We will all have our Fridays, because of Christ, Sunday will come

Acceptance... this has to be the most challenging aspect for me personally... Accepting, not questioning...  On Easter Sunday I contemplated God withdrawing his spirit from Christ as he suffered in Gethsemane.. As I considered this, I thought about parenting and how often my natural inclination is to want to protect, nurture, shelter...

 Had I been there, when Christ asked to have this cup removed, I would have wanted to assist or take it away, because I see pain and suffering as the enemy, my limited vision would have moved me in this direction... If God had removed the cup from Christ, or Christ had chosen to not go through the total experience of Gethsemane, Golgotha... Then what? It has provided much to contemplate…my own most humbling painful of experiences, and how I wish that it could be different. At my vantage point it is so hard to believe that this is for my good or the good of my family...

 It is like seeing only a corner of "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" the dots would mean nothing... Just messy dots... It is only in stepping back and seeing the painting from a distance that the masterpiece is experienced. So often lately, I find myself trying to shift from the anguish of "why" that plagues the recesses of my mind. I find myself pleading for help and acceptance with my limited vision... humbled, the ongoing struggle, trusting the journey.... to be able to endure it well, to somehow be empowered to drink of the bitter cup without becoming bitter... acceptance... to somehow learn about compassion, endurance, patience and faithfulness... to be stretched beyond my understanding...

 "Each of us will have our own Fridays—those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces. We all will experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again. We will all have our Fridays. But I testify to you in the name of the One who conquered death—Sunday will come...

 In the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come. No matter our desperation, no matter our grief, Sunday will come. In this life or the next, Sunday will come. I testify to you that the Resurrection is not a fable. We have the personal testimonies of those who saw Him. Thousands in the Old and New Worlds witnessed the risen Savior. They felt the wounds in His hands, feet, and side. They shed tears of unrestrained joy as they embraced Him." Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

 "No matter how wealthy we are, how smart we are, or how physically strong we are, we will face trials that will be too much for us to handle without God's help. We may believe we are ready for anything, but life will show us otherwise. It will 'school' us. There is only one anchor we can rely on to pass our test—and it is not ourselves. We must totally rely on the Atonement of Jesus Christ to see us through the trials of life. "We cannot learn what we must learn, we cannot endure what we must endure, and we cannot become what we must become without Christ's loving guidance and sustaining support—made possible by His infinite Atonement. Faith in oneself is good but insufficient. The great secret behind the test of life is that it cannot be passed on our own. We either do it with Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost by our side or we don’t do it at all." - David C. Nielson