappoint.

First, she admonished,

“Don’t worry about being right.

Everyone is on (his/her) journey,

so just own your own.

People get hung up about being right.

It’s easier if you just chill and watch it all unfold.

Your perspective might change and your right might change…

You don’t have to be right all the time.”

Her second life message is to “choose happiness.” Les confidently relayed,

“Whatever you look for, you are going to find.

Look for the stuff that’s amazing –

the pretty colors, the flowers, the smells, the people.”

Lastly, she wisely taught,

“Be grateful because it makes all the difference.

You can’t be a grumpy person if you are grateful.”

This perceptive advice came on the heels of a recent, week-long hospitalization, a car wreck, and the death of a beloved dog. And still her position is one of gratitude where her glasses are, by choice, rose-colored.

She’s incredible. It goes without saying that she sees the blessing instead of the challenge and perhaps most importantly, she beholds God’s fingerprint everywhere.

Les is constantly found in the service of her fellow humans. For her, the spiritual or physical distance to reach someone is no more a concern than is the fact that someone is a total stranger. On that note, Les really doesn’t know a stranger. She instantly befriends all who are privileged to cross her path. She feels that it is such a high honor and privilege to be on the Lord’s errand of service. She told me,

“[God] gives me people to help, and it’s amazing…

He has billions to pick from and every now and then,

He picks me. It warms my soul.

That’s how you know He knows you personally.

He could have picked anybody,

and sometimes it gets to be me.”

Just so the record sits straight: If Les means daily by every now and then, she would be correct. She is daily a servant for the Lord, daily on His sacred errand, daily blessing, serving, and lifting.

I’m 100% certain Satan is really irritated when Les wakes up. Her awake hours pack a serious punch to his diabolical plans. Conversely, Jesus Himself is sure to rejoice when she opens her eyes in the am, for the earthly arousal of Les means raindrops of kindness falling from heaven through her to myriads of souls the day.

LJ is such a gain for the side of right.

Adding to that gain is the fact that Les always forgives. Like Nephi in the Book of Mormon: frankly. Of forgiveness, she said,

“…I learned a long time ago hate only

destroys the person that holds onto it.

There is nobody that gets that kind of

power in my space…

You have to let go…

You pretty much have to give it

if you want it.

That’s how life works…”

Les is keenly aware that she alone holds the key to the feelings and thoughts of her space, and she is careful about what she lets dwell therein.

Another habit that really works for Les is the time she frequents the Lord’s house and worships therein. Pretty much daily or near daily. She loves the Lord’s holy house and especially feels at home there. She said of the temple,

“It gives me…respect, reverence…[it] reenergizes

all your inner parts, reconstitutes your whole being…

Whatever is going on outside never gets inside

the double doors of the temple.”

Les appreciates the peace she has found and continues to find in Christ. Although she admitted to not always staying in the place of peace, she confided,

“…The more that I’m there,

the [easier] it is to feel when it goes away,

and it feels like such a loss when it’s gone…

I just stop and readjust my perspective…

I just try and stop and put it back in

perspective. Don’t let it get away from you.”

To also be noted, Les tightly clutches onto her connection with God through prayer. She is always praying. One of my first trips with Les was to SLC where we went to Temple Square. Our meandering was extended by several minutes, because every few yards she would stop, throw her hands in the air, or stand in a reverent silence and thank God aloud for the beauty, for the privilege to be in that place in that moment, and for everything her senses brought to her. It was beautiful to watch this. Les nailed it when she said,

“You don’t have a best friend

without communicating with Him.

Even when he says no, He still answers me.”

What an insightful outlook.

Les has a doctor’s heart (and brain – she’s brilliant). She wasn’t able to pursue that dream due to the financial hardship. If she would have been able to, she would have liked to have been a neonatologist.

“I really wanted to help God and fix the babies…I just wanted to be God’s helper – that’s all,” Les admitted.

For whatever it’s worth, Les would have made a great neonatologist. Also for the price that can’t be put upon it, Les goes about fixing people and plants and her garden. She loves God’s nature and proclaimed,

“I’m a steward. I want to be a land steward

and take care of our planet…

[Do] you see what He made?

The mountains, the trees, the grass,

and the ferns that grow…

I just want to help it stay because it’s beautiful.”

What’s also beautiful is Les Johnson’s message unto all the world: “Remember Jesus isn’t just your Savior. He is your brother, and He’s alive!”