Alma 57

(May 2, 2015)

                We see the miraculous rescue of the Stripling Warriors and I think that sometimes I take the wrong lessons from it.  I see that they were preserved by His power, and I think that I should likewise be preserved.  But I view that preservation as protection from harm, rather than viewing it as the ability to overcome the harms inflicted on us, is where my misunderstanding comes from.

                The Lord promises that, like the Stripling Warriors, no external enemy will be empowered to destroy our souls.  But He does not promise, as He did not promise the Stripling Warriors, that our souls will not be wounded.  In fact, there were no Stripling Warriors who did not suffer many wounds (just as, I expect, there are none of us to be Exalted who do not suffer many wounds – temporal, emotional, and spiritual).

                Only when I remember this am I able to keep in mind that the pain I am going through is not something that is unexpected and to recognize the blessing of the preservation from death rather than becoming ungrateful for the pain I am going through.