Elder Holland's Lessons from Liberty Jail

I just needed to review this and though it could qualify as my "words of wisdom" post for the month.

The following article is summarized from an adaptation from a fireside address given in the Marriott Center on Sept. 7, 2008, by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and published in BYU Magazine Winter 2009.

You can have sacred, revelatory, profoundly instructive experience with the Lord in the most miserable experiences of your life – in the worst settings, while enduring the most painful injustices, when facing the most insurmountable odds and opposition you have ever faced. . .

. . . But the lessons of the winter of 1838-39 teach us that every experience can become a redemptive experience if we remain bonded to our Father in Heaven through that difficulty. These difficult lessons teach us that man’s extremity is God’s opportunity, and if we will be humble and faithful, if we will be believing and not curse God for our problems, He can turn the unfair and inhumane and debilitating prisons of our lives into temples – or at least into a circumstance that can bring comfort and revelation, divine companionship and peace. . .

Now then, three lessons from Liberty Jail:

1. Everyone, including (and perhaps especially) the righteous, will be called upon to face trying times.
When we are in dire circumstances and want to cry “Where art Thou?” it is imperative that we remember He is right there with us – where He has always been! We must continue to believe, continue to have faith, continue to pray and plead with heaven, even if we feel for a time our prayers are not heard and that God has somehow gone away. He is there. Our prayers are heard. And when we weep He and the angels of heaven weep with us.

2. Just because difficult things happen – sometimes unfair and seemingly unjustified things – it does not mean that we are unrighteous or that we are unworthy of blessings or that God is disappointed in us.
When we promise to follow the Savior, to walk in His footsteps and be His disciples, we are promising to go where that divine path leads us. And the path of salvation has always led one way or another through Gethsemane. So if the Savior faced such injustices and discouragements, such persecutions, unrighteousness, and suffering, we cannot expect that we are not going to face some of that if we still intend to call ourselves His true disciples and faithful followers. . . However heavy our load might be, it would be a lot heavier if the Savior had not gone that way before us and carried that burden with us and for us.

3. Remain calm, patient, charitable, and forgiving.
Even when we face such distressing circumstances in our life and there is something in us that wants to strike out at God or man or friend or foe, we must remember that “no power or influence can or ought to be maintained. . . [except] by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned;. . . without hypocrisy, and without guile” (D&C 121:41-42; emphasis added). . . All the prophets, and especially the Savior, even in the midst of distress and difficulty remained calm and patient, charitable, and forgiving. . . They remembered their covenants, they disciplined themselves, and they knew that we must live the gospel at all times, not just when it is convenient and not just when things are going well. Indeed, they knew that the real test of our faith and our Christian discipleship is when things are not going smoothly. That is when we get to see what we’re made of and how strong our commitment to the gospel really is. . . That is a hard thing to ask when we’re hurting. That is a hard thing to do when we’ve been offended or are tired or stressed out or suffering innocently. But that is when Christian behavior may matter the most. . . Remaining true to our Christian principles is the only way divine influence can help us. The Spirit has a near-impossible task to get through to a heart that is filled with hate or anger or vengeance or self-pity. . . On the other hand, the Spirit finds instant access to a heart striving to be charitable and forgiving, long-suffering and kind – principles of true discipleship.

“Therefore, dearly beloved brethren [and sisters, when we are in even the most troubling of times], let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed” (D&C 123:17; emphasis added). The Father and Son do live. They are close, perhaps even closest via the Holy Spirit, when we are experiencing difficult times.

“Hold on thy way . . . Fear not. . ., for God shall be with you forever and ever” (D&C 122:9).