In the 91 verse of the 88th section in the Doctrine and Covenants it says, “And all things shall be in commotion; and surely, men’s hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all people.” The times prophesied in this one verse are now. Our hearts and prayers go out to the people in France that have been effected by the recent bombings. Everywhere we look we see signs of natural disasters destroying cities, homes, and claiming lives. We hear or wars and rumors of wars and it is hard not to be scared. Thomas Paine wrote. “these are the times that try men’s souls.” Those few words written in The American Crisis apply to us today, but now we are in the World’s Crisis. The times leading up to the second coming will bring more heartache and fear than we experience today, but there is still hope.
Elder Russell M. Nelson told of an experience that he had he said, “I was in a small airplane and all of the sudden the engine on the wing caught fire. It exploded and burning oil was poured all over the right side of the airplane and we started to dive toward the earth. We were spinning down our death. Oh, this woman across the aisle, I just was so sorry for her. She was just absolutely uncontrollably hysterical. And I was calm. I was totally calm, even though I knew I was going down to my death. I was ready to meet my Maker. We didn't crash. We didn't die. The spiral dive extinguished the flame. The pilot got control and started the other engine up. We made an emergency landing out in a field. But I thought, through that experience, if you've got faith, you can handle difficulties knowing that with any true perspective that all will be well. In Luke 21, "The Earth shall be in distress, nations with perplexity, the seas and the waves roaring. Men's hearts failing them for fear." What we're seeing is a prediction that in these latter days people will be afraid. Men's hearts are failing, and that includes women, because they forget their identity and their purpose. The heartaches will come. I've lived through the death of a wife in the death of a daughter. I've seen the troubles that divorce brings. Children or grandchildren go astray, disability, illness, injuries. For the individual who is weak in the heart, fearful in the heart, be patient with yourself. Perfection comes not in this life, but in the next life. Don't demand things that are unreasonable, but demand of yourself improvement. As you let the Lord help you through that, He will make the difference. I'm so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ that allows me that kind of strength in these tumultuous times.”
God is in charge. He expects us to trust in that truth and not jump ship when trials enter into our lives. I liked what Elder Nelson said when he said, “Men’s hearts are failing, and that includes women, because they forget their identity and their purpose” One of Satan’s greatest tools is to get us to forget who we are and what we can become and if he gets us to do that he has won.
I had the opportunity to extend my mission to be able to serve an extra six weeks making my mission a 25-month mission. As time wound down to the last two transfers I got transferred to a new area. If I had not extended it would have been my last transfer, but I was to serve my last two transfers in this area. The area I had been assigned to was one of the smallest in the mission but as zone leaders we were to serve over the largest zone in the mission. When I got to the area there wasn’t much. We only had a couple of investigators and no one else to teach, the zone we were in was having a bit of a hard time. Every week seemed to bring a new challenge. As the transfer continued I found myself so stressed that I began to be frustrated I thought, “I have worked so hard all of my mission and this is how it is going to end” It came to the point that I almost couldn’t take it anymore. It had been a hard long day and my companion and I walked home both of us overwhelmed with the task we had to face and neither of us had answers. There were only a couple of weeks left in the transfer and I began to be wonder if I had made a mistake about extending my mission. I felt that the work I had been sent there to do wasn’t finished but I didn’t know how I could endure anymore. My companion and I finished our daily planning and I couldn’t take it anymore. I took off my white shirt and threw it to the floor and said to my companion “I am done! I am supposed to go home in a week and I am stuck here for another six weeks! I am done!” My companion just laughed said something to the effect of, “things will work out”. I am thankful for him without him I don’t know how I could have made it through that transfer. I didn’t have the attitude or the perspective that I needed to understand that everything would be work out and they did work out! The last transfer of my mission was one of the best transfers that I had on my mission. Sometimes God asks us to do what the psalmist said “Be still, and know that I am God.” While the Prophet Joseph Smith was incarcerated in Liberty Jail he received the following revelation from God
“If thou art called to pass through tribulation; if thou art in perils among false bretheren; if thou art in perils among robbers; if thou art in perils by land or by sea; If thou art accused with all manner of false accusations; if thine enemies fall upon thee; if they tear thee from the society of thy father and mother and bretheren and sisters; and if with a drawn sword thine enemies tear thee from the bosom of thy wife, and of thine offspring, and thine elder son, although but six years of age, shall cling to thy garments, and shall say, My father, my father, why can’t you stay wit us? O, my father what are the men going to do with you? And if then he shall be thrust from thee by the sword, and thou be dragged to prison, and thine enemies prowl around thee like wolves for the blood of the lamb; and if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all of these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good. The son of man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he? Therefore, Hold on….” (D&C 122:5-9)
God expects us to Hold on, remain faithful and endure to the end. He knows it won’t be easy but it will all work out. God lives!!!!!!!! He loves you more than you can possibly imagine! “The Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted. But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.” (Isaiah 49:13-16).
Trust in God, wait upon the Lord, don’t give up and remember “all of these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good…. Therefore, hold on…”