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?
Yea, O Lord, how long shall they suffer these wrongs and unlawful oppressions, before thine heart shall be softened toward them, and thy bowels be moved with compassion toward them?
Remember thy suffering saints, O our God; and thy servants will rejoice in thy name forever."
Life is no picnic.
And gaining exhalation is certainly no picnic.
In fact it should not be a picnic, otherwise we would stand before the Lord just as inexperienced and unlearned as when we left for earth.
President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the Aba Nigeria Temple on Sunday, August 7, 2005. Two weeks later a courageous group of Saints from Cameroon boarded two mini-buses and headed to the temple. The two branches of the Church in Cameroon are Duala and Yaounde. Members from both branches were included in this trip. As the crow flies, Aba is only about 175 miles west of Duala. Duala is 125 miles west of Yaouande. The roads from Duala to Aba are not direct, nor are they paved.
West of Duala, there were initially good graded roads, but it was the rainy season and soon the roads became more challenging. The men shovelled, and pushed, the passengers walked and the drivers did their best.
After 36 hours on the road the Saints arrived at the Nigerian border, still a way to go. When they finally saw the temple it had been two and a half muddy, tiring, hot, dirty days. The beautiful Aba Nigeria Temple was indeed a sight for sore eyes.
These saints had many choices, they could have not gone from the beginning of the journey.
They could have started out and when they saw the muddy roads, they could have turned back.
They could have climbed out and sat on the side and said: 'I don't want to do this any more.'
They could have stayed inside the van and not cared who was trying to push them out of the mud.
They could even have all kneeled down and prayed fervently that the Temple would uproot itself and come to them!
However these Saints did not give up, they kept certain things in mind:
The temple is important and eternal families are what they want,
They had saved money, got passports, arranged for children to be watched, packed bags,
They did not turn around when things became difficult,
They served others by either lightning the load or helping to push the load,
They sang hymns to lift spirits,
They kept firmly in the forefront of their minds the goal they wanted to achieve, and arrived ready and deserving of the temple blessings.
This temple trip was no picnic. These Saints could have asked: O God, where art thou? And maybe some of them did, I don't know, but I do know that they did not give up, they were valiant, and courageous.
When the Lord was speaking to Joshua in the Old testament, he said: "Be strong and of a good courage... Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law... turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest... (again in verse 9 he says) Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage, be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy god is with thee whithersoever thou goest."
The Saints from Cameroon had difficulties in their journey, but this particular journey had an end, they knew that once they were home again it would be over.
Some of us have difficulties and trials that don't have an ending date. Some of us struggle with health issues. Some of us have wayward children, some of us have wayward spouses.
In our family we have the trial of a husband and father who used to kneel with our children and pray, who used to sit with me in the celestial room holding my hand, who no longer believes in God at all. His journey began with that irritating little word: 'offence'
President Neil L. Andersen was speaking in this General Conference and he said:
"Offence comes in many costumes and continually finds its way onstage. People we believe in disappoint us. We have unanticipated difficulties. Our life doesn't turn out exactly the way we were expecting. We make mistakes, feel unworthy, and worry about being forgiven. We wonder about a doctrinal issue. We learn of something spoken from a Church pulpit 150 years ago that bothers us. Our children are treated unfairly. We are ignored or under appreciated. It could be a hundred things, each very real to us at the time."
My husband and I both experienced the same treatment, the same trial my husband went through, I went through. The same things he went digging through and read, I did, the same worries and concerns he dad, I had. We were both looking at the same information, but we were both looking at it differently.
Richard C. Edgley also in this General Conference said:
"Because of the conflicts and challenges we face in today's world, I wish to suggest a single choice - a choice of peace and protection and a choice that is appropriate for all. That choice is faith. Be aware that faith is not a free gift given without thought, desire, or effort. It does not come as the dew falls from heaven. The Saviour said, 'Come unto me" and 'knock, and it shall be given you' These are action verbs - come, knock. They are choices. So I say, choose faith. Choose faith over doubt, choose faith over fear, choose faith over the unknown and the unseen, and choose faith over pessimism.
When logic, reason, or personal intellect come into conflict with sacred teachings and doctrine, or conflicting messages assault your beliefs as the fiery darts described by the Apostle Paul, choose to not cast the seed out of your heart by unbelief. Remember, we receive not a witness until after the trial of our faith."
I chose Faith, this was not an easy choice, and loosing your spiritual husband, doing Family Home Evening alone, reading the scriptures every morning without your companion by your side is not easy. BUT I CHOOSE IT, I have four beautiful children who are looking to me for an example. I cannot give up, I will not give up. I love my husband, he is my best friend here on this earth. He loves me too, he is a good kind man, he would call me his best friend too. And because of my great love for him, I will not give up.
Brother Edgley continues: (with my comments added in italics)
"Will we understand everything? Of course not, We will put some issues on the shelf to be understood at a later time." I HAVE.
"Will everything be fair? It will not." DON'T I KNOW IT.
"We will accept some things we cannot fix and forgive others when it hurts." I TRY TO.
"Will we feel separated on occasion from those around us? Absolutely." ABSOLUTELY.
"Will we be astonished at times to see the anger a few feel toward the Lord's Church and their efforts to steal the struggling faith of the weak? Yes."
Will I be astonished that this anger is happening in my own home? Yes. Will I do as Jesus directs: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despeitfully use you, and persecute you." Yes I will and I do.
Do I do this all the time? No,
Do I always feel valiant and courageous? No,
Are there days when I can't bare to have another Family Home Evening because the children fight? Yes, but I still do it, because I must. I made covenants, I want exhalation, I want to stand confident before my maker at the last day.
And because there is nothing else out there good enough, Peter answered the Saviour's question by saying: "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. We believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the son of the living God."
I find comfort in these words: "My son {my daughter}, peace be unto thy soul: Thine adverstiy 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."
I know that Heavenly Father loves me, He loves you. He watches over us, He weeps with us and mourns with us, He also laughs with us. But that is not all...
My big brother loves me, He loves you - Jesus Christ is cheering for us, these two wonderful beings are rooting for us. But that is not all...
All the angels of Heaven are watching over us, loving us, helping us.
And when God is with us, who can stand against us?
Let us all be valiant in our testimonies of Christ, let us be valiant Latter-Day Saints, and never, never, never give up.
2 comments:
I join you. I too am determined never to give up on the things of most worth. I hope I give up easily and quickly all that is wrong and should be surrendered. Thank you for your sharing Darling.
I read your blog and was touched. I am the 52 year old son of a mother in your situation. She raised 5 of us in the Gospel after my Dad "lost" his testimony. Counting our children and grandchildren, there are 30 who have the Gospel because of her dedication and never giving up. Bishops, stake presidents, seminary teachers, YW presidents have all come from her example and dedication. It is worth the effort. NEVER GIVE UP.
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