Adversity in the Moment

"Let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God, believe also in me."

John 14:1

I often find that during the middle of adversity is when I struggle with remembering God is with me. Like most people, we are going through an experience that is highly stressful. 

I have learned to manage this stress, I have to make active effort to remember the Savior. When I remember the Savior I am at peace. 

Here are a few things I do to keep my mind focused:

- Repeat a memorized scripture in my head over and over. (John 14:1 is currently my favorite for this purpose.)

-  Say a small prayer asking for strength whenever I need it.

- Reflect on the inspiration and personal revelation I have received. I have a list in the back of my calendar I can review at any moment.

- Call a friend to talk - not always about my problems. A conversation with a loving friend is always uplifting.

- Go for a hike and enjoy God's beautiful creation! This always brings me joy! We live in the Rocky Mountains and I love being able to hike by walking out my front door!

These are a few things I do to invite peace in my life. 

What do you do that we could try to apply in or lives?

Peace and Adversity

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

John 14:27

How do we feel peace in the midst of our trials and adversity? 

How do we feel peace within the turmoil of the world?

What is the source of that peace?

We will only feel peace through our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Elder Quentin L. Cook declared, 

The heavenly aspiration of good people everywhere has and always will be for peace in the world. We must never give up on achieving this goal. But, President Joseph F. Smith taught, “There never can come to the world that spirit of peace and love … until mankind will receive God’s truth and God’s message … , and acknowledge his power and authority which is divine.” (2013 April General Conference, Personal Peace: The Reward of Righteousness, Sat. Afternoon Session)

In the Garden of Gethesemne the Savior took upon Him our sins and burdens so that He could give us the gift of peace.

By coming to the Savior and placing our burdens at His feet, we will feel the peace that only comes from the Savior.

To feel this peace daily we must strive to feel connected to the Savior through prayer, repentence, studying the scriptures,  and performing service for others.

I have felt the peace that can only come from the Savior. 

In Matthew 11:28 the Savior invites us to partake of His peace with the words,  "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

He wants to give us this great gift and will bless us with it.

When have you felt the Lord bless you with his peace?

Strength Within the Temple

My heart was to build another House for the Lord.

William Warner Player*

In 1846 the Saints began their Exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois to the Salt Lake Valley in present day Utah.  Many Saints made it a priority to attend the temple and receive their endowment before heading West. 

Why did they do this when their lives were in danger?

The Saints knew the strength and power that comes from the temple.  They knew they needed that strength and power as they faced the challenges demanded of them as they crossed the plains.  

"Maintaining our spiritual strength is ... a daily challenge.  The greatest source of that spiritual strength comes ... from our temples."  "Eternity Lies Before Us," James E. Faust

Our challenges today are different from the Pioneers, but we need the strength and power that comes from the temple, just as they need.  I have felt the spiritual strength that comes from the temple.  I have felt the difference that it makes in my life.  

In the temple, we learn "where we came from, why we are here, where we may go, and how we may cope with the matter of death." (James E. Faust) Knowing the truths of the eternity, can help up endure the challenges placed before us, just like it did the early Pioneers.  

* I saw this quote on a banner at the Mormon Trail Center in Winter Quarters in Omaha, Nebraska.

To learn more about temple, go here.

Testimony Tuesday - What the Holy Ghost Helped Me to Remember

I taught early morning seminary for 3.5 years.  To learn more about seminary, a scripture class for high school age youth, go here.

This has been my favorite calling in the church.  I loved studying the scriptures and helping my students to learn about Jesus Christ and his Gospel.  

It also very time consumptive.  During my last year teaching, I was going through a particularly challenging time and was overwhelmed by all my responsibilities.  I needed to focus on myself and my family, which meant I needed help.  

I needed someone to teach seminary for me.  But who?  The early morning commitment (it often conflicts with work schedules and getting children to school) made it difficult to find a substitute that would be a good match for my students.

After a week of struggling to know what to do, the Holy Ghost brought to my remembrance that a friend in my ward (what we call our church congregation) had offered to help teach for me.  

In that moment, I felt peace, joy and relief.  Peace that can only come through the Spirit.  

She taught my class for me for two weeks, a service and experience I will not forget.

Enduring Adversity

"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."

Mosiah 24:15

"The Lord has touched my spirit time and again, and more often than not, His touch has reached me through the hand of a friend." Kathleen H. Hughes

Heavenly Father does not leave us alone to bear our burdens.  He will strengthen and support us.

Where do we look to feel and partake of this strength?

As disciples of Christ we have made a covenant through baptism that we,

"are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;  Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life".  (Mosiah 18:8-9)

One way the Lord strengthens us is through the service of family, friends, or even strangers when we need help.  We will find and feel of the Lord's love if we look for it in their actions.

"God knows the needs of His children, and He often works through us, prompting us to help one another. When we act on such promptings, we tread on holy ground, for we are allowed the opportunity to serve as an agent of God in answering a prayer."  Kathleen H. Hughes

How have you been strengthen by the Lord?

  

Testimony Tuesday - What I Have Learned From Adversity

God loves me.  He knows me.  

This is something that I never knew until recently.  

Since a small child, I have always felt a yearning for our Heavenly Father, but I rarely felt a personal connection. Although, I did receive answers to my prayers and inspiration when needed.  

I had a reached a point where I could do nothing but rely on our Heavenly Father to endure and survive.  Then through His presence in my life and the way my prayers were answered did I learn that He loves me personally.  He knows me and can help me with exactly what I need.

These experiences have also helped me learn that He knows and loves my daughter. And that He always has.  He reminded me of spiritual experiences before and after my daughters birth.

Throughout the last few years, He has guided me through the Holy Ghost to learn this truth, until I had the ability and knowledge to recognize it.

I am grateful I learned that God loves me and knows me, because now I can teach my daughter that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ know and love her.

Adversity and the Plan of Salvation

“That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” 

1 Peter 1:7

“The gift of faith is a priceless spiritual endowment.” Elder Neil L. Anderson

Peter describes “trials of faith” as “more precious than…gold.”

Why is adversity so valuable to us?

How does it related to the Plan of Salvation?

We understand that under the Plan of Salvation our goal, which we are capable of achieving, is exaltation – to live with and become like our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Adversity (or as Peter describes it, trials of faith), is one of the means that Heavenly Father and the Savior uses to help us achieve life with Him again.

Elder Henry B. Erying stated, “The very opportunity for us to face adversity and affliction is part of the evidence of Their infinite love.”  ("Adversity", April 2009 General Conference)

We need adversity and affliction to achieve our goal of becoming like them.  This is how we learn “to want what God wants, to think as He thinks.” (Adversity)

Elder Eyring also stated, “In this education we experience misery and happiness, sickness and health, the sadness from sin and the joy of forgiveness.” (Adversity)

The Lord will help us through all these experiences, as stated in Alma 7:11-13,  

"And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities. Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me."

How has adversity helped you to become like the Savior?