Elizabeth Nielson: This is the Prosper Stronger Podcast, a community where LDS women gather to cultivate covenant connections and strive to be devoted disciples of Jesus Christ.
Hi and welcome to the Prosper Stronger Podcast this morning or today, whenever you're listening to it. It's morning for me and I am here in all my ugly.
This morning as I was driving my daughter to school and returning home, I was listening to some music and it brought up some feelings and emotions, some sorrow, some grieving, some tears, a lot of tears. And I've been thinking about something as I've been studying the talk by Elder Quinton L. Cook from October, 2023 conference called Be Peaceable Followers of Christ.
Now, the title of this honestly was a little, I wouldn't say deceiving because I don't think that was the point. I just expected something different when I read the title. I thought it would be more along the lines of President Nelson's talk, Peacemakers Needed. Instead, this talk spoke more to actually our trials and our challenges and why life can be hard sometimes and what do we do about it and how do we stay, become and stay and peaceable followers of Christ who receive all the blessings that have been promised to those who will be peaceable followers of Christ.
And so this idea, this thought of what does it mean to be a peaceable follower of Christ actually brought up a different thought. And it's been in my mind for a couple of weeks. And it's this idea, and I believe it's actually a false idea that the adversary uses as an attack against us and all of God's children. It's this false idea that life should be easy, that we shouldn't have to go through difficulty, that if we're doing what's right, everything should be sunshine and roses and perfect. We shouldn't have any trials or any pain or any suffering.
And even just talking about it, we know that's not true. That's not true for anyone. Nobody goes through this life with ease all the time. And nobody goes through this life where everything is just perfect and wonderful. All the time. And when you look at the history of God's people, you can especially see that they did not have it easy.
I feel like in our world, this idea is so prevalent among all of us. Life is supposed to be easy. We shouldn't have to work. We shouldn't have to suffer. We shouldn't have to do all these things. And if we do, then that means God doesn't love us. Or it means that God isn't real because a loving God wouldn't allow these things to happen.
And It's easy to fall into that trap. There's something that's easy, but I'll tell you what I have been looking, I have been studying, I have been perusing the scriptures and studying the words of the prophets. I have been for years and years studying the words of God, and I cannot think of any place, anywhere, any scripture, citation, teaching, anything that says This is going to be easy. Your life is going to be easy. Just do what I say. It's all gonna be perfect. It's all going to be just seamless, stress free, marvelous. I haven't found a single teaching of that. So why is that we lean into it so much? Why is that it's used so much outside the church and inside members of the church? I know I have people in my family and I know I've been guilty of it Why? Why is this happening to me? Literally, they will say, No God I believe in. No loving God I believe in would allow that to happen. And it breaks my heart.
It makes me very sad because there is purpose in our suffering. There is purpose in it not being easy and seamless and stress free. We know from Elder Cook's talk, he says, "those who believe in humbly worship and testify of Jesus Christ have always experienced trials, tribulation, and adversities."
And I believe that's true, but I also believe every child of God has experienced trials and adversities. I don't think being a follower of Christ actually makes it so you don't, or that you do. I don't think that's actually the determining factor. I believe what he's speaking to here is the thing is that every single person on this earth chose to come here. We chose it in the preexistence. We chose to follow God's plan. We chose to follow Jesus Christ. And why were we given the plan? What is part of it? Why did we come to earth? Why are we here as our second estate? We're taught that we are told.
That, Heavenly Father said, we will prove them herewith to see if they will do all things whatsoever we command them. I find this scripture to be so powerful, to prove them. We are choosing whether we will be chosen. We are showing, Heavenly Father, whether He can trust us. We are being proven. And it doesn't say in some things that He commands. It says in all things that He commands that they command us to do.
And I like to make bread. I actually love making bread. And one of the things we do with bread, as is you allow the bread to rise or you proof. The bread. And what does that do? That means that the dough is going to expand. It's going to stretch. And in stretching and expanding, it becomes more. If it doesn't do that, it is hard. The bread is hard. Just like our hearts can be. About trials, the tribulations or about anything. If we choose to let our hearts be hard, but when we have to expand, when we have to stretch that bread, it becomes soft and delicious and reaches its full potential.
And that's how I believe it is with us. When we are faced with things that stretch us, that causes to have to expand our hearts are softer, and we can then lean into, or we can choose to lean into. God into our Savior, into the gospel, and submit our wills more fully to them and become more of who we are designed to be and who Heavenly Father desires us to be, reaching more of our divine potential.
So I like to think of that analogy when it comes to this idea of being proven. Am I willing to stretch? Am I willing to expand? Am I willing to go through the heat of being baked, right? We have to bake the bread or really it's no good and it will fall. Am I willing to go through that fire, that heat to become like Jesus Christ, to become like Heavenly Father, to be able to come boldly.
Elder Cook quotes a scripture from the revelation that Joseph Smith received from the Lord while he was in Liberty Jail. He says, "Fear not, little flock." And sometimes I, yes, I'm part of his flock, so are you. And I have to say, fear not, little Elizabeth, fear not. "Do good, let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built on the rock, upon my rock, they cannot prevail. Look unto me in every thought. Doubt not, fear not, be faithful in keeping my commandments and ye shall inherit the kingdom of God." Then he goes on to say, "clearly our heavenly destiny is not altered. When we suffer adversity, but instead we are counseled to come boldly onto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. In time of need, Jesus Christ is the author of eternal salvation."
I love this for so many reasons, and we could talk a lot about it, especially the fear not. I think we so easily jump into fear, but that is going to be a topic for another day, another podcast. But I love that he says, when. Earth and hell combined against you.
They cannot prevail. That's not a, they may not, they might not. It's a, they cannot, it is an affirmative, absolute, they cannot prevail. And as we think about that word, think about the talk that President Nelson gave us, let God prevail. That is what we need to do in our times of trouble, in our times of difficulty.
And he also tells us, look to God and live, look to God, look unto me in every thought, doubt not, fear not. What does that mean? It means think celestial, just as President Nelson told us this last conference, we are being taught how to handle these challenges, how to handle our difficult things. And when we look at President Nelson and the members of the quorum of the 12 and our church leaders and so many around us.
They are speaking from experience. They have suffered, they have experienced grief, they have experienced loss. They know what challenges are just as our Savior does. And so you are not alone. Elder Holland in his talk, Lessons from Liberty Jail, actually teaches us this, and he reminds us of this. He says a lot of really great things in this talk, and I hope you'll go back and listen to it.
So I'll just share a few from Elder Holland. He says, perhaps you have had difficult moments in your life. I hope you have not had too many, but whenever these moments of our extremity come, we must not succumb to the fear that God has abandoned us or that he does not hear our prayers. He does hear us. He does see us, and he does love us. When we are in dire circumstances and want to cry, Where art thou? Justice Joseph Smith did.
It is imperative that we remember He is right there with us, where He has always been. We must continue to believe, continue to have faith, continue to pray and plead with heaven. Even if we feel for a time that our prayers are not heard and that God has somehow gone away. He is there. Our prayers are heard. And when we weep, He and the angels of heaven. Weep with us when lonely cold hard times come we have to endure we have to continue we have to persist He says keep pleading in the meantime know that God hears your cries and knows your distress He is your father and you are his child going on.
He says we are not alone God is with us. And then he goes on to say, not only has the Savior suffered and in his case entirely innocently, but so have most of the prophets and other great men and women recorded in the scriptures. Name an Old Testament or Book of Mormon prophet, name a New Testament apostle, name virtually any of the leaders in any dispensation, including our own, and you name someone who has had trouble.
My point, or this point from Elder Holland. If you are having a bad day, you've got a lot of company very good company, the best company that has ever lived. And I know that we have been taught and I have heard in my suffering, in my times of trial, the Savior is closer to me then. Then at other times that he walks with me, we know that poem, I think that often gets overused, but the idea that he carries us, we see the footsteps in the sand.
And I know from personal experience that it is through my sufferings in my trials, in my difficulty and challenges that I have learned. That I have grown, that I have stretched, and that I have felt the Savior's power more intensely than when things are easy. It doesn't mean I like it it doesn't mean I'm happy about these trials. They're hard. They're really hard. But as I look back, I think, Oh, wow, look at how much I've learned.
And I had, my brother and I were talking several years ago about our mother's death. It had been 30 years since she'd passed away. And yes, we were sad and we were talking about the sorrow, but then my brother said something. He turned to me and he looked at me and he said, do you honestly think that we would be the people we are today? If we hadn't had to go through this and I could respond with all the energy of my heart and say, no.
And as I did I could think back on how much I have learned about the atonement of Jesus Christ, about His love, about His enabling power, how much it has caused me to be more empathetic, to have to learn and do things on my own, to value and appreciate the relationships I have now, the relationships I have here on earth, and the relationships I have with those that have gone beyond, and the relationship I have with my Father in Heaven. It has helped me dig into and seek out a sure knowledge of the Plan of Salvation, and it brings more meaning to my covenants and to what I experience and to the gift and blessing of the temple.
And I could go on and on. The same is true about my trial. The challenge I've had These last 18 and a half years of being in a marriage where My husband has chosen to turn against God and to turn against the covenants and what that has meant in our family and in our life. There is so much that has been affected by that challenge and trial. There are so many tears, there's so many questions, there's so much I've wondered about. So many hard things I've gone through, but I can look back and I can see that it brought me to the Savior. It has brought me to the scriptures. It has brought me to study and learn and to become something better. I know that I am a better person.
I know that I have an increased understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ, of His atonement. I have a closer relationship with him and with my Father in Heaven. And I don't know if I would have that if I hadn't been through this trial. It has been a Deep trial, and it has been deep in my heart, but so also have the blessings and the knowledge and the testimony and the witness and the experiences I have had with the Holy Ghost and with my Savior and with my Heavenly Father.
I've had to come to know, I've had to learn how to pray. I've had to learn how to receive personal revelation. I have had to spend time in the scriptures. I have had to turn all my life over to God and choose to let Him prevail. For me, this is my Gethsemane, at least part of it. And elder, I get that from Elder Holland again, because he said, when we promise to follow the savior, to walk in his footsteps and be his disciples, we are promising to go where that divine path leads us.
And the path of salvation has always led one way or another through Gethsemane. So if the Savior faced such injustices and discouragements such persecutions, unrighteousness and suffering, we cannot expect that we are not going to face some of that if we still intend to call ourselves his true disciples and faithful followers.
And it certainly underscores the fact that the righteous in the Savior's case, the personification of righteousness, can be totally worthy before God and still suffer. So if you are suffering. If you are going through a challenge and a trial, it does not mean that God has forgotten you. It does not mean that you are not worthy.
It actually means He loves you. It means He's giving you the opportunity to stretch and to grow. It means He is close to you and reaching for you and will be there for you. I hope you are reaching to Him. I heard another podcaster, another teacher shared this analogy that sometimes we think, Oh, God's putting all these things in our path or God lets things happen or causes things to happen.
And when my mom was diagnosed with cancer, I was so grateful to my dad who sat us down and he said, we are not going to ask the question. Why is this happening to us? Because you all know your mom. Is an angel on earth and she was, and she is, but I'm so grateful he taught us. I said, we're not going to ask why, since I've been talking about my dad, I also need to share with you.
My dad's life has been anything but easy. Think of any major trial that you've had or your friends or neighbors have had. And I will tell you that my dad has had it. And usually not just once, but multiple times. He has buried two children. He has cared for and lost and been widowed twice. Two wives. He's buried two wives and been widowed twice.
There's so many things. He had financial, he nearly starved to death. There's so many. And he is such a great example of being faithful in the trial and finding joy. When people hear about his life, they're dumbfounded. And they. They think how can you even still believe in God? And the reason is because it is God.
It is the Savior who helped him and strengthened him through each and every one of these trials and continues to help him today. And one experience in particular. Has helped me keep a better perspective and has helped him. This was when my step mom, after my mom had died, my first step mom, she also was terminally ill and he was caring for her to the point where we were worried that he was going to die of exhaustion.
He was sacrificing everything to care for her. And he was at the point that it was fearing that he was going to have to declare bankruptcy because the medications were so expensive. And this after he had already raised and worked for years and years to come out of poverty and to have become self- reliant and even wealthy, but people would say is that he was wealthy.
We were wealthy and now he was at a point. where he was going to have to declare bankruptcy. And he was so worried about it. He was going to have to do it the next day. And he had an experience where the spirit said to him, Marty, you offend me. I have given you everything you need to return back to me and to receive all of the blessings that I have in store for you to receive everything I have and it has not cost you a penny. That was a defining moment in my father's life. And he continues to share that experience with me. And I am so grateful because it helps me keep a better perspective and it helps me remember to count my blessings and thank my Heavenly Father for all that He has given freely to me, to you, to all of us.
And as we went through that trial with my mom, as we continue to go through the trials in life, I am so grateful for a father who taught me well and has shared these experiences so that I don't have to ask why I can move forward in faith and just say, thy will be done. Instead, we are going to be faithful.
and put our trust in God and turn to Him, trusting that He will heal us and He will help us and that He has a plan for her, for us, for all of us, for eternity, and we will lean into our covenants. I am so grateful for that because It's super easy to say, but I'm doing everything right. I'm trying to keep the commandments. I'm going to the temple. I'm saying my prayers. I'm reading my scriptures. I'm serving my neighbor. I'm doing all these things. Why is this happening to me?
It's so easy to go there, but we cannot go there because it isn't helpful. Instead, we can say, and it's hard to get to this place. But you can, through prayer, through devotion, through faith. We can get to the place to say, why did Heavenly Father trust me with this challenge? And I know people say, they ask themselves, what is it I need to learn? And that's good. But I think more than that, what is it I need to do to grow, to become? And how grateful I am and express gratitude for the opportunity to stretch and to grow.
And you might be thinking, yeah, but I don't want to do that right now. I get that. There are definitely days when I don't want to do that. I just want to cry. I, you know what? I do I cried this morning, and as I wept, I felt the Savior's love and wrap embracing me. He is there with you. I know it. He has been through everything that is unfair. He knows what it feels like. The most unfair experience was His own sacrifice. He knows you, he loves you. So is life meant to be easy? No.
Let me go back to this analogy I started into. He used the idea of when we have children and we teach them and train them how to drive a car and we go through all the steps and it's a little scary sometimes, but once we feel they are prepared, we then allow them to take the test. And if they are certified, they pass, they get their driver's license. And then at some point. They get in a car and we let them go and we let them drive and we don't go out there and then run to our neighbors and family and friends and say, okay, she's on the road. So at this point I want you to just drive out right in front of her, see if she can handle it. And we're going to have a big hole in the road. So can you go over and you can just make a real big hole in the road so that she can fall into it. I just got to check and see if she's really got this.
No, we don't. We don't do that. Instead, we say, I'm here. Call me if you need anything. And sometimes we look on our little app and say, okay, where is she? She's safe. Did she get there safely? My daughter just went back to college and it was a cold stormy night and I was watching. Did she get there safely? And that's what loving parents do. And Heavenly Father is our ultimate loving parent. That is what He does. And so if she gets in an accident or something happens, what do we do? We run and help. My husband goes and answers her calls and helps. I go and help her.
That is what our Heavenly Father does. We live in a fallen world. Things will happen to us. It doesn't mean God caused them to happen. It means it's part of being in a fallen world. It's part of our growth experience that He will come to our aid. He is there for us. And I believe he's right there in the passenger seat, helping us ready to be with us at all times. If we will let him, he will guide us. He will comfort us.
President Eyring said, I plead with you to accept the Savior's invitation. And this invitation is to come unto him. And Alma says it too. It's easy to follow the commandments. It's easy to come onto Him. If we simply choose to do it, he will help us. And that is what will make it easy. But let me just go back on this, there are also those who choose not to follow him because following him is too easy, right? Remember the Israelites, those following Moses, they became ill. They were dying because of the fiery serpents. And all they had to do was look at the staff, but many would not because it was too easy. They would not look and be healed. Because of the easiness, because it was too simple. So we don't want to be caught in that side either. Instead, lean into the easiness of following the commandments. When we partner with our Savior, when we partner with God, he will guide us. He will help us. Just like in the car analogy, right?
So President Eyring in his talk, Stating the Storm says, I plead with you to accept the Savior's invitation, the invitation to come unto him like a meek and loving child, accept his help, make and keep the covenants he offers in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. They will strengthen you. The Savior knows the storms and the places of safety on the way home to him and to our heavenly father. He knows the way he is the way.
And from Elder Cook. He says, Jesus Christ is the author of eternal salvation. For those of us in the church striving to be peaceful followers of Christ, a brighter day awaits us as we focus on our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And President Nelson has told us that we can have joy in the journey when we focus on the Savior and we fear not. Come unto him. And Elder Cook says, and promises as he does in Alma as well, that He will give us rest, hope, strength, perspective, and healing. All wrongs will be righted and we will see with perfect clarity and faultless perspective and understanding. We will be blessed.
And as it says in Mosiah chapter two, verse 41, that we will be received into heaven and dwell with God in a state of never ending happiness. What can we do? Praise the Lord, count our blessings, lean into our covenants, be faithful, put our trust in Him, and ask for His help. It's not going to be easy, but without Him, it will be far more difficult than it ever would be with Him.
I know this. I trust in Him. I love Him, and I love you. I pray you will find His strength in your challenges, and that you will find that with God. It can be easy. May you prosper stronger forever and always through the Savior Jesus Christ, His church, and the covenants you have made with the help of the Holy Ghost.
Thank you for being here today. Thank you for staying faithful.
Thank you for joining the Prosper Stronger podcast today. We hope that you have felt inspired and empowered. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to our podcast and share it with your friends and family. I also invite you to join me at prosperstronger.com where you will find free resources to help you grow and learn as well as join in our discussions where we go deeper into some of the things that we talk about here on our podcast.
Remember that you are loved and cherished by Heavenly Father who wants you to prosper and thrive. Until next time, may you continue to cultivate covenant connections with God, with others, and with yourself, and find strength in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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