by: Norberto Betita
As I thought of the immense sufferings which so many people experienced from the devastation of recent calamitous events and the enormous burdens that they carry towards an uncertain recovery period, I was brought to some reflections of my own terrifying and horrible experiences about strong typhoons in Surigao, Philippines. I was an eyewitness while the strong winds of typhoon Ining in 1964 shook and swung our house until it entirely collapsed. My skin felt the painful splash of sand and pebbles as I trudged the road for evacuation at the heights of the typhoon’s ferocity. I saw with my naked eyes as fierce winds cut coconut trees at the middle of its trunks and uprooted large and aged trees. Hundreds were found dead. In 1984, I swam the breast-deep water under the roaring winds and whistles of flying GI sheets with my three little children and my wife as typhoon Nitang strikes with fury seriously placing all our lives in danger. As a Branch President then of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I felt the pains and anguish as I witnessed members salvaging portions of their crumbled homes. However, as it is, after the storm there is calm. After the rains the sun rises in the east reminding us that there is always hope for a better tomorrow.
We need to be tried and tested. Trials are crucial to our spiritual growth and eternal progress. In Zecariah 13: 9 we read: “And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God."
More than the typhoons that I have experienced then and now, I found that there are in our personal and family life daily winds of adversities that we need to face and to overcome. And, I should say that these may even be greater than the winds of physical calamities for they bear the purifying tests of mortality and the heavy burdens of our eternal journey. These are our daily challenges, our daily temptations, our daily afflictions and sufferings, our daily burdens of meeting our parental responsibilities, our daily problems at work, and many other daily problems of life.
In mortality, the Lord, Himself suffered His own share of adversities. His sufferings were even more painful as for Him to “...tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that he [I] might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink—” (D& C 19:18). He went into the depths of all our iniquities and grief to bear us up if we repent.
The Prophet Joseph Smith experienced every bit of trials. In the crucible of life inside the dungeon at Liberty Jail, and almost in desperation he petitioned God: “O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place? How long shall thy hand be stayed, and thine eye, yea thy pure eye, behold from the eternal heavens the wrongs of thy people and of thy servants, and thine ear be penetrated with their cries?” (D & C 121: 1-2).
Oftentimes we feel that our burdens are so heavy enough as to undergo hopelessness and despair. In the midst of our difficulties and sufferings we feel that we may have been forgotten and forsaken. We sometimes feel weakened as to surrender our race through life and eternity. Yet in answer to the sincere petition of the Prophet the Lord promised:
My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes’ (D & C 121: 7-8).
Then He continued with this reassuring declaration:
“If thou art called to pass through tribulation; if thou art in perils among false brethren; if thou art in perils among robbers; if thou art in perils by land or by sea;
“And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.
“The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?” (D & C 122: 5, 7-8).
I have so much of these challenges, adversities and trials of life, and I always find comfort and strength from the words of eternal life which God revealed through the prophets and apostles. I add this comforting assurance from God:
“For verily I say unto you, blessed is he that keepeth my commandments, whether in life or in death; and he that is faithful in tribulation, the reward of the same is greater in the kingdom of heaven.
“Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation.
“For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand” (D & C 58:2-4).
Such confirming and ever certain redeeming promise had given me real reason to be happy despite the pains of adversity. I always feel the Lord’s hand lifting me above the ills of life. The reality and meaning of His atoning sacrifice cause my heart to pump hard in happiness. In my mind and heart the words of the Apostle Peter continually echo:
“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
“But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy” (1 peter 4:12-13).
The adversities and trials of mortality are but flowers that bloom along the path to eternity. They beautify and light our route to immortality and eternal happiness. They represent the daily dark clouds which try to hide the sun, yet falling short to cover the entire light of day, leaving for us the flickering sunlit to give us hope and strength of faith to endure our journey.
