It was the fourth watch, the coldest and darkest hours of the night, and the boat was losing. Experienced fishermen had strained at the oars for hours against a wind that would not quit. Then a figure came walking across the water, and the men in the boat were terrified until they heard the voice. Be not afraid. One of them climbed out. For a few impossible steps a fisherman walked on the sea, and then he looked at the storm instead of the Savior and began to sink. He managed three words. Lord, save me. The hand reached out at once and caught him.

Nathan Gwilliam knows what it feels like to go under. He hosts the Why We Believe podcast, where he usually turns the microphone toward other people and their faith. Long before the show existed, he sat in the CEO chair of a publicly traded dot-com company. Then the bubble burst. Eleven million dollars evaporated in the space of one day, the company folded, and within a few nights his bookkeeper had walked away too. He was out of money and out of answers. He was sinking in it.

In this episode of Why We Believe, Nathan does something he has never done on the show. He steps out from behind the interview chair and teaches a single idea in his first solo episode. Jesus Christ is the great lifter. He reaches for us when we start to sink, and He usually does it through the hands of the people around us. To make the point, Nathan tells the stories of three people who lifted him.

The Wife Who Rolled Up Her Sleeves

The first lifter was his wife, Crystal. When the company collapsed and the books were a wreck, she volunteered to take them over. She had never kept a set of books in her life. She did it anyway, and she did it with a baby along for the ride. Their daughter Miriam came to the office with her and learned to get attention by toddling around the room, pushing the power buttons on the front of the tower computers.

Crystal worked for two years with no pay while the family clawed its way back and rebuilt the business. Nathan is quick to point out that she had every reason to turn against him. She could have said this was not what she signed up for, that he had failed as a provider. She never did. She rolled up her sleeves and went to work, and she lifted both him and the company. It is the kind of lifting that does not announce itself. It just shows up, day after day, and refuses to leave.

The Bishop Who Left the Lecture Unspoken

The second story is one Nathan calls even more embarrassing than losing a company. A former bishop in his stake had dropped off the sacrament bread early one week, and it sat in Nathan's freezer, forgotten. He remembered it only when he was already on the stand, about to conduct the meeting. The ward had no bread, and it was his fault.

The bishop had already solved the problem in his head before Nathan even realized there was one. He calmly asked Nathan to move the sacrament to the end of the meeting and sent a counselor home for more bread. He never said a single word of criticism. Nathan draws a quiet lesson out of the moment. The kindest people often lift by leaving the lecture unspoken. Sometimes the most lifting thing a person can do is decide not to pile on when someone is already down.

The Friend Who Lifted Him Out

The third lifter was a man named Clark, a former Harvard professor brought in to help The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints move its media and publishing work into the digital age. Clark bought Nathan's company and hired him. He handed him a goal that felt nearly impossible and believed in him before there was any evidence to justify it, which Nathan calls a special kind of lifting.

The two families ended up in the same cul-de-sac and carpooled to work, and Clark became a mentor and a friend. When Nathan's family walked through a hard season, Clark and his wife Christine lifted them again and again. Later, when a business buyout nearly fell apart at the last minute, Clark introduced Nathan to the person who funded it, even though it meant Nathan would leave the company to work for the one that funded the deal. Clark lifted him right out of his own organization. It takes a rare kind of friend to do what is best for you instead of what is best for them. That friend, Clark G. Gilbert, was called as an apostle in the Church in February 2026. The man who quietly lifted one coworker in his carpool and one family in his cul-de-sac was called to help lift the world.

Lift Where You Stand

Nathan roots all of this in the gospel rather than in luck. At baptism, members of the Church covenant to bear one another's burdens. In the temple, they lift those who cannot lift themselves. Even the word exaltation, he notes, means to be lifted up. Being lifted and then lifting others is not a side feature of the faith. It sits at the center of it.

He points to counsel that President Dieter F. Uchtdorf once gave about lifting where you stand. You do not have to lift the whole piano, only the part in front of you. You do not have to lift everyone, Nathan says. You just start by reaching for the one who is beginning to sink. The widow eating alone. The teenager who feels invisible. The friend who is quietly slipping under. A face probably came to mind as he said it, and that face is where the work begins.

The Hand Still Reaching

When Nathan finally answers the question the show is named for, he keeps it simple. He knows Jesus Christ lives, and he loves Him. He calls Him the great lifter, the one who caught Peter in the storm, the one who has caught Nathan himself more times than he can count. He makes the listener a promise. That same hand will reach for you too.

And here is the part Nathan does not want anyone to miss. The Savior is still reaching, and He usually reaches through ordinary people. Crystal reached. A bishop reached. A future apostle reached. The invitation at the end of the episode is small enough for anyone to accept. Before you go to bed tonight, reach for your one person, the way Jesus reached for Peter. You may turn out to be the hand that someone else has been praying for.

Thank you for reading this week's blog post inspired by the Why We Believe show. If you are interested in more stories like this, you can check out our other blog posts and episodes at WhyWeBelieve.com.

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