I have been asked to give a talk on this subject and I was given a talk from Kent F. Richards, that he gave during "General Conference" as a reference. General Conference is a world wide meeting for members of my church, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" or you might know us by our nickname, "Mormons".
I love this talk and it can be accessed on lds.org.
In one part he quotes Elder Robert D. Hales,
"Pain brings you to a humility that allows you to ponder... I learned that the physical pain and the healing of the body after major surgery are remarkably similar to the spiritual pain and the healing of the soul in the process of repentance.
Elder Richards then says, "The Savior is not a silent observer. He Himself knows personally and infinitely the pain we face. He suffereth the pains of all men, yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children".
Being someone who deals with chronic pain and illness, I have come to believe that this is very true. Through the conditions I have, which are many and include back and hip pain, muscle and joint pain and fatigue, female issues and others like migraines, etc... I have learned that there is purpose in my suffering. When the doctors have done all they could do, and when every medicine and therapy has been tried, I had to learn to turn to the only place that I could. I had to turn to God. I started to feel his comforting, a renewal of my strength, which although it did not end my suffering, gave me what I needed to endure and survive while at the same time giving me back some of the joys that pain had taken away. Even the simple things of being out of bed, to spend time with my family. Those moments are precious to me.
I now understand that Christ suffered in Gethsemane to be able to better judge, empathize, and understand what I am going through and coming to him in prayer about.
It has taken me a long time to get to this point, and I was not always so faithful, or patient. I was not always so willing to put my trust in ANYONE. Until life threw me a curve, I did not understand God's love for me.
I understand now that he has a plan, and it is to help us to find happiness, no matter what comes. All we need to do is ask.
I am not trying to convince anyone of anything. This is my personal experience and growth. We are all at different levels of readiness and understanding. I just want to share my point of view. I want to make you as a reader open your mind to a possibly "new" way to look at your situation. That is my purpose.
I. with my whole heart, believe that my problems are never worse than someone else's, because we all have our own personal limit. What I may see as easy, may be very difficult for someone else. What may be very difficult for me, may be nothing for someone else. We are all different, and unique, but we can all have compassion, and understanding, and support one another.
Thanks for listening (reading) this. Sincerely,
Gail
No comments:
Post a Comment