Imagine God as an artist for a moment. Creating universes, galaxies, solar systems, stars and planets. Specifically our planet.
I had a painting teacher once who told me that only amateurs neglect the details. God is not an amateur. He created the earth and took care to make every plant and creature exactly as He’d intended. All of that care, all of that beauty He’d created, and He created us. His greatest masterpieces. But we are an unfinished work. We can’t be completed by God, but we also couldn’t complete ourselves without help. So God laid out a plan. He sent our Savior, Jesus Christ, to atone for us. And He didn’t neglect the details of our lives. He created plans of us. Paved our path and now He has left it up to us to reach our potential. To become the masterpiece He always intended us to be.
Along the way we sometimes run into bumps. Sometimes minor things, and sometimes things that can change your life. And frequently we ask “Why? Why me? Why now? Why this?”
Adversity is placed in our way as part of the perfectly detailed plan that Heavenly Father has placed before each of us.
What brought this topic to mind was a line from Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration. Joseph is speaking with Emma and he says:
“Perhaps I am meant to swim in deep waters”
I don’t think any of us was ever meant to wade through life.
I want us to change the way we look at our trials and adversity. Pres. Henry B. Eyring said “I assure you that our Heavenly Father and the Savior live and that They love all humanity. The very opportunity for us to face adversity and affliction is part of the evidence of their infinite love.”
We want no regrets in our lives. We don’t want to feel that we never reached our full potential. We want to become “the person God, our Heavenly Father, intended us to be.”
Pres. Uchtdorf says “We certainly cannot do this with a dragging-our-feet, staring-at-our-watch, complaining-as-we-go approach,” and counsels us to “give our best personal self and undivided time to those” things that are most important to us. He also counsels that “good intentions are not enough. We must do. Even more important, we must become”.
With faith we must act. With faith we must move forward through adversity. As Joseph Smith struggled God comforted him in Doctrine and Covenants 121:7-9 saying:
“My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity 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 thy foes.
Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands.”
This extends to us.
Pres. Eyring promises that “the disciple[s] who accept a trial as an invitation to grow and therefore qualify for eternal life can find peace in the midst of the struggle.”
God does not leave us. He is not an amateur. He is there in the details of your lives. He will give you relief and comfort when needed. He will strengthen you and help you to grow when you let Him help. It is never easy. But God will qualify you.
When presented with your struggles ask God “What am I to do? What am I to learn from this experience? What am I to change? Whom am I to help? How can I remember my blessings in this time of trial?”
Alma says in chapter 36 verse 3
“whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions and shall be lifted up at the last day”
In the midst of all this affliction God also wants us to learn to be happy.
The gospel is designed to provide a way for happiness in our lives.
“He sent His Son to carry out the Atonement so we can be happy in this life and receive a fullness of joy in the eternities.”
Remember what Alma says in 41:10 “Wickedness never was happiness.”
Elder Pino of the seventy says “The only way to real happiness is to live the gospel.” He also ready 3 Nephi 14:24-27
“Therefore, whoso heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, who built his house upon a rock- And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock.
And every one that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
Elder Pino notes that Ït is interesting to notices that the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew against both houses! Living the gospel does not mean that we will everlastingly escape adversity. Rather it means that we will be prepared to face, and endure adversity more confidently.”
Elder Marvin J. Ashton states :We can be broken by adversity, or we can become stronger.” Later he continues saying “If we turn to God, He will take us by the hand and lead us through our darkest hours.”
I suggest we all grow. And we all turn to God. But this requires trust. Elder Bednar said (at a fireside) that
“Trusting in the Lord’s will and timing is essential.
Remember that God created us, He designed our paths to perfection and God does not make mistakes. Trust Him. Let Him guide and teach you.
Let your trust in God give you peace, hope, and direction.
James 1:5 says
“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”
God truly wants to guide us. We have to trust enough to let Him.
Elder Okazaki of the seventy talks of hope in our Savior and says “He is my hope on rainy Monday mornings, my hope on the dark nights, and my hope in the face of death and despair.”
Doctrine and Covenants 6:36 says “Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.”
Have faith, and trust. Look to the Lord through your trials.
Doctrine and Covenants 122:7-8 says “And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good. The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?”
Remember that you are NEVER alone in adversity.
Christ promises in Doctrine and Covenants 78:18
“And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer,for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessing thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are your.”
The riches of eternity. The kingdom. These trials, this adversity, is all in preparation to become like God in the eternities. Eliza R. Snow coined the couplet “As man now is, God once was; As God now is, man may be”
Joseph Smith also stated “What kind of being is God?” Human beings need to know because “If men do not comprehend the character of God they do not comprehend themselves.” Human nature is at it’s core divine.
In Joseph Smith’s last conference address to the church he said; “It is not all to be comprehended in this world. It will take a long time after the grave to understand the whole.”
And regarding this Pres. Hinckley said “We believe in eternal progression.”
We will always be seeking to better ourselves. We should do our best everyday of your lives here, and know that we don’t have to be perfect at death.
Pres. Uchtdorf says that “You are stronger than you realize. You are more capable than you can imagine.”
We are capable of so much. Perhaps we couldn’t travel across oceans to find our prophet. Perhaps we couldn’t leave all we had to travel to the Salt Lake Valley. And maybe we couldn't travel with the handcart companies leaving loved ones behind us, with just our faith to guide us.
But James E. Faust said, “Your challenges today are different from those of your forebears, but they are nonetheless real.”
Pres. Foust then tells a story about a mother who wanted to encourage her son, a young piano student, and so bought tickets for a performance of a famous Polish Pianist. The night of the concert they took theirs seats and while the mother visited with friends, her son slipped away.
When suddenly the performance was to begin! The spotlight found the grand piano on the stage and only then did the audience notice the boy innocently picking out Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
Before his mother had a chance to respond the Polish Pianist appeared on stage and quickly moved to sit beside the boy and whispered “Don’t quit. Keep playing.”and proceeded to fill in the bass, and then a harmony around the boys’ song. The audience was mesmerized.
Foust continues to say “it is the Master who surrounds us and whispers in our ear, time and time again, “don’t quit. Keep playing.”and as we do, He augments and supplements until a work of amazing beauty is erected. He is right there with all of us, telling us over and over, “keep playing”.
No matter the struggle. No matter the embarrassment, no matter our nerves, our fears and especially our trials, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ stand with us.
In a favorite song of mine the artist tells a little of how he moves past adversity. After he’s struggled, battled, and at last given thanks for making it though, successful or not, he sings:
“I design my future bright, not by where my life has been”
I encourage all of us to faithfully, trusting ing God, move towards adversity with the attitude to learn and when you’ve endured, grown, and changed design your future bright.
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