(Excerpts taken from "Making Sense of Suffering" by Wayne Brickey (Deseret Book)
"The costs of growth are temporary; the results are eternal. No matter how much we know of this world's distress, we see only a tiny, stern episode in a long and marvelous story. We rarely get a hint of the completed product, the coming together of the premortal, mortal, and postmortal pieces of the puzzle. But now and then we get a peek at the wondrous growth going on.
"How can we expect to receive salvation if we have not experienced a small particle of what the Savior felt?
"Sadness can turn to joy and pain to peace if we will turn our hearts to the Master.
"Mortality may also be compared to the brief time needed to purify gold or silver. What could not happen at normal temperatures takes place in a moment under extreme heat: the ore melts and impurities are released. We bring the heat of mortality an ancient ore. Dramatic change unfolds as we take our turn in the fiery furance of adversity under the eye of the Refiner. There, we need be mortal only once, and only briefly.
"Sorrow seems to move in slow motion. But when the moment has passed, we will move back into eternity with ease. Time will lose its hold on our minds, and we will behold the Eternal One.
"God always sees this realm, mindful of how the temporal affects the permanent. He sees where things are headed. He scans the heart for spots that need cleaning, mending, building. Of course, these spots do not show up unless we are under some stress.
"Suffering is finely connected to the versatile and permanent self, the spirit. Suffering is a spiritual matter.
"The greatest beings in eternity gained their high ground by going uphill one step at a time. Even our exemplar, Christ, grew in stages.
"Just what is the work of the sufferer? Is there really a mission for one whose limbs are immovable, whose strength is gone, or whose mind is nearly expended by gnawing pain? To those in tribulation, the Lord has given specific goals: faithfulness, patience, and cheer. It's all inner work.
"Faith gives us patience!
"The patience of faith is based on gospel hope, which in turn is based on gospel truth. Knowing all things, God abounds with hope. If we cannot know all that he knows, we can still trust what he knows and hope with him.
"Stunning blows to the life of a good soul are normal and should be expected. But from him who overcame all things we have a commandment to be of good cheer. It is our way of overcoming with him.
'In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.'
(John 16:33)
"Under his watchful eye we are chastened. The meaning of this interesting word is to discipline, purify, prune, refine, humble, subdue. Thus, our Father's chastening is not a prison but a passage to his presence--not a forbidding wall but an inviting veil."
CHALLENGE
CHALLENGE
