A trip to the Garden

A little while ago I went with a group of students to the Garden of Gethsemane. It was my first time there and when I first got there I found myself chatting with a friend for a time. After our chat and just taking in my surroundings I pulled out my phone and read aloud to a group of students nearby the account of the Savior atoning in the Garden found in Matt 26:36-42. The Spirit was so strong and powerfully testified to me of the Savior’s atonement and touched me profoundly as I read aloud that very moving account. It was such a peaceful and quiet moment and left me ever more cognizant of the incredible sacrifice that the Savior made for each of us and how much He loves us. My heart was touched and I came to appreciate the atonement and love the Savior much more deeply. It made a huge impression on me that that eternal act took place in the setting very similar to the one I was in and possibly even in or near the very place that I was sitting. It was such a powerful moment, words may never do it justice. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have had to be here. My experience has really helped me to see the scriptures in a new light and is making an eternal impact on me and who I am becoming. Furthermore, it has already helped me draw nearer to the Savior and make my relationship with Him much more personal.

Lookin' good in Jerash. Such a cooooooooool place!

Me touching the waters of the Jordan River at the spot where tradition holds that Christ was baptized. An amazing experience!

Porsche GT in real life! From the Royal Automobile Museum in Jordan.

Ever since the beginning of my mission I have always been on the lookout for the universal answer to the why behind trials. Ultimately I have come to decide that there is no answer, but that they are generally for our well-being. Frequently we may ask ourselves something like, “Why, if God loves me, has He allowed such a hard/difficult/unpleasant thing to happen to me?” I believe it was a seminary teacher who countered this thought with a response that was something like “God loves us too much to leave us as we are, and that is why He gives us trials.” Our Heavenly Father knows us better than even we know ourselves. Beyond that, I would say that He knows our capabilities, our gifts, talents and strengths better than we do. He knows what we are capable of doing and just how much we can take.

The idea for this post took root in a discussion we had in our Old Testament class a few weeks ago. We were talking about Abraham having received the Abrahamic covenant, among other things innumerable posterity, specifically through Isaac and then being commanded to sacrifice him. What a terrible edict to be commanded to kill your own son! As if that wasn’t enough, it must have been made worse having to do something that is normally against the commandments, to go against his faith and to have to exercise hope that the Lord will somehow raise his slain child or otherwise provide a way for the Abrahamic covenant to come to pass. He seemingly was asked to betray both his son and in some contradictory way, keep and break his faith simultaneously.

About Abraham’s plight Joseph Smith once said, “If God had known any other way whereby he could have touched Abraham’s feelings more acutely and more keenly he would have done so.” Abraham was given, by our loving Heavenly Father, the trial that would be hardest for him to overcome.  Truman G. Madsen said “I put the question once to President Hugh B. Brown, when we were in Israel: Why was Abraham commanded to go up on that mountain and offer as a sacrifice his only hope for the promised posterity? President Brown wisely replied, ‘Abraham needed to learn something about Abraham.’ By being tested, all of us will one day know how much our hearts are really set on the kingdom of God.”

Surely Abraham would have never willingly chosen such a trial for himself, not knowing the outcome beforehand. However, the Lord gave him such a trial, specifically catered to him, knowing that he was capable of overcoming. So does He bless us with trials that He knows we are capable of overcoming, it is up to us however, to decide whether or not we will remain faithful as Abraham did. Countless blessings await us if we do.

If you find yourself struggling through a trial, now, or in the future, know that your Heavenly Father believes in you, and knows that you, through the enabling power of the atonement of your Savior, can remain faithful through to the end. Remember also that it is not a curse, but a blessing which you have yet to recognize. Remember, in such situations, that your Heavenly Father knows, as a previous counselor in my stake presidency once said, that “In the growth zone there is no comfort and in the comfort zone there is no growth.” While hard to recognize them as such, trials are so frequently a manifestation of your Father in Heaven’s love for you. Stay faithful always, and it is my testimony that you will come to thank Him one day for loving you enough to not leave you as you are.