Last week was a very difficult time for me; for nothing
seemed to be going right. I was in a rut, I was tired, we couldn't find anyone
to teach, I had no desire even though I really wanted to gain one, and against
my own will the thought of going home in six months kept popping into my mind and
racked me with home sickness. It was the first time, I think, on my mission
that I could actually say that I felt home sick. I didn't want those thoughts!
I didn't want to facilitate them. They just kept coming. I was praying SO hard
even fasting that Heavenly Father would take them away and help me focus and
regain that desire and the determination that stems from it.
Lately I've been fascinated with the book, Jesus the Christ.
What I had been going through this last week, mirrored, almost exactly to what
He went through during the early part of His ministry. Ultimately, when hope
seemed grim and no success was eminent, He pressed on. From Friday morning
(Good Friday) through Sunday I felt the Spirit so incredibly strong. It was
almost overwhelming. All I wanted to do all day Easter Sunday was testify that
He lives! The feelings were never fully alleviated, but just like the Nephites
in the Book of Mormon, I was strengthened so that I could bear those burdens.
I think this talk from Elder Bednar explains it best:
"Alma did not pray to have his afflictions removed. He knew he was an agent of the Lord, and he prayed for the power to act and affect his situation.
"The key point of this example is contained in the final verse, Alma 31:38: “Yea, and he also gave them strength, that they should suffer no manner of afflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ."
In the midst of a very hard time, my afflictions "were
swallowed up in the joy of Christ," and it truly was a Happy Easter.
-Elder Wheatley
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