Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Oh, the Peace the Gospel Brings

So, I'm about to go visiting teaching, and needed to prepare a lesson! I was reading through President Eyring's talk, Adversity, when my brain began to really churn. This is what I read:

Even when you feel the truth of that capacity and kindness of the Lord to deliver you in your trials, it may still test your courage and strength to endure. The Prophet Joseph Smith cried out in agony in a dungeon:
“O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place?
“How long shall thy hand be stayed, and thine eye, yea thy pure eye, behold from the eternal heavens the wrongs of thy people and of thy servants, and thine ear be penetrated with their cries?”2
The Lord’s reply has helped me and can encourage us all in times of darkness. Here it is:
“My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;
“And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.
“Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands.
“Thou art not yet as Job; thy friends do not contend against thee, neither charge thee with transgression, as they did Job.”3
I have seen faith and courage come from a testimony that it is true that we are being prepared for eternal life. The Lord will rescue His faithful disciples. And the disciple who accepts a trial as an invitation to grow and therefore qualify for eternal life can find peace in the midst of the struggle.

Now bear with me while I try to filter through my thoughts. My immediate thoughts were of when we reach certain points in our life when we think, "I can't do this any more" or "why would God, who loves me so much, let this thing happen to me?" I know we have all had those thoughts, maybe some of us have them to a stronger extent than others. I mainly focused on those whom I've heard say, "Why did God let this happen to me"? When I read this quote it made me realize that it isn't fair to Christ for us to think these things because Christ descended below us all! He suffered more during his life on this earth than we can possibly imagine! And you know what? Heavenly Father loves Christ, and he still let it all happen to Him! As well as Joseph Smith! I can only imagine the love that Heavenly Father has for Joseph Smith, and yet, he still allowed Joseph to suffer all that he did. There are countless examples in the scriptures of people who suffered more than we can imagine. So where do we have room to complain? We have been told numerous times that these trials we face (especially the very difficult ones) are for our good, to better prepare us for our return to our Heavenly Father.

Anyway, these are just thoughts, and certainly not eloquently put. Thank goodness for conference!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for letting us borrow your pans. I will take really good care of them. I know that they are prized posessions :-) It will be a couple of weeks before we need them.