All things work together for the good of those that love God.
That’s one to keep in mind. I believe it, but do I trust it?
Left on our own, we may not know what is our own good.
When lived with faith, trials and sacrifices we would never choose can work together for our good.
When we experience trials often cliche answers don’t help. Often we just yearn for someone to listen and to mourn with us or share our grief.
When we have experienced great challenges we have a greater capacity to mourn with those who mourn or share in their grief empathetically.
Ministering is when we go from being neighbors who bring cookies to being trusted friends and spiritual first responders.
When life is cluttered and purpose isn’t clear, when you want to live better but don’t know how, come to the Lord.
Jesus Christ’s Atonement can deliver and redeem us from sin. But Jesus Christ also intimately understands our every pain, affliction, sickness, sorrow, separation. In time and eternity, His triumph over death and hell can make all things right. He helps heal the broken and disparaged, reconcile the angry and divided, comfort the lonely and isolated, encourage the uncertain and imperfect, and bring forth miracles possible only with God.
Left on our own, we may not know our own good. When “I choose me,” I am also choosing my own limitations, weaknesses, inadequacies. Ultimately, to do the most good, we must be good. Since none save God is good, we seek perfection in Jesus Christ. We become our truest, best selves only as we put off the natural man or woman and become a child before God.
With our trust and faith in God, trials and afflictions can be consecrated for our good. Joseph, sold into slavery in Egypt, later saved his family and people. The Prophet Joseph Smith’s incarceration in Liberty Jail taught him “these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.” Lived with faith, trials and sacrifices we would never choose can bless us and others in ways never imagined.
It all seems to come down to trust—do we trust Him, His capacity, and His intentions.
When trials come, often what we most want is for someone to listen and be with us. In the moment, cliché answers can be unhelpful, however comforting their intent. Sometimes we yearn for someone who will grieve, ache, and weep with us; let us express pain, frustration, sometimes even anger; and acknowledge with us there are things we do not know.
When we trust God and His love for us, even our greatest heartbreaks can, in the end, work together for our good.
I’ve gotten good at acknowledging that there are things we don’t know.
When we are still, open, and reverent, we may feel the beauty, purpose, and serenity of the covenant belonging the Lord offers. In sacred moments, He may let us glimpse the larger eternal reality of which our daily lives are part, where small and simple things work together for the good of givers and receivers.
A father assigned with his teacher-age son as ministering companions explained, “Ministering is when we go from being neighbors who bring cookies to trusted friends, spiritual first responders.” Covenant belonging in Jesus Christ comforts, connects, consecrates.
I need to become this kind of minister.
Covenant belonging in Jesus Christ comforts, connects, consecrates.
I have been wanting more connection personally and generally in our society.
In time and eternity, the purpose of Creation and the nature of God Himself are to bring all things together for our good.
When life is cluttered and purpose isn’t clear, when you want to live better but don’t know how, please come to God our Father and Jesus Christ. Trust They live, love you, and want all things for your good.
Three times in one message. I was right about trust being a key.
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