We Can Find Happiness Through the Storm

I was thinking today about our life on earth and all the things that happen to us while we are here. I know that life is hard and that we all face challenges each day. I was reading something in the April 2011 Conference talks in the Ensign about a little boy.

"Recently a nine-year-old boy was diagnosed with a rare bone cancer. The doctor explained the diagnosis and the treatment, which included months of chemotherapy and major surgery. He said it would be a very difficult time for the boy and his family but then added, “People ask me, ‘Will I be the same after this is over?’ I tell them, ‘No, you won’t be the same. You will be so much stronger. You will be awesome!’”

'More Than Conquerors through Him That Loved Us ' by Paul V. Johnson of the Seventy

I thought, "Wow! What a statement!" 'You will be awesome!' Isn't that what this life is really about. Trial and error, happiness and sadness. I understand why we go through trials. I find the greatest joy after the storm has passed that I look back and see that everything I have experienced, has made me a better person. Heavenly Father knows what we can handle and He promises that He will carry us through and comfort us. It is then that I realize I was never alone, He was there. We can also find joy in our trails. As impossible as it sounds we can find joy through the pain. We can rely on the Savior Jesus Christ and ask him to help lighten our load.

Matthew 11:28-30 "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Elder Orson F. Whitney said: “No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. … All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable. … It is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire.”

We cannot do it alone. I know that I have tried and I have not had the comfort or understanding that I have had when I surrender and let the Lord help me. He will help you, He is waiting to help you. You are never alone. I know that my Redeemer lives!

Look Forward With Faith

God works according to our faith. Let me take you to the beginning of the Book of Mormon where it tells of Lehi and his family. The Lord commands him to take his family into the wilderness because of the wickedness in Jerusalem--which would soon be destroyed. The Lord will always prepare a way, so he gave Lehi a ball to guide him (1 Nephi 16:10). This "ball", also called the Liahona, works much like a compass. Alma 37:40 reads:

"And it did work for them according to their faith in God; therefore, if they had faith to believe that God could cause that those spindles should point the way they should go, behold, it was done; therefore they had this miracle, and also many other miracles wrought by the power of God, day by day."

It is human nature to be lazy and do what we want to do. Because of the easiness of the way they forgot to be diligent and to have faith. The ball stopped working. They were afflicted and stopped in their journey or their progression.

I was thinking of how this can be related to my own life. How many times I have thought--my life is going no where, the Lord has forgotten me. I find when I do face those trials I am brought to my knees and must turn my will over to Him. When we forget who is really helping us through this course in life the Lord humbles us. The Lord can only direct our paths when we are walking! I love that in verse 40 says, ". . .if they had faith to believe that God could cause the spindles should point the way they should go, behold, it was done. . ." It's true. Do we all show that kind of faith? Do I show that faith?! Alma 37:44:

"For behold, it is as easy to give heed to the word of Christ, which will point to you a straight course to eternal bliss, as it was for our fathers to give heed to this compass, which would point unto them a straight course to the promised land."

I see through this passage how much we need trials in our lives to remember that we need God. The way is prepared and the course is set. The journey has begun. The Lord cannot direct us in every decision we make--but remember this, if the decision is praiseworthy and of good report, take it to the Lord.

Elder Dallin H. Oaks says it best:
“[A person may have] a strong desire to be led by the Spirit of the Lord but . . .unwisely extends that desire to the point of wanting to be led in all things. A desire to be led by the Lord is a strength, but it needs to be accompanied by an understanding that our Heavenly Father leaves many decisions for our personal
choices. Personal decision making is one of the sources of the growth we are meant to experience in mortality. Persons who try to shift all decision making to the Lord and plead for revelation in every choice will soon find circumstances in which they pray for guidance and don't receive it. For example, this is likely to occur in those numerous circumstances in which the choices are trivial or either choice is acceptable.

“We should study things out in our minds, using the reasoning powers our Creator has placed within us. Then we should pray for guidance and act upon it if we receive it. If we do not receive guidance, we should act upon our best judgment. Persons who persist in seeking revelatory guidance on subjects on which the Lord
has not chosen to direct us may concoct an answer out of their own fantasy or bias, or they may even receive an answer through the medium of false revelation”
(“Our Strengths Can Become Our Downfall,” Ensign, Oct. 1994, 13–14).

This is not only the temporal matters but also the spiritual (Alma 37:43). We must always keep up our efforts to choose the right. Read your scriptures, go to church, pray every day and throughout your day (2 Nephi 32:9). If you fear to trust, trust in the Lord. He will fulfill all of His promises.

"But if ye keep the commandments of God. . . (for you must appeal unto the Lord for all things whatsoever ye must do with them) behold no power of earth or hell can take them from you, for God is powerful to the fulfilling of all his words. For he will fulfill all his promises which he shall make unto you. . ." Alma 37:16-17. Put the future in the Lords hands and have faith. With Him, I promise, that you will be able to make more out of your life than you ever could without Him. Our compass for our day is the living prophet, prayer and the scriptures. The Lord provides the way for us, He will direct our paths for good.