God Shall Wipe Away All Tears} Part One

Good Morning, or Good Afternoon, or Good Evening, 

this post should take approximately three to five minutes to read from start to finish.

This post is part one. This post is focuses on a October 2016 General Conference talk and it is called, "God Shall Wipe Away All Tears" by Elder Evan A. Schmutz. I would like to share with you some highlights while I was reading and listening to the talk.

Elder Schmutz mentioned, "As part of our Heavenly Father’s plan, He allowed sorrow to be woven into our mortal experience. While it seems that painful trials fall unevenly on us, we can be assured that to one degree or another, we all suffer and struggle. It is my prayer that the Holy Spirit will guide us to a greater understanding why this must be so.

When we view the difficult experiences of life through the lens of faith in Christ, we are able to see that there can be godly purpose in our suffering. The faithful can experience the truth of Peter’s seemingly contradictory counsel. He wrote, “If ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye.”

As we apply our “hearts to understanding,” we can increase in our ability to both endure our trials well and learn from and be refined by them. Such understanding provides an answer to the ageless question “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Everyone listening today is acquainted with some measure of loneliness, despair, grief, pain, or sorrow.

"The Savior can wipe away our tears of regret and remove the
burden of our sins, his atonement allows us to leave the past
behind and move forward with clean hands, a pure heart and ...
become better." - President Dieter F. Uchtdorf. 

Without an “eye of faith” and an understanding of eternal truth, we often find that the misery and suffering experienced in mortality can obscure or eclipse the eternal joy of knowing that the great plan of our Father in Heaven really is the eternal plan of happiness. There is no other way to receive a fulness of joy.

God invites us to respond with faith to our own unique afflictions in order that we may reap blessings and gain knowledge that can be learned in no other way. We are instructed to keep the commandments in every condition and circumstance, for “he that is faithful in tribulation, the reward of the same is greater in the kingdom of heaven.” And as we read in scripture, “If thou art sorrowful, call on the Lord thy God with supplication, that your souls may be joyful.”

Stay Tuned until next time.