He will take upon Him their infirmities...

[smokymountainrain]

I'm sorry to hear about your troubles and I hope things turn for the better quickly.

I really struggle to believe in having our burdens lifted. In my hardest times, despite pleading, fasting, praying, going to the temple, reading scriptures, I rarely found comfort or peace, let alone a change in the situation. Despite doing the usually recommended things, being worthy, etc I felt completely alone to shoulder the load. There was no balm of Gilead. My burden was not lightened.

You've described my experience to a 'T'. More power to guys like Elder Tefan who have figured it out, but I'll just keep plugging along, trying to be patient, and things will work out eventually.

My personal opinion is that life entails suffering. God loves us and cares about us, but lets all sorts of crap happen and generally leaves us to deal with it. Sucky, but true.

In any case, best to you and your family. Hope things improve soon.

Thanks for your support, Danimal.

[Jarid in Cedar]

Good luck SMR. I have not had many financial trials, but am a veteran of tribulations in other aspects of life. Hold close to that which you value most and the rest becomes less overwhelming/intrusive.

[cowboy]

But...how? I believe the same Elder Tefan believes. I feel like I understand and have a testimony of the atonement. But how do I take the trials I am going through right now and shift all or some of my fear (probably the primary negative emotion I'm feeling right now) and hurt upon Him? Or is it even possible? When people say stuff like this, is it just talk? I honestly don't know.

I've always had the opinion that Christ bearing our afflictions was to give him credibility and perfect empathy. He can say he knows exactly how we feel because he's felt it. But that doesn't mean we can't shift our fear to him.

There are three types of trials: trials that we bring upon ourselves through unrighteousness, trials that occur out of randomness, and trials given us to teach us. Obviously repentance is the way to deal with the first type, but I personally think most trials we encounter will not be punishment.

I think that probably the majority of our trials are the result of random stuff, and that God allows them to occur because He is not a micro-manager. Some of these, I believe He will gladly take away if we only ask. This is why praying for help is not futile. However, I believe He will use most of these trials to teach us.

If God is allowing us to be tried to teach us, then praying for the trial to be removed may not do much good. We should still pray though. We could pray that we can learn our lesson quickly, pray for peace and patience as we endure the trial, and pray that we will remain faithful as we endure it. This last one is critical.

I've had a trial or two. Nothing that approaches the level of some of the folks here, but enough to make me waiver. I wish I could say that I endured them perfectly, but I did not. I grew tired of unanswered prayers, became angry with God, and just quit praying altogether. That is never a good thing, because as your distance from Him grows, your ability to make good choices becomes compromised.

As you become or remain faithful, you will be able to endure your struggle with the peace of knowing that all things are temporary, and that you can still find happiness in things that really matter. This then becomes the way you can cast your worries on the Lord and allow Him to bear your burdens.

Best of luck, SMR.

[wuapinmon]

I'm sorry to hear about your troubles and I hope things turn for the better quickly.

I really struggle to believe in having our burdens lifted. In my hardest times, despite pleading, fasting, praying, going to the temple, reading scriptures, I rarely found comfort or peace, let alone a change in the situation. Despite doing the usually recommended things, being worthy, etc I felt completely alone to shoulder the load. There was no balm of Gilead. My burden was not lightened.

This too has been my experience. I sense no "footprints in the sand." When I was in pain for a year and a half, I didn't feel like I was being carried. And looking back, I still don't think I was. I felt alone and abandoned. My bishop had the gall to ask me if my health problems were due to a spiritual 'imbalance' in my life!

I asked for a blessing and was promised that I would be healed, by my physicians.

Other than giving me a small measure of comfort before surgery, I walked alone.

So, I do not know how to make it better, SMR. I can just say that I believe that there is an Eternal Round and that it will spin again and shine on you some day.

[smokymountainrain]

As you become or remain faithful, you will be able to endure your struggle with the peace of knowing that all things are temporary, and that you can still find happiness in things that really matter. This then becomes the way you can cast your worries on the Lord and allow Him to bear your burdens.
Best of luck, SMR.

Thanks for taking the time to post this. It's an excellent post.

I don't want to minimize the rest of your post by just quoting this, but this is what stands out to me. My biggest problem has been inconsistency. That is to say that when I consciously look around me and see life for what it is and has given me, I am able to find happiness, I'm at peace, I recognize how lucky I am and I can focus on others. But it is those times when I let my guard down that I feel sorry for myself, feel sorry for my family for the trial I am putting them through, am selfish, get discouraged and feel a sense of fear.

[smokymountainrain]

Good luck SMR. I have not had many financial trials, but am a veteran of tribulations in other aspects of life. Hold close to that which you value most and the rest becomes less overwhelming/intrusive.

Thanks, JIC - when I follow this advice, is when I feel most at peace. For all intents and purposes, even during this time, I have a pretty damn good life. I just have to try to be honest with myself more often about that fact.

[MarkGrace]

SMR, my best, dude.

Also, Elder Tefan's kid is married to my cousin, and I see him when I go to Hawai'i. I'll let him know you think his old man rocks!

[smokymountainrain]

SMR, my best, dude.

Also, Elder Tefan's kid is married to my cousin, and I see him when I go to Hawai'i. I'll let him know you think his old man rocks!

Thanks, man. Please do and while you're at it see if you can find out how his Pa pulled it off.

[pellegrino]

You know, this post and Cowboy's thread on the atonement both appeared within 30 minutes of each other. I thought at the time "they should be merged" because they're essentially talking about two different aspects of the same thing.

I like Surfah's and UDan's comments. I think it's appropriate to recognize that we all experience deity in different ways. My wife and I have been talking a lot lately about the atonement and how it applies to our lives when we aren't seeking forgiveness. I think it's easy to understand the utility of the atonement when we get something tangible out of it. We do something wrong, we recognize it, rectify it, ask for forgiveness, and then feel better because we engaged positively with something that had been affecting us negatively and removed the negativity from our lives. However, anxiety and stress from the curve balls that life can throw us is a different matter. We've done nothing wrong, and yet we still feel like <redacted>.

Lately we've hit some financial stress. It's nothing serious, more a matter of delaying a few things because some reimbursements haven't come back in a timely manner. It gave us a moment to reflect. My wife and I have lived a charmed life thus far. We've never been rich, but we've never lacked for money. We've always been employed and been able to provide for ourselves, and we've done this without accruing much debt. It's been very frustrating to have that aspect of our life be in limbo and we've both had anxieties that we've never had. For us it has been quite stressful. It has been difficult to see how the atonement applies to us in this situation. We too have struggled to find a way to deal with these anxieties. Some days are better than others.