For Thy Good

In the most recent general conference, Elder Brook B. Hales told two similar stories. The first was about a woman in his ward who had suffered greatly during her life: “She had various health problems and experienced a lifetime of pain due to a childhood accident on the playground. Divorced at age 32 with four young children to raise and provide for, she remarried at age 50. Her second husband passed away when she was 66, and this sister lived an additional 26 years as a widow.” He summarized her life saying that “she had many difficult trials, and without question she felt at times sadness and loneliness” but still “had a cheerful countenance and a gracious and pleasant personality.” After she passed away, in the temple her son “learned by the power of the Holy Ghost that his mother had a message for him. She communicated with him, but not by vision or audible words. The following unmistakable message came into the son’s mind from his mother: ‘I want you to know that mortality works, and I want you to know that I now understand why everything happened [in my life] the way it did—and it is all OK.’” Despite her great challenges during mortality, it had all worked together for her good in the next life where she was happy and healed.  

Elder Hales also told about his mother who likewise had a very difficult life: “She received no accolades or worldly honors and did not have educational opportunities beyond high school. She contracted polio as a child, resulting in a lifetime of pain and discomfort in her left leg. As an adult, she experienced many difficult and challenging physical and financial circumstances.” He also recounted, “When my mother was 55, my next older sister passed away, leaving an eight-month-old baby daughter, my niece, motherless. For various reasons, Mom ended up largely raising my niece for the next 17 years, often under very trying circumstances…. During the last several years of her life, Mom suffered from a form of dementia, was often confused, and was confined to a nursing facility. Regrettably, she was alone when she passed away unexpectedly.” Similar to what happened to the son in the first story, Elder Hales also received a divine communication about his mother after she left this life: “Several months after her passing, I had a dream I have never forgotten. In my dream, I was sitting in my office at the Church Administration Building. Mom entered the office. I knew she had come from the spirit world. I will always remember the feelings I had. She did not say anything, but she radiated a spiritual beauty that I had never before experienced and which I have difficulty describing. Her countenance and being were truly stunning!... I felt her love for me, and I knew then that she is happy and healed from her worldly cares and challenges and eagerly awaits ‘a glorious resurrection.’ I know that for Mom, mortality worked—and that it works for us too.” For his mother as well, the trials and troubles of mortality had not been in vain and she had overcome them

  These stories both confirm the truth of the Savior’s words to the Prophet Joseph Smith while he was in Liberty Jail. After months suffering there, pained because of the suffering of all the Saints being forced from Missouri, the Lord spoke to him and helped him understand his trials. I typically only quote the last statement of this passage, but I think it is powerful to read the Savior’s full description of the type of trials we may be called to pass through: “If thou art called to pass through tribulation; if thou art in perils among false brethren; if thou art in perils among robbers; if thou art in perils by land or by sea; If thou art accused with all manner of false accusations; if thine enemies fall upon thee; if they tear thee from the society of thy father and mother and brethren and sisters; and if with a drawn sword thine enemies tear thee from the bosom of thy wife, and of thine offspring, and thine elder son, although but six years of age, shall cling to thy garments, and shall say, My father, my father, why can’t you stay with us? O, my father, what are the men going to do with you? and if then he shall be thrust from thee by the sword, and thou be dragged to prison, and thine enemies prowl around thee like wolves for the blood of the lamb; And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good” (Doctrine and Covenants 122:5-7). What a description! Surely we all hope that we are not called to pass through any of these trials, and yet we know that we will not make it through mortality unscathed. We will each be called to pass through perils of our own. Whatever comes, we can know that as it was for these two women of whom Elder Hales spoke, if we hold out faithful then it will for us as well be for our good.

I love the words of a recently released song, Every Day Here, by Leanna Crawford. She sings these lyrics: 

I've learned the best things in life don't come easy

That doesn't mean that they're not worth wait

But There is a strength that you find when you patiently hold onto faith 

I've lived the truth that there's joy in the morning

That doesn't mean there's no tears in the night

But there is a hope for the empty and broken that money can't buy 

We've got all we need

Might not be what we thought it would be

Thank God we got love holding everything

When it's not easy to see

With every breath I breathe

I'll just keep counting my blessings

Reminded each second

Every day here is from heaven 

That is the key! No matter what comes, no matter what trials we must pass through, we can thank God for every day here. We know that there will indeed be joy in the morning, no matter how long we have to hold on to faith waiting for that day. We can be assured that “mortality works” and will work for us—"all things work together for good to them that love God” (Romans 8:28). We must hold on to these divine words first heard in Liberty Jail but meant for us all: “Therefore, hold on thy way, and the priesthood shall remain with thee; for their bounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever” (Doctrine and Covenants 122:9).