Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 66. It is a revelation that was personalized to William E. McLellin about what he should be doing to further the work of the kingdom. As with most people of the time, he was told to do missionary work and to spread the good news of the gospel to the people.
The last few verses of the section contain some very personal commands from the Lord to William and one of them stood out to me. The Lord tells him to be patient in his affliction. It is a given in this life that we will all have affliction, but it is never a good sign when the Lord tells you to be patient in your affliction because it usually means you are going to have a lot of challenges.
Every mission is filled with challenges to one degree or another. I personally think my mission was pretty tame by comparison to most that I have heard of. I had a man open his car door into me as I was biking past, my bike was stolen, I had a bottle of beer thrown at my head as I was biking along one day, I was cursed at, had a dog sic'd on me 3 separate times, went through what felt like a monsoon without any kind of rain gear, had people, including a couple of preachers, tells me that they hated me, was in a car accident, 2 of them actually, and more flat bike tires than I can count. And that's all that I can recall. But there were people in my mission that were robbed, had their bikes set on fire, were physically attacked and more. I feel that I had a really calm mission experience and I have heard of all kinds of challenges other missionaries face when on a mission.
But we also have challenges and trials when we are not missionaries don't we? For example I have been sick for the past 6 days but have only missed 1 and a half days of work. My daughter was born with a condition that makes it hard for her to breathe. People lose their homes, their transportation, their health and the lives of loved ones. But it is all designed to make us stronger and more able to face the trials ahead. I have been thinking a lot lately as I read the scriptures and write in this blog about why we need to be so strong and why we need to rise above the world. I think it is because our ultimate design is to be like God is one day.
Think about it, all is before God, the beginning and the end. We have talked about this in the past, but always in the sense of overcoming addictions to pornography and in a sexual connotation. However, the Lord also sees all the sufferings of His people. And in most cases He cannot do anything to alleviate it. But He has been there before too and knows what we need and how to succor us. Think about it. If you had a friend lose their parent or child, would you know what to say to them? I wouldn't. But if YOU had lost a parent or a child, you would know exactly what to say to maybe help them, or you could at the very least offer suggestions on what worked for you since we of course cannot know for certain what will help some people and what won't.
We will all face trials in this life, that is a given and is unavoidable. We cannot choose what trials we will face. All we can do is decide how we will react to those trials. That is why the Lord counsels us to be patient in our afflictions. As we learn to handle our trials with grace and patience they will not be quite so burdensome to us and we can progress and become a little better than we were before. For that is the goal, or should be for all of us. Each day should be a little better than it was in the past. I know that is my goal. Until tomorrow.
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