God's Love
Why does continuity of priesthood authority matter in a restored church?
“In an unbroken sequence back to the source of all divine authority, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Why do we sometimes reject God’s help because it doesn’t come the way we expect?
“How easy it is for us to dismiss the source of our redemption because the ingredients and the instruments seem embarrassingly plain.”
Why is it dangerous to compare our trials to others’?
“The more I felt overwhelmed, the less I felt the strength to keep trying.”
What do you think Elder Eyring means when he says, "Christ proves and strengthens us?"
"The word prove has several meanings. To prove something is not simply to test it. It is to increase its strength. To prove a piece of steel is to place it under strain. Heat, weight, and pressure are added until its true nature is enhanced and revealed. The steel is not weakened by the proving. In fact, it becomes something that can be trusted, something strong enough to bear greater burdens."
"I felt weak. As I prayed, I felt the quiet assurance of the Lord. I felt Him say to my mind, “I am proving you, but I am also with you.”"
How can a book become a source of spiritual healing and clarity?
“The impact of the Book of Mormon in my life is no less miraculous than was the application of spit and dirt placed on the blind man’s eyes.”
What does spiritual sight look like after faith has been tested?
Amazing grace—how sweet the sound—
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
How can quiet or unseen trials be just as refining as dramatic ones?
“Proving moments are not evidence that the Lord has abandoned you. Rather, they are evidence that He loves you enough to refine and strengthen you.”
Do you agree? Why?
"The Lord proves us in much the same way to strengthen us. That proving does not come in moments of ease or comfort. It comes in moments when we feel stretched beyond what we thought we could bear. The Lord teaches that we are to continue to grow and never tire in our efforts, that we never give up, that we keep trying."
How could we explain this to those in our lives that are not members of our church?
"Because of His glorious Atonement, Jesus Christ can strengthen us in our times of trial. He knows how to succor us because He has felt all the challenges that we will ever feel in mortality. “He will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people … that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.”"
Why is divine authority deliberately disconnected from worldly status or achievement?
“Gifts not granted on the basis of impressive credentials nor determined by tradition or birthright.”
What are some modern examples of “plain and precious” instruments God uses today?
“How easy it is for us to dismiss the source of our redemption because the ingredients and the instruments seem embarrassingly plain.”
What kinds of everyday struggles might be “strengthening moments” we overlook?
“Those very trials were evidence of His love.”
How does knowing Christ felt everything we feel change how we approach Him?
"The greatest example of proving and strengthening occurred through the Savior’s Atonement. He took upon Him the sins of the world. He bore our pains and our sorrows. He drank the bitter cup. He proved faithful in every moment."
How can a struggle be turned into a gift?
"I learned that my struggle with physics was actually a gift from the Lord. He was teaching me that with His help, I could do things that seemed impossible if I had the faith that He would be there to help me. Through this gift, the Lord was working to prove and strengthen me."
How do ordinances help make God’s power visible and tangible in our lives?
“This description of ‘the works of God [being] made manifest’ could possibly suggest the unfolding of an ordinance.”
How can trials or blessings point beyond themselves to something greater God is doing?
“All this had happened ‘that the works of God should be made manifest.’”
Have you ever recognized God’s love after a trial rather than during it?
“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”
What are some ways we can "remain faithful in our service?"
"If we remain faithful in our service, the Lord will refine us. He will strengthen us. And one day we will look back and see that those very trials were evidence of His love. We will see that He was shaping us to be able to stand with Him in glory. As the Lord’s Apostle Paul stated at the end of his own life, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”"
Please share an example of how the Lord has proved and strengthened you.
"Brothers and sisters, your proving and strengthening may not look like Moroni’s or Jacob’s or the Prophet Joseph’s. But it will come. It may come quietly, through the trials of family life. It may come through illness or disappointment or grief or loneliness.
I bear witness that these moments are not evidence that the Lord has abandoned you. Rather, they are evidence that He loves you enough to refine and strengthen you. He is making you strong enough to carry the weight of eternal life."
Why is proxy temple work powerful evidence of God’s universal love?
“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has sacred, dedicated houses of the Lord in which merciful, salvific work is being done vicariously every day and night for these deceased, as well as offering worship opportunities and ordinances for the living.”
What does it look like to keep living the gospel when answers feel confusing or delayed?
“So what if the answers to our prayers come in plain or convoluted ways? Are we willing to persevere, to keep trying to live Christ’s gospel no matter how much spit and clay it takes?”
Why do you think hindsight brings clarity that faith requires in the moment?
“That proving does not come in moments of ease or comfort.”
What can you add to this testimony?
"I testify that God knows you. He knows the trials you face. He is with you. He will not forsake you. I testify that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is our strength, our Redeemer, our hope. If we trust Him, He will make our spiritual power equal to every trial we are called to bear. I so testify in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen."
Who's testimony was this?
“Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.
“And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
“And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.”
Moroni