This quote from Elder Holland was given in a talk to mission presidents during their preparation to enter the mission field and was in reference to missionary work. He discussed how many have and still will question why the preaching of the Lord’s true gospel is so difficult. We know it is true, we know the benefits and blessings that come with uniting our lives with it, and yet the work of bringing that light to others is often monumentally difficult.
Though in my life right now, missionary work in the strict sense of the word is not the main focus but this question is one that I have asked many times. Most recently I have landed upon ‘hard times’. I have put all of my energy and even hopes into an avenue that has crumbled before my eyes. Though throughout the whole journey I knew there was a possibility that it would not work out, I was not as prepared as I thought I was to hear the message of rejection.
This was not the only occasion that has introduced pain into my life recently, but it is the most recent and seemed like the final straw. I reached a point where I knew not what else to do. So, I was compelled to cry out to the Lord, Why is this so hard? I truly have been trying my best to be good, I have been working to grow in the gospel and stretching myself further than ever before, but still everything came crumbling apart.
Elder Holland continued his message with his opinion about why it is often hard to share the gospel, and again I correlate to live God’s will and endure through rejection, heartache, trial, and strife. He said, it is so hard because Salvation never was a cheap experience. It was not so for our Savior, why would we think it should be easy for us. I was struck with the truth of this message and the power it brings. Our Savior the perfect missionary, the perfect teacher, the perfect child and the perfect person necessarily went through trial on His own to bring to pass our salvation. It seems natural to me that we too should also be required to pass through even a small portion of the sorrow and pain that He voluntarily endured for our sakes.
So, instead of asking, Why is this so hard? Should we not change this question to, Father wilt thou help me to endure? What is there for me to learn from this? Where am I to go in thy service? And What more can I do than I have now done?
These questions seek the direction of our Father in Heaven, they seek personal growth, and look to additional inspiration, strength and fortitude. May I more fully apply the atonement of my Beloved Savior into my life and have my will be swallowed up in the will of the Father’s. May I have the strength to endure through the rejection, heartache, and pain that has come and surely is yet to come. May I look beyond myself and seek to become like Him, and use the experiences of this life to build myself, build others, and share His joyful message of redemption to all who will listen.
