Day 1 - 2 Nephi 2:2 "Nevertheless, Jacob, my first-born in the wilderness, thou knowest the greatness of God; and he shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain"
"One element of the greatness of God is His ability and desire to consecrate our afflictions for our gain. Look up the meaning of the word consecrate in the dictionary. Write the definition in your journal. Write about the afflictions that have come into your life. Keep in mind that afflictions can be trials, heartaches, or illnesses, anything that causes you pain and distress, including your own mistakes. How have you seen the consecrating poser of God applied to these afflictions?"
Consecrate = to solemnly dedicate or devote something to a sacred purpose, to render holy.
How long should my list be? Since I have all of the above: trials, heartaches, illnesses, pain, distress, PMS, mistakes (lots of mistakes) this could be a really long entry. Sometimes we feel overwhelmed with afflictions, and the thought off feeling grateful for them, or thinking them good things can be a little much. ESPECIALLY when we're right in the middle of them. But I understand this principle in general, in fact received personal revelation about hard times and wrote about it on my blog. It's kind of long, but this entry really means something to me. Patty Ann writes some wonderful thoughts about this topic on her blog too.
I love this one. I too have written about it. You can go here: http://pitterlepostings.blogspot.com/2010/09/things-cannot-always-be-fixed.html
ReplyDeleteto see my thoughts on it. I think this is so true. I have found, in my own life, that many of the trials I have gone through have brought me closer to my Heavenly Father, they have strengthened my testimony, and made me who I am today. As much as I did not like going through them, I am not sure that I would be in the place I am today without them. So, I am thankful and amazed at His love.
That was a beautiful post on your blog. I'm putting your link in my post above because for some reason, they don't work in comments. I especially liked: "Today, I have watched others hurt and tried my best to comfort and found myself hurting for their pain. Today, I realize that I cannot fix everything, or even most things. There are things that each of us need to experience so that we can grow. Sometimes those things, cannot be "fixed" they must simply be endured."
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