Will everything be made right?

[Kirkko]

I've heard this is the case in the end, but how can that be? I, like many others, have had to face some things that are daunting challenges and that may persist until I die. I struggle to overcome, improve, forgive, forget, etc; but my struggles never go away and I don't feel peace or at least what I recognize as peace. How will things be made right when I know what has happened in my life, I've struggled with it and probably will remember it after I die, how is it fixed? I'm talking about dealing with abuse, disappointments, especially from those who are supposed to be your support, deep hurt and pain that seems unbearable. I guess I don't have enough faith at this point because I haven't experienced the peace I've heard or seen so many people reference.

[Guest]

Those are some of the things the Atonement was provided to cover for, to make up for, just as much as it is designed to free us from sin. You have to pray for Him to take the burden, and keep praying. Ask Him to help your unbelief. Ask Him to help you heal. I know from personal experience that this is a very real power that comes only from the Savior.

[Guest LiterateParakeet]

I've heard this is the case in the end, but how can that be? I, like many others, have had to face some things that are daunting challenges and that may persist until I die. I struggle to overcome, improve, forgive, forget, etc; but my struggles never go away and I don't feel peace or at least what I recognize as peace. How will things be made right when I know what has happened in my life, I've struggled with it and probably will remember it after I die, how is it fixed? I'm talking about dealing with abuse, disappointments, especially from those who are supposed to be your support, deep hurt and pain that seems unbearable. I guess I don't have enough faith at this point because I haven't experienced the peace I've heard or seen so many people reference.

 

I understand where you are coming from.  I'm dealing with the same issues (abuse, disappointment etc).  Sometimes I think of abuse as the "pain that keeps on giving".  Sometimes, especially when I am depressed, it seems like there will be no end to the suffering.  

 

But I have also felt the peace and joy that come from healing.  I promise you all shall be made right.  If not in this life, then in the next.  As Eowyn said, this is part of the Atonement.  Because the Savior suffered both for the sins of the world, and also for the pain those sins cause others....He knows your hurt and He knows how to heal it.  He has the power not only to restore what was lost, but make "broken things" better than they were before.

 

I understand that it can be hard to see that right now, but remember we are as but children to God, and we cannot yet understand all the things He comp rends.  We have to trust Him....I know trust is very difficult for survivors of abuse, but keep trying.  The peace and joy will come, I promise.

[Guest]

Kirkko,

 

The atonement is more than just touchy-feely words.  There is a power there that is greater than you can imagine.  As we do our best to ask for the blessings of faith, hope, and charity, as well as a testimony of Christ, we begin a spiritual change in us.  Much of the healing will start with that.

 

The atonement has the power to make all pains and trials seem so trivial.  This is what it is to have a testimony of the atonement.  If we can truly gather how much He suffered, whose suffering was infinite and eternal, we will grow to recognize how trivial our own pain and sorrow are in comparison.

 

I'll warn you that it has taken years and possibly decades to form the neural pathways that come from abuse, depression, anger, etc.  It will take years or decades to undo them.  We all hope for miracles that make it faster.  But the most common thing is that these are just some of the trials we are given in this life.

 

In the next life, we will have renewed bodies.  We will no longer be slaves to the neural pathways that plague the mortal body.  And as we embrace Charity, we will no longer have the negative feelings that plague our spirits in this life.

 

Additionally, we will be given new perspective.  We currently see years as such a long time.  I've lived long enough to recognize that enduring something so horrible as abuse for any amount of time on earth is just a blink of an eye.  Do we remember going hungry one day when we were a kid?  Possibly.  But most don't dwell on such things.  In the next life, eternity is such a long time, that we realize that our entire life was just a blink of an eye.  All our suffering will be like we just hit our thumb with a hammer.  Yes, it hurt.  But we say, "ouch".  We bandage it up.  It heals, and we move on.

Edited November 3, 2015 by Guest

[james12]

Kirrkko,

Let it go. Whatever your hanging onto, whatever you are trying to work out yourself. Just let it go. You do not have to solve it. You do not need to divvy out the consequences. Christ has already stepped between you and those who have hurt you. He will give you peace and those who have hurt you just recompense. 

 

Many experiences in this life are painful. But they will only have power to hurt us for a short moment so long as we do not continue to re-live them over and over again in our minds. In fact, such experiences will only make us stronger if we learn what to do different next time and move on.  

 

Christ himself has said, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14:27). Elder Holland said of this scripture, "I submit to you that may be one of the Savior's commandments that is, even in the hearts of the otherwise faithful Latter-day Saints, almost universally disobeyed; and yet I wonder whether our resistance to this invitation could be any more grievous to the Lord's merciful heart ("Come Unto Me" BYU March 2, 1992). It is to those who turn to him with broken hearts that he gives such peace. I tell you that you are not exempt from such a promise. He will, even in your heart, replace beauty for ashes and the oil of joy for mourning.

[LeSellers]

How will things be made right when I know what has happened in my life, I've struggled with it and probably will remember it after I die, how is it fixed?

It's not fixed -- you are.

When it doesn't matter any more, you're fixed.

When there is more to your life than the issue at hand, you're fixed.

When the problem is no longer your problem, when it becomes Jesus' problem, you're fixed.

I don't pretend to understand anyone's problems but my own (and not all of them). I don't pretend to have allowed Christ to assume all my hurts and sufferings. But I know that when I have permitted Him to take them on, when I give them up, it is fixed as far as I'm concerned. And that's the best I can do.

I hope your situation improves. I hope you "drop [your] burden at His feet". Because, as He says, "[His] yoke is easy, and [His] burden is light." So, when you let Him take yours, and you take His, He carries the heavy load, and all you need do is pick His up and take it along for the walk.

I will let you in on an open secret: If you really want to get fixed, you need to find someone whose needs are greater than yours, and make him happier. It could be a sister in the ward, it could be a family down the street. It could be your uncle Ed, or a niece, or a total stranger. Find out what he needs, do it for him, and you'll be happier. When you've finished, your burden will be lighter, and you may find that you have already done all you can do. Then, Christ will make up the difference for you.

Lehi

Edited November 11, 2015 by LeSellers

[The Folk Prophet]

I've heard this is the case in the end, but how can that be? I, like many others, have had to face some things that are daunting challenges and that may persist until I die. I struggle to overcome, improve, forgive, forget, etc; but my struggles never go away and I don't feel peace or at least what I recognize as peace. How will things be made right when I know what has happened in my life, I've struggled with it and probably will remember it after I die, how is it fixed? I'm talking about dealing with abuse, disappointments, especially from those who are supposed to be your support, deep hurt and pain that seems unbearable. I guess I don't have enough faith at this point because I haven't experienced the peace I've heard or seen so many people reference.

 

I dunno. I figure it'll be like the ant who got turned into a man, and not only that, into a Superman type being, remembering that as an ant he had to crawl around in the dirt and carry crumbs 3 times his size all day to feed a fat queen. I'm just thinking that the faster-than-a-speeding bullet, can-turn-the-world-backwards-and-reverse-time, lasers-from-his-eyes being isn't going to be too bothered by the ant memories, though he certainly should be kinder to ants.

Edited November 12, 2015 by The Folk Prophet