Sunday, February 16, 2014

Elder Holland does it again! :)

I love Elder Holland! Today the sacrament meeting talks were about trials, and we've been going through a little trial of our own over the last couple months, so I decided to do some reading on trials this afternoon. I came across this gem from Elder Holland: http://speeches.byu.edu/index.php?act=viewitem&id=1798. He gave it in a CES fireside shortly before Scott and I were married. 

Here is just one of my favorite parts:
You can have sacred, revelatory, profoundly instructive experience with the Lord in the most miserable experiences of your life—in the worst settings, while enduring the most painful injustices, when facing the most insurmountable odds and opposition you have ever faced. 
Now let’s talk about those propositions for a moment. Every one of us, in one way or another, great or small, dramatic or incidental, is going to spend a little time in Liberty Jail—spiritually speaking. We will face things we do not want to face for reasons that may not have been our fault. Indeed, we may face difficult circumstances for reasons that were absolutely right and proper, reasons that came because we were trying to keep the commandments of the Lord. We may face persecution; we may endure heartache and separation from loved ones; we may be hungry and cold and forlorn. Yes, before our lives are over we may all be given a little taste of what the prophets faced often in their lives. But the lessons of the winter of 1838–39 teach us that every experience can become a redemptive experience if we remain bonded to our Father in Heaven through that difficulty. These difficult lessons teach us that man’s extremity is God’s opportunity, and if we will be humble and faithful, if we will be believing and not curse God for our problems, He can turn the unfair and inhumane and debilitating prisons of our lives into temples—or at least into a circumstance that can bring comfort and revelation, divine companionship and peace.
He also invites the young adults to read D&C sections 121-123 tonight or tomorrow night at the latest, so that's on my "To Do" list now. :)