I love the word much because it prepares me for my expectations workign with tribulation. And the 's' at the end of blessing--excites me that it is more than one blessing! :D This scripture tells us how life can be at times. But like Elder Holland said in his Liberty Jail talk, we are in good company when we are going through hard times.
Elder George Q. Cannon:
"...the Saints should always remember that God sees not as man sees; that he does not willingly afflict his children, and that if he requires them to endure present privation and trial, it is that they may escape greater tribulations which would otherwise inevitably over take them. If He deprives them of any present blessing, it is that he may bestow upon them greater and more glorious ones by and by." (Millennial Star, 3 Oct 1863, p. 634.)
President Brigham Young:
"If the Saints could realize things as they are when they are called to pass through trials, and to suffer what they call sacrifices, they would acknowledge them to be the greatest blessings that could be bestowed upon them" (Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 345).
Defiantly something to strive for. The last quote, there are many in my family, including myself that will tell anyone who asks, that Dad receiving cancer last year, with all its ugly tortures on the physical body, has been one of the greatest blessings our family has received. Through it we learned patience, trust, humility, faith, determination, trust, more kindness, sincere prayer, courage, His will--be done, and no matter what--we will still serve and praise our Father in Heaven and His son, Jesus Christ. We are stronger because of it. Mom and Dad now serve in the temple--our family values time together all that much more. In so many ways, we did have a happy ending. I am sensitive to those that have had loved ones that have not had the same happy ending. But for whatever time we are given in this earth life, shorter or longer, God is with us. There are miracles to behold. Faith to be lived, His name to represent in all that we do/say and are. Our lives are to emulate Him, our Savior Jesus Christ. And we can claim power from on high to help us through the days when our hands hang down weary and worn or when our heart feels it simply cannot bare any more.
The Turtle in Kunfo Panda says, "Life is a gift, that is why it is called the present." Find your gift in the day and in return be a gift for others.
I am so thankful God trusts us with challenging tests, and in return I will trust Him through the tests. What a morning to praise God! He sure does love us! And as a wise Mary Jo at church bore in her testimony - "We were not sent here to fail". We can do it!
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