Without Stain
The Arsenal God Gave Me to Win in Times of Trouble, Trials, and Tribulation
B. A. Robinson[1]
I have prayed for the attendance
of the Spirit as I speak to you today. This is a topic that I hold dear and yet
don’t fulling comprehend. It is the blessings of trials. In the event that you
have not experienced trials or have had tests of your faith, I hope that my
comments and remarks may have some benefit to you all the same.
C. S. Lewis, in a letter wrote, “God,
who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not
without pain but without stain.”[2]
But I want to say that to you
this afternoon. “God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to
go through it, not without pain but without stain.”
Let that sit in for a moment.
“Not without pain but without
stain.”
I have entitled my remarks today Without
Stain: The Arsenal God Has Given Me to Win in Times of Trouble, Trials, and
Tribulation.
Have you ever wondered why you
have trials, more specifically the trials that you have? Why certain urges,
tendencies, or temptations would be considered bad or detrimental to our souls.
The Lord, to Moroni said, “And if
men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness
that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble
themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith
in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.”[3]
We have also been told, “There
hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted
above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape,
that ye may be able to bear it.[4]
I’m sure many of us have heard
these scriptures before, especially if we took seminary. We have been told that
trials and tribulations are for our good, to help us grow, to help us become
like God. But how much do we fully comprehend that. God gave us weaknesses to
make us humble. His grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves. And
if they humble themselves and have faith, then will He make weak things become
strong unto us. And that He will also make a way to
escape, that we may be able to bear it.
I want to talk more about the
tools that God has “specially armed” me with to get through times of trouble,
trials, and tribulation.
Scripture Study
Back in 1990, Elder Neal A.
Maxwell made the remark that, “Today we carry convenient quadruple combination
of the scriptures, but one day, since more scriptures are coming, we may need to
pull little red wagons brim with books. Of course,” he added, “computers may
replace wagons.”[5]
We have come a long way in the 26
years since then and I am amazed at how readily available the scriptures are to
us. I carry them wherever I go because they now fit in a 6x3x.5in box I call a
smart phone. Well, really I call her Fiona, but that’s only when she’s in map
mode because I gave her a British accent. But not only do I carry the canonized
scriptures, like the Bible, Book of Mormon, Hymn Book, etc. but I also carry
every conference talk (which are now available the week after!), lesson manual,
and missionary tool needed to have a full and rich scripture study every day.
This is truly a gift from God, to have everything so accessible…but how often
do I access them?
But the scriptures are full of
examples of people and situations that were meant for our day. They were meant
for me, they were meant for you!
President Boyd K. Packer said, “When I understood
that the Holy Ghost could communicate through our feelings, I understood why
the words of Christ, whether from the New Testament or the Book of Mormon or
the other scriptures, carried such a good feeling. In time, I found that the
scriptures had answers to things I needed to know.
“I read, ‘Now these are
the words, and ye may liken them unto you and unto all men.’[6]I
took that to mean that the scriptures are likened to me personally, and that is
true of everyone else.
“When a verse I had
passed over several times took on personal meaning, I thought whoever wrote
that verse had a deep and mature understanding of my life and how I felt.”[7]
What I love about likening the
scriptures to myself is that they are a living book, their meaning applies to
where I am at in life and the same verse can have different meanings at
different stages in my life. The words hadn’t changed, but I had, and letting
the Spirit in has opened my eyes a little more.
Prayer
Prayer has become a huge part of
my life. I’m still learning how to use it properly, but isn’t that what this
life is for. I was taught to pray when I wake up, before each meal, and before
I go to bed. There is also the admonition to always have a prayer in your
heart.
I remember my testimony of prayer being
strengthened on my mission. During a personal study, I was reading an article
in a conference Ensign which read, “One
of the adversary’s sharpest tools is to convince us that we are no longer worthy
to pray. No matter who you are or what you may have done, you can always pray.”[8]
From that moment on I knew that I
could always turn to my Heavenly Father. I may not always receive the answer
right away, and most often not the one I had been hoping for, but I could pray.
There are times when I am especially struggling and I just need to break free
from what I am doing. I go for a walk and talk with God. Usually out loud and definitely
in Russian. I’m sure if people came upon me they think I am crazy. But in the
stillness of my walk I talk to God and if I listen, He talks back, and I praise
Him for the inspiration that He send me. God is so good and mindful of me and
willing to help, but it is when I turn to Him that my needs, my true needs get
met.
A while ago while doing a
personal study of my own about prayer, I was reading about how prayer is our
way of communicating with God, and I wondered, Why do I have one way to talk to
God, but He has so many ways to talk to me? I am able to receive personal
revelation directly, or through the scriptures. He even uses others to bless my
life, why do I have one way to communicate with Him. My time pondering this
lead to a profound response. Who am I to deny someone a blessing for being an
answer to my prayer when I desire a straight forward answer? And I communicate
with God in more ways than just through prayer. My actions speak loud enough.
The way I keep my covenants, keep the commandments, and always remember Him.
Through prayer I am able to come
to know my Heavenly Father and Christ, but I also get to know myself better.
With prayer I am able to face anything that may come my way.
Church Attendance
I have met a lot of people who
confuse the Church with church culture. I know all too well the feeling of
being excluded, of not wanting to come anymore because there was no one there
for me. I was alone and struggling because I didn’t fit in. From time to time I
still have that mentality, especially in new situations, and especially when I
think of my many struggles or trials that I deal with. But I had my sights all
wrong.
President Uchtdorf has so
eloquently pointed out that, “We come to church not to hide our problems but to
heal them.”[9]
My job is not to fit in or to
dawn on a mask to make myself presentable, but to work on myself. The blessing
of the sacrament is a great way to do that. A clean slate is what I ultimately
want, and the Atonement of Christ and the ordinance of the sacrament help me
get there. I am a work in progress, but I am trying.
Nourishment by the good word of
God is something that we all need and have the chance to receive in the second
and third hours of Church.
Having a day of rest has been
important in my journey. I learned that it’ll all be better if I can make it to
Sunday. To be able to have that day with the Lord and hit a sort of reset
button has helped put things in perspective. God knew that I would need this
day for all the troubles, trials, and tribulations I was going to deal with in
this life.
Repentance Process / The Bishop
“If any of you has stumbled in
his journey, I assure you that there is a way back. The process is called
repentance. Although the path is difficult, your eternal salvation depends on
it. What could be more worthy of your efforts? I plead with you to determine
right here and now to take the steps necessary to fully repent. The sooner you
do so, the sooner you will be able to experience the peace and the quietness
and the assurance spoken of....”[10]
One of the greatest tools that
God has given me it the repentance process. I have used it and I continue to
use it. I’m actually using it right now. I am always striving to be my best
self and overcome my many mistakes and habits that don’t align with the will of
God.
But I am not always able to do it
alone. The Bishop is a resource, I felt bad calling him a tool, that God has
given us. When sins are serious enough, they need to be brought to the Bishop.
I am not sure when the connotation of meeting with the bishop became a bad one,
but it is one to be celebrated, because someone has humbled themselves and is
striving to move forward. I know that the Bishop may not understand everything
you or I may be going through, but I invite you to give him a chance. I believe
that he only has our best interests at heart.
Weary Not
If I know anything, it’s that we all are going through
something right now, life is hard, and with the way things are going, it’s only
going to get harder.
As Jeffrey R. Holland said, “If
for a while the harder you try, the harder it gets, take heart. So it has been
with the best people who ever lived.”[11]
If the way be full of trial, weary not. God is on our side.
Turn to Him. He has armed us with the tools to get us through. “Not without
pain, but without stain.”
[1]
I always struggle whether to write my talk like a conference talk or like and
EFY speaker, side note I’ve never been to EFY, it wasn’t my cup of tea, so I
basically mean people like John Bytheway or Hank Smith. But I want to show
reverence for the topic I am addressing, but also put myself into my work, not
that I’m not reverent, I can be, but I’m not all the time.
[2]
C. S. Lewis Letters of C. S. Lewis para. 2, pg. 219
[3]
Ether 12:27
[4]
1 Corinthians 10:13
[5]
Neal A. Maxwell. A Wonderful Flood of Light, Bookcraft, 1990, pg. 18
[7]
Boyd K. Packer, The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ—Plain and
Precious Truths, April 2005 General Conference
[9]
Dieter F. Uchtdorf, On Being Genuine, April 2015 General Conference
[10]
Thomas S. Monson, Keep the Commandments, October 2015 General Conference
[11]
Jeffrey R. Holland, The Inconvenient Messiah, BYU Devotioal, 27 February 1982
