“It is a startling idea to think we are worshiping a God that once was in the situation that we are in ourselves,” Brigham Young stated in June of 1851. In this sermon recorded by Wilford Woodruff, President Young continued, “[He] had to pass through a probation of pain, suffering and the fall like ourselves.”
Have you ever found it difficult to align your will with God’s and humbly submit to His plan for you? We can learn how to better submit to the will of our Heavenly Father by looking at the example of Jesus Christ and some of the early Saints.
In John 16:13, Christ said, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.”
Serving as an Apostle for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1861, Elder Wilford Woodruff began a discourse with the following: “It is truly good to sit and hear the word of the Lord, and it is truly a good thing to believe in it; but it is still better to practice it.” This brief yet powerful message was not only for the Saints living in Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, but it was truly a mantra that Wilford Woodruff believed in—beginning with his conversion in 1833 through to his death in 1898.
One of my greatest fears is the end of times. Today, I worry about bringing children into a world where schools are filled with temptation and the world is filled with war and disease. While pondering this I came across a quote in the Wilford Woodruff Papers: “The mob used every exertion to take the life of Joseph and others; but through the mercy of God in whose hands their lives were their enemies did not succeed in this.