Sunday, October 9, 2011

Mercies in Disguise

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CSVqHcdhXQ&feature=player_detailpage

This is one of my very favorite songs at the moment. Seriously, you should listen to it. (I'm not so blog savvy that I can figure out how to put the youtube video right on my blog. You're going to have to do some old fashioned copy and paste). I think the message is really pertinent to everyone at one point or another.
I definitely believe that God loves us and that trials can even be evidence of that love. Elder Cook's talk at General Conference was very insightful. He said:

"While we do not know all the answers, we do know important principles that allow us to face tragedies with faith and confidence that there is a bright future planned for each of us. Some of the most important principles are:

First, we have a Father in Heaven, who knows and loves us personally and understands our suffering perfectly.

Second, His Son, Jesus Christ, is our Savior and Redeemer, whose Atonement not only provides for salvation and exaltation but also will compensate for all the unfairness of life.

Third, the Father’s plan of happiness for His children includes not only a premortal and mortal life but also an eternal life as well, including a great and glorious reunion with those we have lost. All wrongs will be righted, and we will see with perfect clarity and faultless perspective and understanding.

...There are many kinds of challenges. Some give us necessary experiences. Adverse results in this mortal life are not evidence of lack of faith or of an imperfection in our Father in Heaven’s overall plan. The refiner’s fire is real, and qualities of character and righteousness that are forged in the furnace of affliction perfect and purify us and prepare us to meet God."

Trials and challenges are the whole point of this mortal existence, but we don't have to go through them alone!