I am giving a talk in my singles ward tomorrow and I decided to make it about trials. I found a really good talk called "Adveristy" by Henry B. Eyring from conference of April 2009. This is a really good quote, and I thought I would just put it up here. I think since we've all been through trials we can all relate.
"With all the differences in our lives, we have at least one challenge in common. We all must deal with adversity. There may be periods, sometimes long ones, when our lives seem to flow with little difficulty. But it is in the nature of our being human that comfort gives way to distress, periods of good health come to an end, and misfortunes arrive. Particularly when the comfortable times have gone on for a while, the arrival of suffering or the loss of material security can bring fear and sometimes even anger.
"The anger comes at least in part from a feeling that what is happening is unfair. The good health and the serene sense of being secure can become to seem deserved and natural. When they vanish, a feeling of injustice can come. Even a brave man I knew wept and cried out in his physical suffering to those who ministered to him: “I have always tried to be good. How could this happen?”
"That aching for an answer to “How could this happen?” becomes even more painful when those struggling include those we love. And it is especially hard for us to accept when those afflicted seem to us to be blameless. Then the distress can shake faith in the reality of a loving and all-powerful God. Some of us have seen such doubt come to infect a whole generation of people in times of war or famine. Such doubt can grow and spread until some may turn away from God, whom they charge with being indifferent or cruel. And if unchecked, those feelings can lead to loss of faith that there is a God at all.
"My purpose today is to assure you that our Heavenly Father and the Savior live and that They love all humanity. The very opportunity for us to face adversity and affliction is part of the evidence of Their infinite love. God gave us the gift of living in mortality so that we could be prepared to receive the greatest of all the gifts of God, which is eternal life. Then our spirits will be changed. We will become able to want what God wants, to think as He thinks, and thus be prepared for the trust of an endless posterity to teach and to lead through tests to be raised up to qualify to live forever in eternal life.
"It is clear that for us to have that gift and to be given that trust, we must be transformed through making righteous choices where that is hard to do. We are prepared for so great a trust by passing through trying and testing experiences in mortality. That education can come only as we are subject to trials while serving God and others for Him.
"In this education we experience misery and happiness, sickness and health, the sadness from sin and the joy of forgiveness. That forgiveness can come only through the infinite Atonement of the Savior, which He worked out through pain we could not bear and which we can only faintly comprehend.
"It will comfort us when we must wait in distress for the Savior’s promised relief that He knows, from experience, how to heal and help us. The Book of Mormon gives us the certain assurance of His power to comfort. And faith in that power will give us patience as we pray and work and wait for help. He could have known how to succor us simply by revelation, but He chose to learn by His own personal experience.
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"I have seen faith and courage come from a testimony that it is true that we are being prepared for eternal life. The Lord will rescue His faithful disciples. And the disciple who accepts a trial as an invitation to grow and therefore qualify for eternal life can find peace in the midst of the struggle."
I just love Henry B. Eyring! Can't you just hear him saying this with his sweet voice and even getting choked up at times? Man, he is seriously so great! And he has a way of just putting things into great words and getting straight to the point. Anyway, just thought I'd share all that with you.
So, updates on my life haha.
I'm really going to try to write more, but yeah. Anyway, I work at 1-800-CONTACTS now and I love it! I'm trying to get a new position in the Rx department and my application is going in on Monday. We'll see how that goes. Anyway, it's nice to have a steady job and to be making good money so I can pay back my loans and still have some fun. :)
Also, nothing really new in my dating life haha. I've been on a few dates here and there but nothing serious. I'm interested in some guys, but you just never know how people feel sometimes, you know? I'm afraid I may have scared one of them away. But I'll be patient. I'm sure the guy I'll be marrying is so awesome that Heavenly Father is just making me prepare for it. He'll knock my socks off, I'm sure. ;) But let me tell you, he'll be worth waiting for.
Well other than that there's not too much to report. My family and I moved into a new house 2 days before Christmas and we totally love it here! It's a really new house, we all have our own rooms, and there's lots of space. It's really perfect for us! And my mom still can't get over how great it is haha. We have been truly blessed with anything we could ever need and so much more! We have lots of wonderful people in our lives that have helped us out and continue to help us without hesitation. Thank you all so much!
Oh, and MY BIRTHDAY IS IN A WEEK! WOOOOOT! I'll be 23, can you believe it? Land sakes! It will be pretty awesome, that's all I've got to say. I am super stoked and I even took 2 days off of work so that I could have Thursday-Sunday off to do whatever I wanted haha. Yeah, it's great. If any of you want to make plans, let me know!
Anyway, it's late and I really need to finish this talk and go to bed haha. I hope to hear from you all soon! Thanks for all your love and support! I promise I'll do better at writing now. :) Talk to you all later!
