I've been pondering throughout the week. As I read and study the
scriptures there are certain phrases or passages that seem to pop out
and demand extra thought. The scriptures come alive for me when I
apply them to myself and ask the Lord what he wants me to learn,
things that speak to my situation at that given time.
I study from different books and scriptures simultaneously, so I'll
be moving around in the standard works from week to week. This
week's thoughts come from my reading in the Book of Mormon.
Trials, afflictions, adversity- not happy subjects. We all have them, but
none of us really want them. I used to hear people share their testimonies
about how grateful they were for their trials and I thought, "are you crazy?
I'm not grateful for my trials." And I wasn't. I just wanted to get through
whatever hard thing I was facing and then enjoy peace. I wanted things to
be easy. I deserved that, right? I was working hard, trying to be a good
girl, so I was sure that I should be spared some adversity. I had a lot
to learn.
Maybe it's because I'm getting older, I'd love to think it's because I'm
getting wiser, but I'm beginning to see life's situations a little differently. I
no longer expect things to be easy. Ease doesn't usually bring growth.
The trials I face have a purpose. They cause me to stretch, learn new things,
let go of habits of behavior and see through a different lens. But most
importantly, they bring me closer to God. As I was reading this week, I
came across these verses.
"I Nephi,....having seen many afflictions in the course of my days;
nevertheless having been highly favored of the Lord..."
1 Nephi 1:1
"...the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those
whom he hath chosen."
1 Nephi 1:20
Being "highly favored" means blessed and as I thought about that phrase,
I wondered if Nephi felt that his blessings had come as a direct result of his
afflictions. And believe me, he had plenty of those. This train of thought
led me to reflect over my life in the past few years. I realized that worship,
study and service all bring me closer to God, but nothing brings me as close
as my trials. I've had a few, so I feel like I can speak from some experience.
When life is really hard, I cry unto God like no other time. I know that he
is the only one who gives me peace. No other person or thing can give me
that peace that passeth all understanding. He knows exactly how I feel and
can bring comfort when I need it most.
Sometimes we think, if the Lord loved me, he would spare me from all
these trials, but I've learned it's just the opposite. It is because he loves
us that he allows these things in our lives. We are here to become more
like him. The things we experience in this life are our teachers- the exact
lessons we need. Patience, mercy, forgiveness, unconditional love...how
can we learn these godly virtues unless we have situations that call for
these actions? When we are patient, it means something or someone
is testing us past the comfort level. When we love unconditionally, it
means we are faced with a decision to judge or to love. It's somehow
easier to judge. We like things and people to be the way we "like" them
and when they aren't, we tend to judge. When we are called to forgive
it's usually because someone has hurt us- sometimes very deeply.
Extending mercy and grace means we have to reign in our own desires
to speak or act in a certain way and think of the other person instead.
Controlling our tongue can be so hard. We can't grow in these
attributes unless we have circumstances that give us opportunities for
practice and that's where the trials and adversity come in. It would be
easier if these were lessons that could be learned from reading a book.
And actually, we can read all about them in the scriptures, but reading
about them isn't sufficient. These lessons come through "hands on'
application and as we know require lots of practice.
So we have trials.
And we get to practice .
And we pray for grace a lot.
We won't succeed on our own. But we can do all things through Christ
who strengthens us, every day, every hour, every minute. I cling to
that scripture. It has helped me through some dark days. And when we
come out on the other side of our "trial", if we look, we can see how that
horrible, awful thing that we've just gone through has somehow turned into
a blessing. Because, surely anything that brings us closer to God is a blessing.
That's what Nephi knew and that's what I'm learning. But to be perfectly
honest...I still don't like those trials very much...but I love the blessing.
*MYOF Goal #14 - Begin each day with scripture study and prayer.
Great post Liss. It is hard to love adversity but it does grow us closer to Him.
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