Mental ilness

I've struggled with mental illness on and off since I was a teenager.

Of course I could blame it on genetics, having a history of mental illness in the family.

I could blame it on things that happened in my childhood.

I could blame it on my environment growing up.

I could blame it on the media and the way it targets the emotionally vulnerable for profit.

I could blame it on myself for being so naive and ignorant. 

I could blame myself for giving in to temptation, or for wilfully rebelling against what I know is right.

But I won't pass blame onto anyone or anything.

I can't change the past and I wouldn't want to; I am who I am today because of everything I've been through.

My brother Jared struggled with bipolar disorder and other serious mental health challenges some years ago. I was speaking to him about it the other day and he said something that hit me hard. He said that when he was being diagnosed with this and that, and being told he had different conditions etc he realised something- "Only I could decide who or what I wanted to be." I think the real root cause of mental illness is when we forget who we are, and we don't know who we want to become. When we forget who we are, we lose our true sense of identity and seek to find it in other ways - this is often when addictions begin to form.

There are things everyone can do to boost their health. Of course it comes back to living the word of wisdom to the best of our knowledge and ability. Get enough sleep, eat nutritious meals, don't partake of anything that is harmful to your body. As hard as it is, I know that eating badly is one thing that seriously impedes on my mental health, but it is something that I just find so hard to give up. Eating unhealthily is for me, I feel, my only outlet. But I don't need to cut everything out, I just need to try and find healthier substitutes. It's difficult when everything that is healthier is ten times more expensive. Of course, exercise is another thing that will really help. I walk every day, but I need to try and get my heart rate up by going for a run or a swim and making more consistent efforts throughout the week.

I know that doing things I love will help. Music, singing, composing, writing prose and poetry, spending time painting or doing other forms of artwork, spending time with family etc. And of course the most important daily things: reading the scriptures, praying, fasting etc. I think I can be more diligent with my personal prayers and open up more to heavenly father and really let out everything I'm thinking and feeling. I also know that I need to fast more often and that will help too.

I don't know if this is something I can ever overcome, but I trust that if I am faithful and striving to do all that I can, the Lord can help my weaknesses to become strengths. I know He can purify me and refine me, so that I can be a vessel through which others are able to partake of His love. I know that the Saviour Jesus Christ lives. He lives, He loves me beyond what I can imagine, and He loves all of His children equally and unconditionally.

I hope, one day, i will be able to have the firmness of mind that allows me to feast upon the love of God forever.

Jacob 3: 1-2

Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions... lift up your heads and...feast upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm, forever.

Self mastery

"Before you can master yourself, my precious one, you need to know who you are." 

-Russell M. Nelson

"There will always be voices telling you that you are foolish to believe that you are swans, insisting you are but ugly ducklings and that you can't expect to become anything else. But you know better." -Dieter F. Uchtdorf

“One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.” 

-Leonardo da Vinci

We need to know who we are before we can develop self mastery.
For, how do we master our "self" if we do not know the "self" we are seeking to master.

So, who are we?
We are spirit sons/daughters of God with divine potential.
We also have a physical body and therefore are "natural" men and women.

"You consist of two parts—your physical body, and your spirit which lives within your body. You may have heard the expression 'mind over matter'. That’s what I would like to talk about—but phrase it a little differently: 'spirit over body.' That is self-mastery."

-Russell M. Nelson

Self mastery is not about controlling the "natural man/woman", but rather it is about making a conscious choice; it is choosing to strive for our divine potential.We know that the "natural man is an enemy to God"..."unless he yields to the enticings of the spirit." (Mosiah 3:19) We also know that each human being suffers similar temptations. (1 Corinth 10:13)Nevertheless, for each individual, certain temptations are more difficult to resist than others.It is important to ask ourselves, in honesty: 
What are our weaknesses? What are we easily tempted by? 
This is the "self" we are seeking to master.

A change of heart

What a wise thing it is to change our questions. To quit asking “How can I get control of my life, my children, my situation?” and start asking “How can I experience the mighty change of heart? How can I yield my will to His? How can I put God first in my life and trust Him totally? How can I remember that God is in charge, that all things happen for a purpose, and that all trials are tailor-made for our growth and individual instruction? The relief that comes from asking the right questions is transformative, comforting, freeing.

"The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature." -Ezra Taft Benson

“A new heart . . . will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).

"Master, with anguish of spirit

I bow in my grief today.

The depths of my sad heart are troubled.

Oh, waken and save, I pray!

Torrents of sin and of anguish

Sweep o'er my sinking soul,

And I perish! I perish! dear Master.

Oh, hasten and take control!"

Note the difference in the final two lines of the following poems. The first poem is entitled "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley. The second poem is a replica of the first, but replaces self-mastery with the Saviour's ability to captain one's soul. The second is entitled "My captain", by Dorothea Day.

"I am the master of my fate;   I am the captain of my soul." Contrasted with

"Christ is the Master of my fate,
 Christ is the Captain of my soul."

Some steps towards Self Mastery:

Observe the law of the fast
As funds are contributed from meals missed, the needs of the poor may be met. But meanwhile, through your spirit, you develop personal power over your body’s drives of hunger and thirst. Fasting gives you confidence to know that your spirit can master appetite.

Observe the Word of Wisdom
Remember, it contains a “promise, adapted to the capacity of … the weakest of all saints.” (D&C 89:3) It was given “in consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days.” (D&C 89:4)

Exercise
“Glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Cor. 6:20)

I would not want you to neglect your body. It deserves daily care. Physical conditioning through regular exercise requires self-mastery too. But our motivation should never be to attain physical longevity.  Our desires should be to serve God and His anointed. Those faithful in “magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies. They become … the elect of God.” (D&C 84:33–34)

Serve others
President Spencer W. Kimball observed: “To be unselfish totally, always thinking of others before one’s self, is a great step toward self-mastery.”

Never give up

A small child learns to walk by falling and getting back up. Self-control often comes the same way. We must never get discouraged. Are our only two options perfection or failure? No! We need to be happy with progress, no matter how small.

Fill your life with goodness

We must make sure that we FILL our minds with goodness. It is not enough to merely cast out all evil thoughts, if our minds consist of nothing else. We must be "anxiously engaged in a good cause"! We must give our mind options of other thoughts to think! Our minds cannot survive without nourishment - thoughts. Emptying all negative thoughts, with nothing else to sustain our minds will lead to a natural resistance as an act of self-preservation. It is not enough for an ill person to cure themselves of disease, if they do not give their bodies all other life-sustaining substances. One who quits smoking by simply stopping breathing will die. Sure, they are no longer breathing in smoke, but neither are they filling their lungs with anything that sustains life. Thoughts of the Saviour are the most life-giving thoughts one can think, for he is the "life and the light of the world."

“May we be convinced that Jesus is the Christ, choose to follow Him, be changed for Him, captained by Him, consumed in Him, and born again” -Ezra Taft Benson

"Christ is the Master of my fate,

 Christ is the Captain of my soul."

Let virtue garnish thy thoughts

Proverbs 31:10 

Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.

We were warned at the beginning of this dispensation that sexual immorality would be perhaps the greatest challenge we would face.

"Sometimes people try to convince themselves that sexual relations outside of marriage are acceptable if the participants love one another. This is not true. Breaking the law of chastity and encouraging someone else to do so is not an expression of love. People who love each other will never endanger one another’s happiness and safety in exchange for temporary personal pleasure."
(True to the Faith, Chastity)

"Why is lust such a deadly sin? Well, in addition to the completely Spirit-destroying impact it has upon our souls, I think it is a sin because it defiles the highest and holiest relationship God gives us in mortality—the love that a man and a woman have for each other and the desire that couple has to bring children into a family intended to be forever. Someone said once that true love must include the idea of permanence. True love endures. But lust changes as quickly as it can turn a pornographic page or glance at yet another potential object for gratification walking by, male or female. Love makes us instinctively reach out to God and other people. Lust, on the other hand, is anything but godly and celebrates self-indulgence. Love comes with open hands and open heart; lust comes with only an open appetite."
("Place no more for the enemy of my soul" - Jeffrey R. Holland)

"True love can alter human lives and change human nature." 

-Thomas S. Monson

Thomas S. Monson speaks about the courage we need in three aspects of our lives:

• First, the courage to refrain from judging others;
• Second, the courage to be chaste and virtuous; and
• Third, the courage to stand firm for truth and righteousness.

"To be entrusted with the power to create life carries with it the greatest of joys and dangerous temptations. The gift of mortal life and the capacity to kindle other lives is a supernal blessing. Through the righteous exercise of this power, as in nothing else, we may come close to our Father in Heaven and experience a fulness of joy. This power is not an incidental part of the plan of happiness. It is the key—the very key." ("Cleansing the Inner Vessel", Boyd K. Packer)

The deadly plague of Pornography

“You live in a world of terrible temptations. Pornography, with its sleazy filth, sweeps over the earth like a horrible, engulfing tide. It is poison. Do not watch it or read it. It will destroy you if you do. It will take from you your self-respect. It will rob you of a sense of the beauties of life. Stay away from it. Shun it as you would a foul disease, for it is just as deadly. Be virtuous in thought and in deed.”
-Gordon B. Hinckley

In our day the dreadful influence of pornography is like unto a plague sweeping across the world, infecting one here and one there, relentlessly trying to invade every home, most frequently through the husband and father. The effect of this plague can be, unfortunately often is, spiritually fatal. Lucifer seeks to disrupt “the great plan of redemption,”; “the great plan of happiness.”

Pornography will always repel the Spirit of Christ and will interrupt the communications between our Heavenly Father and His children and disrupt the tender relationship between husband and wife.
The priesthood holds consummate power. It can protect you from the plague of pornography—and it is a plague—if you are succumbing to its influence. If one is obedient, the priesthood can show how to break a habit and even erase an addiction. Holders of the priesthood have that authority and should employ it to combat evil influences. 

("Cleansing the Inner Vessel", Boyd K. Packer)

 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.  (Romans 12: 21)

Elder Hales expresses that "ironically, standing strong sometimes means avoiding and even fleeing from the world." We see this clearly in the story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife. Genesis 39:12 - And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and FLED, and GOT HIM OUT.


..." let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God" -DnC 125: 45

There is hope!
There is always repentance; the Saviour waits with open arms.
Isaiah 1: 18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."

In the scriptures, there are countless references of men and women "hardening their hearts" and thus turning away from the love that Heavenly Father and the Saviour desire to bless us with. For anyone who has ever experienced a broken heart, I'm sure they can agree that it is much easier to harden your heart than to forgive and open our hearts again. If we forgive and soften our hearts, then we become vulnerable and there is a fear that we might be hurt again. If we submit to the Saviour, he can help us to heal and move on. "Perfect love casteth out all fear." - 1 John 4:8


Alma 39:4 
Yea, she did steal away the hearts of many; but this was no excuse for thee, my son. Thou shouldst have tended to the ministry wherewith thou wast entrusted.
I often read this verse and feel a great sense of pain and sorrow for my sins. Yes, many people are led away to by the evils of our day, but that is "no excuse for thee my (daughter)". As members of the Lord's church he trusts us to be disciples of our Saviour, and I feel that we must strive to be more diligent in maintaining higher standards of chastity and virtue.


Moroni 10:30 
And again I would exhort you that ye would come unto Christ, and lay hold upon every good gift, and touch not the evil gift, nor the unclean thing.


We must continue to be vigilant in keeping ourselves morally pure and virtuous.
Hopefully one day, when we have done all we can to remain pure and worthy the Lord will say to us:
"Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
(Matthew 25:21)

Motherhood

“The most important of the Lord’s work you and I will ever do will be within the walls of our own homes” 

(Harold B. Lee, Stand Ye in Holy Places)

You are not alone

“When you have come to the Lord in meekness and lowliness of heart and, as one mother said, “pounded on the doors of heaven to ask for, to plead for, to demand guidance and wisdom and help for this wondrous task,” that door is thrown open to provide you the influence and the help of all eternity. Claim the promises of the Savior of the world. Ask for the healing balm of the Atonement for whatever may be troubling you or your children. Know that in faith things will be made right in spite of you, or more correctly, because of you.

You can't possibly do this alone, but you do have help. The Master of Heaven and Earth is there to bless you—He who resolutely goes after the lost sheep, sweeps thoroughly to find the lost coin, waits everlastingly for the return of the prodigal son. Yours is the work of salvation, and therefore you will be magnified, compensated, made more than you are and better than you have ever been as you try to make honest effort, however feeble you may sometimes feel that to be.”

(‘Because She Is a Mother’, Jeffrey R. Holland)

Single mothers:

"To mothers raising children alone, remember that you and the Lord constitute a majority. As your arms encircle your little ones, his arms are there, too. Feel secure, for his arms are lengthened out toward us all the day long." -Sister Mary E. Foulger 

The highest and noblest work

"During my professional career as a doctor of medicine, I was occasionally asked why I chose to do that difficult work. I responded with my opinion that the highest and noblest work in this life is that of a mother. Since that option was not available to me, I thought that caring for the sick might come close. I tried to care for my patients as compassionately and competently as mother cared for me."

-Elder Russell M. Nelson

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” 

(Prov. 22:6)

There are some lines attributed to Victor Hugo which read:

“She broke the bread into two fragments and gave them to her children, who ate with eagerness. 

“She hath kept none for herself,” grumbled the sergeant.

“Because she is not hungry,” said a soldier.

“No,” said the sergeant, because she is a mother.”

(“Because She Is a Mother” - Jeffrey R. Holland)

Every woman a mother

“Being a mother is an attitude, not a biological relation.” 
― Robert A. Heinlein

Every woman is a mother. Every woman is a nurturer and helps in the great task of raising the future generation. Every woman has the ability to uplift and inspire and a duty to love and teach. Some women have had to find a way to survive after losing a child. Some women have to suffer through the heartache of infertility. Some women haven't had the chance to marry and have a family of her own. They are all mothers.

http://www.jentriesjourney.com/our-mothers-knew-it/

You too, my mother, read my rhymes 

For love of unforgotten times,
And you may chance to hear once more
The little feet along the floor. 
-Robert Louis Stenenson

The 2000 Stripling warriors

Alma 56:47 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of theirfathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.

 48 And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.

“Yea, they were men of truth and soberness, for they had been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him” (Alma 53:21). These faithful young men paid tribute to their mothers. They said, “Our mothers knew it.” (Alma 56:48).

Your angel

A young child, walking hand and hand with Father in Heaven, said, "they tell me you are sending me to earth today... How am I going to live there being so small and helpless?”

Heavenly Father knelt down and embraced His child tenderly. He then said,  reassuringly, “your angel will be waiting for you and will take care of you”.

The anxious child continued, “but here in heaven I don't have to do anything but sing and smile to be happy - how will I be happy on earth?”

Heavenly Father calmly responded, “Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you. You will feel your angel’s love and be very happy.” 

The child further inquired, “but how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me if I don't know the language?”

“Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak”, Heavenly Father responded, gently.

“And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?” 

“Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray.” 

"Who will protect me?” 

“Your angel will defend you, even if it means risking its life.”

"I will always be sad because I won't see you anymore” , the child said looking down.

Heavenly Father turned the child's chin up tenderly, and said, “Your angel will always talk to you about Me and will teach you the way to come back to Me, even though I will always be next to you.”

At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but flustered voices from Earth could be heard and the child, realising it was time to leave, hurriedly expressed one final request, “Heavenly Father, if I am to leave now, please will you tell me my angel’s name?”

God silenced all fear with his reply, “You will simply call her, “Mommy.”

– Original Author Unknown

“Most of you are mothers, and very many of you are grandmothers and even great-grandmothers. You have walked the sometimes painful, sometimes joyous path of parenthood. You have walked hand in hand with God in the great process of bringing children into the world that they might experience this estate along the road of immortality and eternal life. It has not been easy rearing a family. Most of you have had to sacrifice and skimp and labor night and day. As I think of you and your circumstances, I think of the words of Anne Campbell, who wrote as she looked upon her children:

You are the trip I did not take;

You are the pearls I cannot buy;

You are my blue Italian lake;

You are my piece of foreign sky.

(Women of the church, Gordon B Hinckley)

Motherhood is a sacrifice that will not be overlooked. 

Just as any form of faithful service, the Lord promises us that the more we give, the more we will receive.

..."he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." -Matthew 10:39

What greater sake can we "lose our lives" for than striving to raising up children unto the Lord?

There is simply no greater purpose on earth or in eternity than the sacred responsibility of parenthood.

Light of a new dawn

"I know that my morning is near"...

If I can endure for this minute  Whatever is happening to me, No matter how heavy my heart is  Or how dark the moment may be ... If I can remain calm and quiet With all the world crashing about me, Secure in the knowledge God loves me When everyone else seems to doubt me ... If I can but keep on believing What I know in my heart to be true, That darkness will fade with the morning And that this will pass away, too... Then nothing in life can defeat me For as long as this knowledge remains I can suffer whatever is happening For I know God will break all the chains That are binding me tight in the darkness And trying to fill me with fear ... For there is no night without dawning And I know that my morning is near.

- Helen Steiner Rice

Fear not, only believe.

"With a soul as bold as lions

And a strength to face the giants

Come and join us in the silence

For the King who saved the world...

Stand strong

Keep holding on

Blessed are the persecuted

Blessed are the weak and wounded

This is your song

Stand, stand strong"

("Stand strong" - Moriah Peters)

“Stand upright, speak thy thoughts, declare The truth thou hast, that all may share; Be bold, proclaim it everywhere: They only live who dare.” ~ Voltaire

"We must believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. We must believe in the Atonement and the Resurrection of the Savior. We must believe in the words of the prophets, both ancient and modern. We should also believe in ourselves."

*Believing requires action. 

*Action is inhibited by fear.

*"Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them." 2 Kings 6:16

"If we believe and are faithful, we are promised all that the Father has. If we receive all that the Father has, there is nothing more for us to receive in this life or the life to come. We should remember that in our challenges and struggles against the powers of evil and darkness, “they that be with us are more than they that be with them.” We belong to the greatest cause on earth. We are the pioneers of the future. Let us go forth like the armies of Helaman and build the kingdom of God. Like the royal army, let us be “united, bold, and strong, … marching forth to conquer on life’s great battlefield.” All of these hopes, blessings, and opportunities will come to us if we will only believe and be not afraid. Of this I testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

References: James E. Faust, Pioneers of the Future: “Be Not Afraid, Only Believe”

The refiner's fire

Knowing the Lord "in our extremeties"
Some years ago president David O. McKay told from this pulpit of the experience of some of those in the Martin handcart company. Many of these early converts had emigrated from Europe and were too poor to buy oxen or horses and a wagon. They were forced by their poverty to pull handcarts containing all of their belongings across the plains by their own brute strength. President McKay relates an occurrence which took place some years after the heroic exodus: 

“A teacher, conducting a class, said it was unwise ever to attempt, even to permit them [the Martin handcart company] to come across the plains under such conditions.

“[According to a class member,] some sharp criticism of the Church and its leaders was being indulged in for permitting any company of converts to venture across the plains with no more supplies or protection than a handcart caravan afforded.

“An old man in the corner … sat silent and listened as long as he could stand it, then he arose and said things that no person who heard him will ever forget. His face was white with emotion, yet he spoke calmly, deliberately, but with great earnestness and sincerity.

“In substance [he] said, ‘I ask you to stop this criticism. You are discussing a matter you know nothing about. Cold historic facts mean nothing here, for they give no proper interpretation of the questions involved. Mistake to send the Handcart Company out so late in the season? Yes. But I was in that company and my wife was in it and Sister Nellie Unthank whom you have cited was there, too. We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and starvation, but did you ever hear a survivor of that company utter a word of criticism? Not one of that company ever apostatized or left the Church, because everyone of us came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with him in our extremities.

“‘I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness and lack of food that I could hardly put one foot ahead of the other. I have looked ahead and seen a patch of sand or a hill slope and I have said, I can go only that far and there I must give up, for I cannot pull the load through it.’” He continues: “‘I have gone on to that sand and when I reached it, the cart began pushing me. I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the angels of God were there.

“‘Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart? No. Neither then nor any minute of my life since. The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay, and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the Martin Handcart Company.’” (Relief Society Magazine, Jan. 1948, p. 8.)

Here then is a great truth. In the pain, the agony, and the heroic endeavors of life, we pass through a refiner’s fire, and the insignificant and the unimportant in our lives can melt away like dross and make our faith bright, intact, and strong. In this way the divine image can be mirrored from the soul. It is part of the purging toll exacted of some to become acquainted with God. In the agonies of life, we seem to listen better to the faint, godly whisperings of the Divine Shepherd.

Into every life there come the painful, despairing days of adversity and buffeting. There seems to be a full measure of anguish, sorrow, and often heartbreak for everyone, including those who earnestly seek to do right and be faithful. The thorns that prick, that stick in the flesh, that hurt, often change lives which seem robbed of significance and hope. This change comes about through a refining process which often seems cruel and hard. In this way the soul can become like soft clay in the hands of the Master in building lives of faith, usefulness, beauty, and strength. For some, the refiner’s fire causes a loss of belief and faith in God, but those with eternal perspective understand that such refining is part of the perfection process.

In our extremities, it is possible to become born again, born anew, renewed in heart and spirit. 

…"Trees that grow up in a windy environment become stronger. As winds wrap around young sapling, forces inside the tree do two things. First, they stimulate the roots to grow faster and spread further. Second, the forces in the tree start creating cell structures that actually make the trunk and branches thicker and more flexible to the pressure of the wind. These stronger roots and branches protect the tree from winds that are sure to return…"

~Elder Neil L. Anderson (Spiritual Whirlwinds)

The story of Stillman Pond

Stillman Pond was a member of the Second Quorum of Seventy in Nauvoo. He was an early convert to the Church, having come from Hubbardston, Massachusetts. Like others, he and his wife, Maria, and their children were harassed and driven out of Nauvoo. In September 1846, they became part of the great western migration. The early winter that year brought extreme hardships, including malaria, cholera, and consumption. The family was visited by all three of these diseases.

Maria contracted consumption, and all of the children were stricken with malaria. Three of the children died while moving through the early snows. Stillman buried them on the plains. Maria’s condition worsened because of the grief, pain, and the fever of malaria. She could no longer walk. Weakened and sickly, she gave birth to twins. They were named Joseph and Hyrum, and both died within a few days. In short, Stillman Pond lost all his nine children and his wife in crossing the plains, nevertheless he did not lose his faith. He did not quit. He went forward. He paid a price, as have many others before and since, to become acquainted with God.

The Divine Shepherd has a message of hope, strength, and deliverance for all. If there were no night, we would not appreciate the day, nor could we see the stars and the vastness of the heavens. We must partake of the bitter with the sweet. There is a divine purpose in the adversities we encounter every day. They prepare, they purge, they purify, and thus they bless.

When we pluck the roses, we find we often cannot avoid the thorns which spring from the same stem.

Out of the refiner’s fire can come a glorious deliverance. It can be a noble and lasting rebirth. The price to become acquainted with God will have been paid. There can come a sacred peace. There will be a reawakening of dormant, inner resources. A comfortable cloak of righteousness will be drawn around us to protect us and to keep us warm spiritually. Self-pity will vanish as our blessings are counted.

His own image reflected

"Some time ago, a few ladies met in a certain city to read the scriptures and make them the subject of conversation. While reading the third chapter of Malachi they came upon a remarkable expression in the third verse.”  And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.”

One lady’s opinion was that it was intended to convey the view of the sanctifying influence of the grace of Christ. So she proposed to visit a silversmith and report back to the others what he said on the subject. She went accordingly and without telling the object of her errand, begged to know the process of refining silver, which the silversmith fully described to her.

“But Sir,” she said, “do you sit while the work of refining is going on?” “Oh, yes madam, ” replied the silversmith, “I must sit with my eye steadily fixed on the furnace, for if the time necessary for refining be exceeded in the slightest degree, the silver will be injured.”

The lady at once saw the beauty, and comfort too, of the expression, “He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” Christ sees it needful to put His children into a furnace. His eye is steadily intent on the work of purifying, and His wisdom and love are both engaged in the best manner for them. Their trials do not come at random; “the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”

As the lady was leaving the shop, the silversmith called her back, and said that he still had further to mention. He explained that he only knows when the process of purifying was complete, by seeing his own image reflected in the silver.

When Christ shall see His own image reflected in His people, His work of purifying will be accomplished."

Author unknown.

Keep going. Don't give up. Allow the Lord to refine and purify your spirit.

One day we will look back and be eternally grateful.

References: (James E. Faust - Refiner's fire)