Faith in the Future
Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults
Sunday, May 5, 2024
Thank you very much, Elder and Sister Gilbert, for your comments and testimonies. And I do remember that experience in Peru and also your teachings and how blessed we were and they were for your teachings those days.
I want to conclude my comments with one word: hope.
I believe that it is easier for us older people to recognize the hand of the Lord in our lives than it is for you younger people. Because we have lived many more years and have had many more experiences in our past, we are able to look behind and see the hands of a loving Heavenly Father guiding us and protecting us throughout our lives.
Looking back now, I recognize that in many moments that I thought I was alone, I was not. I can see now that when some doors were closed and I was wondering why and complaining about it, when I thought that my prayers were not being answered, actually, another door in another moment or in another place was being opened to a better path. But I could not see it in those days. But I can see it now, looking back.
In many other moments, I thought I was the one making wise decisions by myself or with Mônica, believing I was the smart one building my bright future. I can see now an invisible hand behind the scenes guiding me and protecting me from possible mistakes. I can see that He was always there for me.
That is why I can testify that we have a Father in Heaven who knows us and cares for us. I can testify we have a Savior who loves us and is ready to help us in any circumstances of our lives.
Sometimes, some of you may think that nobody knows what you are going through in your life, and maybe you are right; we don’t. But the Savior does. Elder Bednar taught us:
“There is no physical pain, no anguish of soul, no suffering of spirit, no infirmity or weakness that you or I ever experience during our mortal journey that the Savior did not experience first. You and I in a moment of weakness may cry out, ‘No one understands. No one knows.’ No human being, perhaps, knows. But the Son of God perfectly knows and understands, for He felt and bore our burdens before we ever did. And because He paid the ultimate price and bore that burden, He has perfect empathy and can extend to us His arm of mercy in so many phases of our [lives].”
In Alma 7 we learn how and why the Savior is able to provide this type of help.
“And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.”
Thus, the Savior has suffered not just for our iniquities but also suffered for the unfairness, the pain, the anguish, and all the emotional distress that we could go through in our lives.
And then Alma concludes:
“And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.”
I have a personal testimony of this heavenly help. I have experienced it through my youth, my marriage, my parenting, and my leadership life. I know that my Redeemer lives and through His grace and the blessings of His Atonement, we can have hope and joy in this life and an eternal family in the next.
And I testify of this, with all my love, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.