[Title] Suggestions: Thru Thorny Ways A Joyful End The Lord Is on Thy Side Word count: 481 [Kicker] When the thorns catch hold of us, scratch us, or cut us to the core, we can continually look to God with absolute trust, and He will lead us to peace. [Highlights of the source article] Be still, my soul: The Lord is on thy side; With patience bear thy cross of grief or pain. As a twenty-five-year-old senior at BYU who has changed her major three times and acquired more credits than she can count her hands eighteen times; as a faithful member of the Church who loves God with her whole heart, but who never served a mission; as a girl battling depression and social anxiety on a daily basis, perpetually single and once–self-proclaimed unlovable; I have endured a handful of unexpected and unwelcome trials. I always thought that life would get easier in tandem with my testimony getting stronger—but adversity does not abate. If anything, my experiences have informed me that God seems to think that because I have fought (most of) my small battles in life armed until the bitter end with trust and unshakable hope, I've proven myself capable of facing even more, or harder, endeavors. Facing those trials with faith is not easy, and I lose countless battles along the way when the thorns in my life threaten to pierce me from all sides. But still I bear my cross. Leave to thy God to order and provide; In ev'ry change he faithful will remain. On one particularly awful day when fighting my battles felt pointless and giving up sounded like relief, I was in bed listening to conference talk after conference talk, hymn after hymn, begging God to take just a couple of my trials away—or to put them on hold for a few months. It was too much too fast, I thought. And I wasn't strong enough. “Leave to thy God,” the choir sang, “to order and provide.” The light bulb that had been growing dimmer month by month sparked back to life just a tiny bit, but the realization struck me like lightning: God did not want me to be alone in my battles. He wanted to fight with me, trusting that I would rely on His strength and do my best to fight alongside Him. Even though I had a strong testimony, I had been trying to face my trials alone, and I was breaking. That is not how life is meant to be. Each of us is not meant to be the lone soldier in an army of one. Be still, my soul: Thy best, thy heav'nly Friend Thru thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
I was in bed, pleading with God—not to take my trials away nor to put them on hold, but to help me trudge my way through them. I knew that beyond the thorns, peace and joy lay ahead. I couldn't see anything but the sharp thorns in front of me, but knowing an end was there, somewhere, and that God would fight with me all the way there was enough. Understanding that God was with me—and always had been—changed everything for me. I was not the lonely girl who was always one step away from happiness. He made what seemed entirely impossible something I could do; even if I had just one spark of hope, that was enough to lead me to my joyful end. [Link to the Source Article] Listen to “Be Still My Soul” and know that God will lead you to peace. Source: https://www.lds.org/music/library/hymns/be-still-my-soul?lang=eng [Byline] —Nicole Terry, Mormon Insights contributor
Find more insights See how facing adversity with faith can build our trust in God and give us the strength to endure: https://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/spiritual-whirlwinds Ponder short uplifting messages about remaining strong throughout trials: https://www.lds.org/daily-messages?lang=eng&topic=Adversity Read about how the Lord “increase[s] our capacity to raise ourselves above the challenges of life”: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2017/04/confide-in-god-unwaveringly?lang=eng Learn how we can avoid traps in life as we face trials: http://mormoninsights.byu.edu/en/enduring-trials-faith/
[Tags] trials, loneliness, trust, joy [SEO Keywords] facing trials, faith