Day eight is supposed to be a picture that makes me sad/angry, I'm not in the kind of mood where it is a good idea to focus on anything that makes me sad or angry, I am instead really trying to focus on things that make me happy or inspire me...
Yesterday we learned about Job in Sunday School. I missed the first half of the lesson because I was nursing Bug, but I learned something I didn't know before when I finally did get to join the lesson.
We often focus on all the bad things that happened to Job, acting as if those things all happened to him in a week. While we don't know exactly how much time passed between the bad things that happened to Job, we do know that Job lived to be 140 years old and that all of the bad things happened to him in his first 70 years of life. It is possible (probable in fact) that all of the bad things that happened to Job were scattered through his first 70 years. We all have bad things that happen to us throughout our lives, we loose family members, we deal with confusion, we suffer losses of jobs, we deal with people who mock us, we all go through the same things that Job did, and while those things might not happen to us all in a week, we will probably face most of the same trials that Job did in our first 70 years of life. Through all of his trials, Job still managed this proclamation of testimony "For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh I shall see God:..." (Job 19:25-26).
As I face trials, some so large that I feel as though I will never overcome them, I will be remembering Job and his testimony and I will hold onto my testimony; That I know that my Redeemer lives, I know that he knows me, I know that he already suffered all the pains and discomforts that I sometimes feel overwhelmed by and that when I lean on him, when I apply the healing power of the atonement in my life I can let go of the pain and discomfort, my trials can seem light to me because of the strength of the Lord. I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the same gospel, the same teachings, that Jesus Christ himself put into place when he walked the earth in his mortal body. I know that the priesthood we have access to in the Church is the same priesthood by which Jesus and his apostles performed the miracles of old, and I know that that priesthood power to perform miracles exists on the earth today. I know that we have a prophet on the earth today who presides over the church in righteousness and that by following the teachings of the prophet and the gospel of the church we can draw close to the Lord. I know that the Book of Mormon is true scripture, that the prophets who wrote the Book of Mormon saw our day and that the instruction given is specifically for us, I know that Jesus Christ appeared to the ancient Americans, he loved them and wanted them to know him, I know he loves me and wants me to know him as well. I know that I can be made whole in Christ, if I can just remember to lean on him and trust in him, if I can just remember the example of Job. I seal my testimony, in the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.
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