Promises of Support

How often do you feel like you are outnumbered two, or even three or four, to one?  How often do you beat yourself up trying to wrap your head around another concept that is difficult for you to swallow?  How often are you tempted to just throw in the towel?

I've been there.  We all have. We don't all have the same experience with pain and sorrow and trials, but we have all felt at sometime or another that we are all alone.

It was in a time like this that I found new hope in the war chapters, yes, the war chapters!  In Alma 44:4 it states: "Now ye see...that God will support, and keep, and preserve us, so long as we are faithful unto him, and unto our faith, and our religion."  In the midst of battle with Zerahemnah, Moroni stops to state this simple truth.  In this battle the Lamanite army was double the size of the Nephite army.  Even with all their armor, the Nephites shouldn't have stood a chance.  Indeed, at one point they even began to fail until they were reminded that true strength comes not from swords or shields or earthly courage, but from the one and only true God, Our Father in Heaven.

We must remember that this life is not just about seeing who can make it through the easiest...that was the plan of the adversary.  If I were to truly consider which experiences mean the most to me and make me who I am, it would not be the ease at which I breezed through some classes, nor the simplicity of the easy decisions I have made.  It is the rough and tumble of life that creates us. 

In the midst of trials it is always difficult to see the promised blessings or the growth we are achieving.  President Henry B. Eyring said this: "If the foundation of faith is not embedded in our hearts, the power to endure will crumble."  In the midst of our trials this sturdy foundation is essential to remembering the marvelous support God is willing to give us.  When life is at its worst and I am tempted to become ornery and bitter scriptures like the one in Alma 44 remind me to be faithful and trust in my God for aid and support.  Without such hope I would give in, becoming an unhappy and angry person, a person I never want to be.

Though sorrow and trouble may befall you and you feel about to fail, I pray that you may find a little reminder, as I did, that your trials can never outnumber you when you are one with God. Our body is a temple where the spirit of the Lord my dwell, not much different from the Holy Temple where we worship.  Just like Earthly temples, no matter what may rage around us, our Heavenly Father stands as beacon to guide, comfort, and preserve us.  I know that as we keep our Heavenly Father, His Gospel, our faith, and our religion as our main motivation that endurance will be easier and we will find happiness through the storms of life.