Posts tagged endurance

Today’s been rough for me (so was last night, and really so have the last few weeks) in an emotional/mental health sense.  Sometimes the only peace I find in the gospel (or anywhere) is the safety in having something positive - completely positive - to think about.  Sometimes it’s just the knowledge, or even the hope, that I’m loved and that I’m not alone.  I honestly can’t really spend a lot of time talking about that part of things right now because I’m struggling to keep things even minimally together.

But I appreciate you posting this, because it’s really true.

God does not ever promise we won’t suffer.  I think He suffers when He sees our pain, honestly - think of all the times He remind the prophets about how much He loved Christ, sometimes right before talking about the incomprehensible pain Christ endured on our behalf.  

I have a friend who has nightmares about medical procedures her children endured as infants; the baby has long forgotten it (usually within an hour or so,) but the mother can’t.  One of the babies I know absolutely had to go through what I can only describe as torture - they tested the pressure in her eyes by pressing against the (OPEN) eyeball with a metal device.  She screamed and clearly hated it, as did all the other babies who got it done.

My friend could only put her daughter through that because it was essential, because there was no way out of it, because the alternatives (blindness, etc.) were so much worse.  And I think Heavenly Father only let my friend go through with it for similar reasons; He wouldn’t do it for no reason because that’s just not possible for Him.  No parent sees a child suffer without feeling it themselves - sometimes more deeply than the child himself does.  No sane/functional parent hurts their children, or lets them get hurt, for the fun of it, or without caring.  Even the doctors at that clinic my friend’s daughter got treated at only “torture” those babies because it’s absolutely the only thing they can do.  Because ultimately, it’s worth it.

Suffering and pain is sometimes necessary.  Usually we don’t get the “why” (my friend’s baby couldn’t possibly grasp an explanation about the need to measure her eye pressure.)  But hanging onto that truth - that faith that it is necessary, and that we’re not being punished by God or abandoned by Him or are loved any less or have been forgotten - can make it more bearable.  Even just the hope that it’ll be worth it.  Just saying “I hope it’s worth it” while crying.  Trust me, it helped me like two hours ago.

(Singing songs of praise also works as a great distraction from your woes.  We even have songs for mourning and lamentation and persevering despite your despair if that’s what it takes.)

saulsjourney:

How many times are we told that God blesses the righteous and then we start following Christ and things get harder? It’s crazy. We are baptized, we testify of Him, and then we are ridiculed. Or mocked. Or maybe we get dumped. Something bad happens and we wonder if God even has a plan for us.

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Following Christ means that things will go wrong. But that you can overcome. You can overcome because Christ overcame. All that is wrong can and will be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.