Blessings In Adversity
J. Janeen Howard
Derby Stake Conference, Kansas
My dear brothers and sisters, I am very humbled to be asked to speak tonight in this session of our stake conference. My thoughts have been centered on making our house a home for the past few weeks since returning from our mission to the Guayaquil, Ecuador Temple. How I miss not being able to look out my door and see the temple only a few steps away! To be able to go to the temple any time of day or evening that it was open and walk there in 2 or 3 minutes from our apartment is an experience I shall never forget. The dear friends we made there are tucked away in a special place in my heart. What glorious memories we have brought with us to remember with such love. I thank Heavenly Father for giving us the opportunity to serve the saints of the Guayaquil Temple area. We felt the presence of His angels guarding us and caring for us each day. How blessed we are!
I have chosen to speak about the urgent need to continue faithful during these times of trial and adversity. Look around you, is there anyone who is not touched by some type of trial in their life, whether small or large? Are there times when you felt you wanted to give up or run away? Each of us will face trials and tests in our life here on earth. It is how we react to those difficulties that will determine our success and happiness. Each of us will face adversity no matter where we are, and the question is not when we will face it but how we face it.
The Apostle Paul taught an interesting lesson only a few years before the Saints in Rome were to face some of the most violent persecution of any Christian era. Paul reminded the Saints that "all things work together for good to them that love God." Our Heavenly Father, who loves us completely and perfectly, permits us to have experiences that will allow us to develop the traits and attributes we need to become more and more Christlike. Our trials come in many forms, but each will allow us to become more like the Savior as we learn to recognize the good that comes from each experience. As we understand this doctrine, we gain greater assurance of our Father's love. We may never know in this life why we face what we do, but we can feel confident that we can grow from our experience.
We know it is easier to look back when a trial is over and see what we have learned from the experience, but the challenge is to gain that eternal perspective while we are going through our trials. To some, our trials may not seem so great, but to each of us who are passing through these experiences, the trials are real and require us to humble ourselves before God and learn from Him. To learn from the Savior, what a blessing!!
It is the Savior we want to emulate in all our actions. Elder Martino of the 2nd Quorum of the Seventy has taught us 5 things that we can learn from the last hours of the Savior's life on earth to help us face our own trials. They are so important that I would like to share them with you tonight.
First: The Savior sought not to do His will but only the will of His Father. He remained committed to His sacred mission to the end. In the Garden of Gethsemane, He asked, "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." Sometimes we pass through pain and sorrow that we might grow and be prepared for potential trials in the future. I didn't understand the disease of alcoholism as a child growing up. My mother had this insidious disease and I worried so much about her but didn't know what to do. It was a difficult time for me. Then when we found out our oldest child was abusing alcohol and drugs, I thought, "Why do I have to go through this again?" After many tears, much struggling, reaching out to 12 step groups, and especially fervent prayer I began to understand more and had an inkling of how we could help her. We loved her no matter what she did, and she knew this. Fifteen years later she was able to quit, and she now has 10 years of sobriety. She often tells us, if she didn't know we loved her she probably would never have made it. Our Father in Heaven knows the end from the beginning and we must follow the example of the Savior and trust in Him. I had to trust the Savior and in His promises in order to get through what I went through during those difficult years.
Second: When we are faced with trials, we must learn to not complain or murmur. We must always attempt to correct the problem and overcome the trial, but instead of asking "Why me?" or "What did I do to deserve this?", maybe the question should be "What am I to do? What can I learn from this experience? What am I to change?"
Third: When we face our challenges, we must seek greater help from God. Even the Savior of us all found a need to pray "more earnestly" as He was in the Garden of Gethsemane. We can gain great faith through prayer. We must remember that often the answers from our Heavenly Father do not remove the trial from us, rather He helps strengthen us as we pass through the experience. One of my very favorite parts in the Book of Mormon that has helped me when I became weary of the battle is found in Mosiah 24 when the children of God cried out because their afflictions were great. Amulon put guards over the people to watch them so that anyone found calling upon God to help them would be put to death. The account tells us that the people didn't raise their voices to the Lord their God. Instead they poured out their hearts to God, and He knew the thoughts of their hearts. And the voice of the Lord came to them in their terrible times, and they heard His voice, telling them to be of good comfort and to lift up their heads for He was mindful of them. Then came these precious words from God, "And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions. And.....the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord." I am certain that this promise applies to us as much in our day, in our adversity, as to those of another generation.
Fourth: learn to serve and think of others even in our times of trial. Christ was the epitome of service. His life was filled with examples of helping and serving others, and His greatest gift of all was what He did for us. His Atonement prepared the way that we might live again. We must follow the Savior's example of service. Haven't you noticed that when we serve others, we forget our own problems, and by working to relieve the pain or discomfort of others, we strengthen ourselves? Pres. spencer W. Kimball said, "My life is like a shoe to be worn out in the service of others." There are many out there who can learn from what we have gone through, and perhaps that is one of the reasons for our having gone through a certain tribulation: to help someone along their journey. The Lord will bless us as we render this service to others.
Fifth: Forgive others and do not seek to pass the blame of our situation to them. Sometimes we like to say, "If they had not done this, then I would not have reacted the way I did." There is a tendency for the natural man to pass blame to someone else so as not to be accountable for his or her own actions. The Savior looked at those who had nailed Him to the cross and pled with His Father in Heaven to "forgive them; for they know not what they do." Can we not be more forgiving?
Our ultimate goal is to be like Him so that we may dwell in the presence of God throughout all eternity. And meanwhile, we'll know inner joy and greater peace as we push through the problems of this life. Let us welcome opportunities to learn and to show greater devotion to His will and the will of the Father.
One last scripture and blessing that we may find strength in is found in Isaiah 40: 29, 31. "He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might, He increaseth strength.....They that wait upon the Lord shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."
Now, as we go home let us keep an eternal perspective, let us not complain, let us become even more prayerful, let us serve others, and let us forgive one another. As we do this, "all things will work together for good to (us) who love God."
I testify my brothers and sisters that God lives and loves us, His Son was sent to show us the way. Jesus Christ died, was resurrected that we might live, and He desires that we might have joy, even in our trials of life. If we lean on Him, He will carry our burdens or give us the strength to carry them ourselves. I love my Savior. I love you brothers and sisters, and pray that our times of trial and tribulation will be learning experiences, that we may come through them a stronger and better person ready to meet our Maker and dwell with Him and our families throughout eternity.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen
