Look to the Light

               

"As we ponder the events that can befall all of us—even sickness, accident, death, and a host of lesser challenges, we can say, with Job of old, “Man is born unto trouble.... It may be safely assumed that no person has ever lived entirely free of suffering and tribulation. Nor has there ever been a period in human history that did not have its full share of turmoil, ruin, and misery.

When the pathway of life takes a cruel turn, there is the temptation to think or speak the phrase, “Why me?” Self-incrimination is a common practice, even when we may have had no control over our difficulty.

However, at times there appears to be no light at the tunnel’s end—no dawn to break the night’s darkness. We feel surrounded by the pain of broken hearts, the disappointment of shattered dreams, and the despair of vanished hopes. We join in uttering the biblical plea, “Is there no balm in Gilead?” We are inclined to view our own personal misfortunes through the distorted prism of pessimism. We feel abandoned, heartbroken, alone.

To all who so despair, may I offer the assurance of the Psalmist’s words: “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”

Whenever we are inclined to feel burdened down with the blows of life’s fight, let us remember that others have passed the same way, have endured, and then have overcome.

There is one life that sustains those who are troubled or beset with sorrow and grief—even the Lord Jesus Christ.”

If you feel unclean, unloved, unhappy, unworthy, or unwhole, remember all that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.” Have faith and patience in the Savior’s timing and purposes for you. “Be not afraid, only believe” (Mark 5:36). Thomas S. Monson, “Meeting Life’s Challenges,” Ensign, Nov. 1993, 71.