Written by April T Giauque
Endler Brook P Hales
Trials, challenges, and the refiner’s fire all describe our life experiences. We will all face something, and Elder Hales's Conference talk really puts the point across that “all of this (mortality/trials) has been for our good.” Many of you who have read both of my books, “Pinpoint of Light; Escaping the Abyss of Abuse” and “Out of Darkness; Find, Fuel. and Live in Your Light” will know of some of the “tests of mortality” that I have been through and have come through triumphant with the Lord. Elder Hales wants all of us to realize that the challenges we face in life will be okay—especially when we cling to the Lord!
Stories
Elder Hales shared three key stories: A sister he used to “Home Teach,” his personal story, and his mother’s story as examples of how mortality worked for them. These examples all share that they went through a refiner's fire, and throughout the trial, they clung to Jesus and never lost hope. They made the best decision possible as Satan tried to destroy them. They stayed with Jesus.
The three stories were connections that many of us would have made at one point or another. It’s like the Savior taught with stories so we can identify and place ourselves in those experiences to know what to do. I remember listening to his words, thinking, “Why was he impressed to share this? What lesson do I need to learn, or what Gospel truth do I need to cling to?”
In the first story, he listed all of the trials the “Home Taught” sister faced: physical pain, financial challenges, divorce, no worldly accolades, remarried, then widowed for 26 years, etc. Despite her challenges, she knew Jesus and served him all her life with family history, research, and accepted callings.
She did what so many of us do. We stay faithful and true because we have a conviction that is rooted in truth, and we know that there is more beyond this mortality. Following her death, that same sister was permitted to leave the Spirit World and visited her son when he attended the Temple.
She told her son in his mind:
“I want you to know that mortality works, and I want you to know that I now understand why everything happened [in my life] the way it did—and it is all OK.”
Elder Hales' mom shared similar trials and was able to visit him in a dream. The beauty and awareness he gained was that no matter how hard life gets, the refiner's fire is there to help us return to Him. Mortality Works!
Mortality Works
Elder Hales testified to us, “Brothers and sisters, mortality works! It is designed to work! Despite the challenges, heartaches, and difficulties we all face, our loving, wise, and perfect Heavenly Father has designed the plan of happiness so that we are not destined to fail. His plan provides a way for us to rise above our mortal failures. The Lord has said, “This is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”
WOW! When we break down the truth and if we are to be the beneficiaries of the Lord’s “work and … glory,” even “immortality and eternal life,” we must expect to be schooled and taught and to pass through the refiner’s fire—sometimes to our utter limits. We can’t avoid it or sidestep the process that is truly necessary for mortality to work.
In our mortality, we will encounter situations that try us and people who enable us to practice true charity and patience. I have some situations at work and in life that I need to remember: “What Would Jesus Do?” I need to follow that counsel and remember that even though we will mess up, the Lord will give us more experience to get through it until we recognize the hope and light.
Elder Hales reminds us that when “Dark clouds of trouble hang o’er us and threaten our peace to destroy,” it is helpful to remember this counsel and promise found in Mosiah 23 relating to life’s challenges:
“Nevertheless—whosoever putteth his trust in [the Lord] the same shall be lifted up at the last day.”
Thorn in the Flesh
The apostle Paul understood this as well. He said, “There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.” It doesn’t matter what Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was. We know that he struggled. What Paul did in that struggle was that he turned to God!
He pleaded with the Lord for help and that, ultimately, the Lord’s strength and power are what helped him through it. We can do the same. The Test in life is to see if we will turn to God in our sorrow, pain, or trial. If we do, we gain more and more understanding of who God is, and we build a relationship with Him!
Elder Hales' Personal Story
Elder Hales spoke about the pain he suffered as a youth and the people who made him ill. With the abuse and pain he felt, he learned how to turn to the Lord. He learned how to build a relationship with Him. In that relationship, he learned of the power of God and how He could forgive and move forward no matter what the abuse was. Elder Hales used Jesus, and eventually, he was strengthened emotionally and spiritually and finally recognized after many years that I have always been a person of worth and worthy of the blessings of the gospel.
“The Savior helped me to overcome my feelings of unworthiness and to extend sincere forgiveness to the offender. I finally understood that the Savior’s Atonement was a personal gift for me and that my Heavenly Father and His Son love me perfectly. Because of the Savior’s Atonement, mortality works.”—Elder Hales
Mortality Can Teach Us Compassion and Christ’s Love
These experiences will teach us a profound lesson, and hopefully, we can have compassion for innocent victims of another’s actions and empathy for the downtrodden. As he shared his last story of his mother’s experience of pain and trials (read the talk to see the specifics), he too was visited and confirmed by his mother that Mortality Works!
Mortality is God’s work and His glory. The experiences of mortality are part of the journey that allows us to grow and progress toward immortality and eternal life. We were not sent here to fail but to succeed in God’s plan for us.
Testimony
Finally, Elder Hales shared his testimony: I testify that as we receive the ordinances of the gospel, enter into covenants with God, and then keep those covenants, repent, serve others, and endure to the end, we too can have the assurance and complete trust in the Lord that mortality works! I testify of Jesus Christ and that our glorious future with our Heavenly Father is made possible by the grace and Atonement of the Savior. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
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