Do you remember the happiest that you have ever been? I remember as a kid how excited I got when my parents told me that we were going to Disney Land for a family vacation. I felt as though even if I ran out into the street screaming at the top of my lungs at my soon visitation to "the place where dreams are made", it would still not have justified my happiness and excitement. This experience is but one of many happy moments in my life.
In comparison, there have been moments in my life where I have felt sorrow to such an extent that at the time I didn't think I would ever be happy again. I felt as though there were no hope, no return, no redemption from the pit in which I so sorrowfully sat. Experience and life has since taught me otherwise - that there is hope and there is and always will be a redemption. and this is what I wish to write about today.
Point 1 - There must be an opposition in all things. Have you ever wondered if there were no sorrow, no guilt, no pain, or suffering? At first thought it seems like a fairly appealing alternative, but if there were no pain or suffering, would there be joy? If you never felt sorrow, how would you know that you were feeling happiness? (See 2 Nephi 2:11-13). President Roosevelt once said: "Until we have been in the deepest valley, we can not appreciate the highest mountain." This statement rings so true with the atonement of Jesus Christ. Everything that he did and went through, he did it "that he might succor (help) you" (See Alma 7:11-12). Christ descended below all things (D & C 88:6) for you. He did it for you. In the last Friday of Christ's mortal life, his disciples watched helplessly as Christ was turned over into the hands of wicked men. He was beaten, scourged, and bruised for your iniquities (Isaiah 53:5). In contrast, 3 days later the doom that seemed to encompass Christ and his followers was overcome. Tears of sorrow and loss of their master were filled with tears of joy, tears of happiness, and tears of redemption. That Sunday, Christ came forth from the grave as a resurrected being - he overcame death, sin, wickedness, pain, temptation, and suffering. Everything that may seem unfair about life can be made right through the atonement of Jesus Christ. (See Preach my gospel, p. 52). Because of what he did, all of our tears of sorrow, tears of loss, or tears of pain will turn into tears of redemption and hope. (See Revelations 21:4-7). Or in the words of an Apostle of Jesus Christ, Sunday will come. "Each of us will have our own Fridays—those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces. We all will experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again. We will all have our Fridays.
But I testify to you in the name of the One who conquered death—Sunday will come. In the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come.
No matter our desperation, no matter our grief, in this life or the next,Sunday will come." -Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin
I remember as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I was able to experience this very thing. Missionaries are called to leave their families and all they own and possess for 2 years - called to serve the Lord. At the beginning of my mission, it was a very hard time for me. There were a lot of changes that I was not used to. I did not feel I was capable of what I had been asked to do. I felt weak, helpless. In the missionary training center in Provo, Utah, I shed tears of loss, tears of worry on my pillow almost every night. I did not think that I was capable of doing this for 2 years. Gradually, I began to learn that I should have faith in Christ and his power, and not solely in my own capabilities. I began to learn and understand that with God, all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26). I began to have an unshakable faith that I could do what I had been called to do. (Jacob 4:6). Months down the road, I found myself shedding tears of joy and redemption on my pillow one night, and I realized that I had been changed. My life had been touched by the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I had been redeemed from my sorrow and my worry. Sunday did come.
The lessons that I learned on my mission have blessed me every day of my life since. I know that in my current situation, everything will be OK as I put my trust in the Lord.
I know that Sunday will come. I know that I will once again shed tears of joy, and redemption. Because of Christ, there is and always will be a redemption. A redemption from our trials, from our confusion, from the pit in which we may sit. He is the way. He is the light.
This brings me to Point 2 - having the proper perspective is key. In the Book of Mormon, in the very first chapter and first verse. Nephi explains how he went through "many afflictions", and in that same verse he explains how he was highly favored of the Lord. (1 Nephi 1:1). How can this be? How can one go through trials and at the same time they have been greatly blessed? Further on in the book of Nephi, Nephi and his family had been traveling in the wilderness for many days. Again, Nephi explains that they had "waded through much affliction", yet again, right after that, he explains that "so great were the blessings of the Lord upon them..." 1 Nephi 17:1-3). He goes on to explain all of the blessings that they had been privileged to receive, how happy they were, and how great God had been to them. Yet, in that same chapter, the same situation that Nephi was in, his brothers said that they had gone through everything "save it were death", they say that it "would have been better that they had died" before leaving their home, and that they might have been happy. (1 Nephi 17:20-21). How can this be? Nephi and his brethren are in the same position, yet their attitudes are on the opposite ends of the spectrum. What perspective does Nephi have that his brethren do not? Reading through the book of Nephi, we find that the proper perspective that we need to have is Christ. That he will redeem us, that every trial we go through can be to our benefit. That though it may seem that we our encompassed with sorrow, we will soon be encompassed by joy and peace. On just about every page in the Book of Nephi, I found that it says "The Lord will deliver", and in some way or another there is reference to the Lord delivering us from bondage. This is the perspective that Nephi had, and the perspective that we need to have as we go through life.
Sunday will come. Whatever you may now be going through, whatever confusion, sorrow, or pit that you may be in, you will be redeemed from it. As we have the proper perspective and try to remember Christ in all that we do D&C 20:77,79), we will find that it is much easier to be happy. You will find that though you may shed tears of sorrow, despair, or pain... you will soon shed tears of redemption.
