Trials - Lesson's from Liberty Jail

I have spent alot of time this week thinking about trials..... Sal's step-nephew Alex died this week at the tender age of 7. He had been struggling with leukemia for many years. It breaks my heart to think about Alex's parents and family and the sadness that fills their life now. As I was blog stalking I found this and I thought I would share. I know every one's life is full of trials right now, maybe it isn't losing a child, but these trials are more than any of us have been asked to bear in the past. I was encouraged by these words by Elder Holland an Apostle in the LDS church.

Jeffrey R. Holland gave a talk to the young adults at a Church Educational System Fireside. It was titled "Lessons learned from Liberty Jail" He talked about Joseph Smith's experience in Liberty Jail. He stated "Everyone of us, in one way or another, great or small, dramatic or incidental, are going to spend a little time in Liberty Jail--spiritually speaking." Blessings that came from Liberty Jail include the revelations received by Joseph Smith that are now Doctrine and Covenants 121-123.

He discussed three lessons from Liberty Jail:
1. The first, he said, "is that everyone, including (and perhaps especially) the righteous, will be called upon to face trying times." Elder Holland said: "Whenever these moments of our extremity come, we must not succumb to the fear that God has abandoned us.....We must continue to believe, continue to have faith, continue to pray and plead with heaven even if we feel, for a time, our prayers are not heard and that God has somehow gone away. He is there. Our prayers are heard, and when we weep, He and the angels of heaven weep with us....... "When suffering, we may in fact be nearer to God than we have ever been in our entire lives. That knowledge can turn every such situation into a would-be temple.

2. The second lesson, according to Elder Holland, is that we are not alone in going through trials. "We need to realize that just because difficult things happen--sometimes unfair and seemingly unjustified things--it does not mean that we are unrighteous or that we are unworthy of blessings or that God is disappointed with us," Elder Holland said. "Of course sinfulness does bring suffering and the only answer to that behavior is repentance. But sometimes suffering comes to the righteous, too." Through the Atonement, the Savior "experienced all of the heartache and sorrow, all of the disappointments and injustices that the entire family of man has experienced from Adam and Eve to the end of the world in order that we would not have to face them so severely or so deeply," Elder Holland said.

3. The third lesson of Liberty Jail, he said, is that in times of difficult feelings, "the Lord reminds us from the Liberty Jail prison-temple that 'the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only (or "except") upon the principles of righteousness." (D&C 121:36) We learn from the Savior and His prophets, Elder Holland said, "that the real test of our faith and our Christian discipleship is when things are not going smoothly. That is when we get to see what we are made of and how strong our commitment to the gospel really is." Counseling further, Elder Holland referred to D&C 123:17, written during cold, lonely hours in jail, and then stated, "Joseph says, let us do all we can do and do it cheerfully. Then we can justifiably turn to the Lord, wait upon His mercy, and see His arm revealed in our behalf. What a magnificent attitude to maintain in good times or bad, in sorrow or joy."

After leaving a blessing on the congregation, Elder Holland concluded saying, "I testify that bad days come to an end, that faith always triumphs and that heavenly promises are always kept."