At the April 2009 General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the "Church"), Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, shared the story of a family in Chincha, Peru, whose home was wiped away, along with all of their belongings, by the massive earthquake that occurred there in August, 2007. Elder Christofferson related how, when speaking with the mother of that family, a visiting Church leader was surprised by her smiling demeanor. When asked how she could maintain her positive outlook, she replied, “I have prayed and I am at peace. We have all we need. We have each other, we have our children, we are sealed in the temple, we have this marvelous Church, and we have the Lord. We can build again with the Lord’s help.”[1]
In the same conference, Thomas S. Monson (president of the Church) shared the story of his maternal great-grandparents and their difficult journey from Scotland to Utah in response to the directive at that time for members of the Church to gather together to build a home base for "Zion". They travelled some 4,800 kilometers, he said: eight weeks aboard a small ship on a turbulent sea with meager food and water to sustain them. During this period, one of their young sons became ill. Without doctors or medicine, the boy deteriorated day after day till at last he died. He died on their way to Zion, in response to the call of the Lord’s prophet. How easy it would have been to condemn the Church, to hurl anger at God, to refuse to go further. And if they did this, it is doubtful President Monson would be where, who or what he is today. Instead, however, they carried on, comforted, he said, by the words of the Lord: “In this world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”[2]
These stories, and many like them that you might know about from your own lives and the lives of family members and friends in or out of the Church, exemplify the true nature and definition of faith; a definition that I like to express in this way: live as if…
The Apostle Paul spoke of faith in this way in his letter to the Hebrews, where he speaks of the many patriarchs of our faith, noting that Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Jacob, who experienced many blessings in the flesh because of their faithfulness, nevertheless “died in the faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off.” Having this vision, those ancient fathers and mothers of our faith, “were persuaded of [the promises], and embraced them.” [3]
To live as if, is to place your confidence in the promises the Lord has given... to act upon your belief and ...make His promises come true. | We see this type and manifestation of faith as well in lives of the authors of the Book of Mormon. From the beginning, Nephi and Jacob and later Mormon and Moroni saw the future of their people and knew that the book they wrote was not for them or their companions or their children, but for a future country, for a people they had never met, for the promise the Lord gave them that by that book their people could be restored to righteousness and the gospel of Jesus Christ would be restored to a generation that had lost the fullness of it. The characteristic that defines the faith of these and all true saints, is not merely believing in what the Lord has said, but acting upon it. This idea of faith is not simply belief, but belief converted into action; it moves those who have it from merely having confidence to making and keeping covenants. |
There is no promise that in this world we will have perfect physical comfort. Though we want it, and though most of us in this country experience more than our fair share of it, we cannot count upon it. But we can count upon the promises of the Lord that, while in this world there will be injustice, sorrow and pain, in the world to come all things will be made right; that here, though nothing else may give us reason to be calm and comforted, in Him we can have peace.
I believe that God, our Heavenly Father, loves us with a perfect love that is not tainted or hindered by our faults or failings, our struggles or our doubts. Those qualities of our experiences are, rather, the very essence of His gifts to us. Through them we may become inspired to turn to Him, to let Him help us, and to let Him heal us. I believe we can take at His word the Lord who is called “the God of all comfort,”[4] that we can trust that in Him and through Him all things will be resolved and made right, and that, in particular, His atonement is sufficient to cleanse every spot, to heal every wound, to restore every loss, to wipe every tear, to mend every broken heart, to bring wholeness and happiness and peace here and now even as we endure in the midst of our trials and tribulations and particularly as we act in faith on the assurances He has given us to make His promises come true.
[1] Elder D. Todd Christofferson, “The Power of Covenants,” General Conference, April 2009.
[2] President Thomas S. Monson, “Be of Good Cheer,” General Conference, April 2009.
[3] Hebrews 11:13.
[4] 2 Corinthians 1:3.
Adapted from a talk delivered on June 14, 2009, at the Walkerton Branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.