Church this weekend was absolutely incredible! Yesterday in
Relief Society, Mayson, taught an amazing lesson about “Living Joyfully in
Troubled Times.” During the lesson, an analogy came to my mind about a wood
block. I hope the way I describe this can help you visualize how beautiful this sounded in my mind :)
We are like a wood block, told by the Master, a Carpenter,
of its potential to become something incredibly beautiful in His hands. In 2
Corinthians 2:9, it says “eye hath not seen, nor ear head, neither have entered
into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love
him.”
We know that in order to become that masterpiece, we need to
be carved, which I imagine would be a painful process.
The Carpenter knows we are ready to grow, to mold, so He begins
the painful process of carving. We can choose to deny His touch perhaps out of
fear of the pain, forget His encouraging words and promises, and throw ourselves
off the table. The fall would still cause pain and dent the surface, but wouldn’t
help us to become something greater. Christ will always lovingly pick up back up.
We could choose to deny or we could choose to accept His
plan. We can choose to submit to His loving hands and tender touch. He can only mold us though if we let Him. We find
that as we submit to Him and His plan, the carving process is less painful than
we thought. We may not be able to see what He is helping us become, but as we
trust in Him, we can find immense joy in the process. As 2 Nephi 2:25 says, “Men
are that they might have joy.”
President Ezra Taft Benson testified, “Do we realize that
happiness here and now consists of freely, lovingly, joyfully acknowledging God’s
will for us—and doing it in all ways and all affairs big and small?”
I know that God loves us. I know that He has a plan. I know
that through Christ and His Atonement we can become something more beautiful
than we could have ever imagined. Turn your life over to Him and allow Him to
mold you during trials. I testify that as you do, life becomes happier even
though it’s hard. Immense joy is found is trusting the Savior’s hands – those hands
pierced for us.
One of my favorite quotes is from Brother Lawrence E. Corbridge. He says, "Just give it up. Surrender your will to Him. Unconditionally. Withhold nothing. Turn it all over to Him; all of your desires, wishes, dreams and hopes. Be true and faithful in your head and in your heart, not just your behavior. Trust in Him. Trust Him who knows all things. Trust Him who has all power. Trust Him whose love for you is perfect. Trust Him, who alone suffered, paid and atoned for your sins, and your weaknesses as well. Trust Him that He will make of you, immeasurably more, than what you will ever, ever, in all eternity, make of yourself. He will create of you a masterpiece. You will create only a smudge. You will create an ordinary man. He will create a God."
