Question
Dear Gramps,
Greetings! I look forward to reading your comments regarding various different subjects.
For quite sometime now (years) I have been through a series of negative events, one right after another, without being able to take a breath to handle the next catastrophe which lands in my lap. Despite knowing that the Mormon Church is the true church and through thick and thin, I hold a strong testimony of the gospel. Lately, I can’t help feeling tired, helpless, and sad despite my efforts to lean on Jesus Christ.
In my current desperate need to find security, my question is, will I ever come to a point where I no longer question my faith and strength in the Lord? Thank you,
Sigh
Answer
Dear Sigh,
Without a doubt you will come to that point. It will occur right after you pass through the veil from this life into the next. Through all the difficulties that you are experiencing you are fulfilling the very purpose of this life. It’s understandable why you feel tired, helpless and sad. If there were no reason for those types of feelings there would be no challenge, and therefore no purpose, to life. The very purpose of this life is to gain spiritual strength by overcoming the opposition of the adversary. A knife is sharpened only be putting it to a grindstone. Soft steel wears away, hard steel is refined. Whether we overcome or whether we are overcome depends on what we are made of. The fact that you experience much difficulty and opposition is a sign of how loved you are and how trusted you are by the Lord. He permits difficulties to come upon you because he has confidence that you can overcome them, and that by overcoming them you will grow to become more like he is. Consider the following scriptures:
For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. (Hebrews 12:6)
For verily I say unto you, blessed is he that keepeth my commandments, whether in life or in death; and he that is faithful in tribulation, the reward of the same is greater in the kingdom of heaven. (D&C 58:2)
Gramps