The Gospel Blesses Families

     I would like to take this chance to write about a great experience I had this week and with it applies a great Gospel principle that all of us should understand to have hope and light in this life. A few days ago we were meeting with a family we are teaching who are progressing really well. As we met with them the wife wanted to tell us that about 3 years ago her and her husband had a really bad relationship and it was so bad that it came to the point that she packed up all her stuff and the kids and moved away. They were still in contact but their relationship had plummeted into almost nothing. Many times she was so frustrated she had very dangerous thoughts and intentions come to her mind. For 3 years they lived apart wanting to have a happy family but didn't know how. 

     About 3 months ago, the wife decided to move back in with the husband. things were a little better but they still had the same attitude towards each other. Several weeks ago the wife was so angry with God she would cry and yell out "Where are you God?" and "Why do you make me suffer like this?" About 3 weeks ago as she was contemplating her sad and miserable state in life. Two young men in white shirts and ties, Elder Lim and Elder Hernandez, knocked on her door and invited her to hear a message of Jesus Christ that would help us find a happy family. Interested, she gladly accepted a visit for the following day. As they left her doorstep she thought to herself, "If these young men can change my husband and help us become a family, I will believe in God again". That night she told her husband that the missionaries would be coming the following day. To her surprise and relief he accepted with enthusiasm. The next day the two young missionaries came back and shared a message of the Restoration and of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That night they both accepted the baptismal challenge and now to this day have seen miracles in their family. The husband has changed completely and they are both feeling the blessings the gospel brings. The spirit fills their home and there is love in their relationship.

     I know it sounds like some tragic and dramatic love story but its true. God knows and loves His children perfectly. He has prepared a plan for every single one of us. Maybe we suffer for a moment so that soon He can shine the light before us and we are then humble enough to accept it and let it light our lives. This story reminded me of a video published by the church a few years ago called The Hope of Gods Light. I invite you to go watch this video and reflect on the meaning of patience and trust in God. Sometimes God doesn't take all of our problems away at once but waits until we are sufficiently humble so that we can receive the fulness of His love. In the Book of Mormon, the people of Alma were not led out of captivity immediately but their burdens were lightened until they had the faith sufficient to be freed by God's hand. 

"Yea, and I also exhort you, my brethren, that ye be watchful unto prayer continually, that ye may not be led away by the temptations of the devil, that he may not overpower you, that ye may not become his subjects at the last day; for behold, he rewardeth you no good thing. And now my beloved brethren, I would exhort you to have patience, and that ye bear with all manner of afflictions; that ye do not revile against those who do cast you out because of your exceeding poverty, lest ye become sinners like unto them; But that ye have patience, and bear with those afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions." Alma 34:39-41