TODAY'S THEME
An Angel of the Lord Appears to Alma the Younger and His Four Friends (sons of their king, Mosiah). He Chastizes them for Their Sinful Lives.
Alma 36:
12 But I (Alma) was racked with eternal torment, for my soul was harrowed up to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins.
13 Yea, I did remember all my sins and iniquities, for which I was tormented with the pains of hell; yea, I saw that I had rebelled against my God, and that I had not kept his holy commandments.
14 Yea, and I had murdered many of his children, or rather led them away unto destruction; yea, and in fine so great had been my iniquities, that the very thought of coming into the presence of my God did rack my soul with inexpressible horror.
15 Oh, thought I, that I could be banished and become extinct both soul and body, that I might not be brought to stand in the presence of my God, to be judged of my deeds.
16 And now, for three days and for three nights was I racked, even with the pains of a damned soul.
Alma suffered great adversity because of his many sins. That great adversity brought about in him: Repentance and the Blessed Peace which follows it!
Alma 36:Thus, Alma the Younger, suffering great adversity and tribulation, remembered the teachings of his father, Alma the Elder. Young Alma was humbled and with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, found peace he had never before experienced or even most likely, ever hoped to experience.Now, it would seem that Alma would have ever afterwards demonstrated his deep appreciation for the great blessing his experience with adversity had brought him. And that he would value the true principle consistently in his ministry among the wayward ones of his people, that facing adversity properly, with a broken heart and a contrite spirit*, is the sure means to gaining great blessings and peace. Here is an actual example of Alma using that principle in his ministry:
17 And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.
18 Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.
19 And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.
20 And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!
Alma 32: 6 And now when Alma heard this, he turned him about, his face immediately towards him, and he beheld with great joy; for he beheld that their afflictions had truly humbled them, and that they were in a preparation to hear the word.Now, I hope that you are in agreement with me on that which Alma the Younger's experiences help us to more clearly see, that the adversities we face in life can very effectively prepare us for better things!
7 Therefore he did say no more to the other multitude; but he stretched forth his hand, and cried unto those whom he beheld, who were truly penitent. . . [About 74 B.C.]
I will now share with you some of the adversity I had to face beginning at the tender age of five. Unlike Alma and the people he was teaching (in the scripture above) I had not yet reached the age of accountability before God (age eight). I was a good child, I just happened to drink (TB infected) milk that my good parents obtained from a dairy located not too far from our home in Roseville, California.
Neil Birch, age 6, in front of the Primary Childrens' Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.A in about 1938 - 39.
Examine your own life! Has any adversity you may have faced actually turned out to have had a beneficial effect on you? While you are trying to answer my question to yourself, let me tell you more about the effects on me of that adversity that came to me in that early part of my life.
Not too many months ago, while doing my forty minute elliptical exercise(six days a week routine) At the Murray, Utah Recreation Center, keeping my heart rate under 140 beats a minute as my doctor told me 77 year-olds should do, and using two successfully medically implanted new knees - one on December 13, 2001 and the other on February 6, 2008), I saw and heard a good sized group of pre-teen boys on the basketball court just behind me down on the first floor making all kinds of happy noises while working out in a basketball camp. They were really yelling for joy, the joy of using their bodies while developing skills needed in playing basketball.
I remembered right then, at their age I would have never been "yelling for joy" like those boys were doing because our very good and greatly respected (respected to this day by me and my parents who are now deceased) doctor, Lucas W. Empey, had, on purpose, made my left knee stiff.
To achieve my having a stiff left knee, Doctor Empey put me in traction for most of the rest of my fifth year by attaching pulleys to the outside end of my crib with weights on the ends of ropes that ran over the pulleys and stretched my left knee straight during much of the daytime hours for at least a half a year. This was done because the medical opinion then was that by so doing my leg would grow to a normal length. And it did, but it remained stiff for 65 years until a new knee was implanted (in 2001).
During part of my sixth and seventh years I had a Plaster of Paris caste on my left knee and spent 14 months away from my family as a patient at the LDS Primary Children's' Hospital which was then located across North Temple Street from Temple Square in Salt Lake City. The photo you viewed earlier in this post was taken by my mother in the front yard of that hospital. The very large and beautiful Conference Center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints now stands in that block where that and other smaller buildings once stood.
My parents felt that was the only thing they could do to afford (financially) to have my knee treated by specialists and for me to be able to begin attending the first grade (which was taught right there in the hospital). They didn't have the special means needed to transport me to school in Roseville, CA. My father was a clerk at the Roseville Roundhouse of the S.P. Railroad. It was during the Great Depression and his salary was somewhat meager.
My Mother and Father and my brother who is twenty three months younger than me, lived 700 miles to the West from me. Whenever my mother would kiss me goodbye after visiting me for several days at the Children's' Hospital most every month, I cried, at times, almost uncontrollably.
Here is a second photograph of me as a seven year old. It was taken by a Deseret News photographer for an article in their March 18, 1939 issue. The cake was given to the children at the Primary Children's' Hospital to eat. This cake memorialized the Salt Lake Exchange Club's sixteenth anniversary. I'm the second boy from the right. My mother drew an arrow above me. I guess I was supposed to have a happy look on my face, but I don't think that is the kind of look I'm showing. Being away from home for fourteen months was tough.
I did very well in the first grade that was held at the hospital and there were many loving, caring nurses and I developed some good relationships with other children. Church meetings including Primary were held regularly. I learned to love our Savior, Jesus Christ, while there.
The adversity I went through during that time and to some extent all the time I was growing up because of that stiff knee, was actually something that helped shape my life in a positive direction.
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints there is a worthy man in every stake (an area organization) of the church whose responsibility it is, to give patriarchal blessings from the Lord to individuals in the Church who desire and are worthy to receive such. I received such a blessing when I was ten years old and living at our home in Roseville, California (U.S.A.) (which is about 14 miles East of Sacramento, the Captol City of the State of California.)
Let me quote a small portion of that blessing:
"...these things which have come unto you (my stiff knee and the challenges that came with that) will be for your good. For you shall develop patience and shall have a kindly spirit towards your fellow man, and love for your fellow man in his affliction shall be great in your heart." (I added that which is parenthesized.)I shed some tears of gratitude as I typed those words just now. That Patriarchal Blessing was true prophecy!
I'm adding this paragraph later. Yesterday (at the time I first used this material in my blog #14 in June 2008) at a family reunion, two female cousins of mine reminded me of a song my mother had sung to each of them as they were growing up, telling them each that it was what she used to sing to me when I was down emotionally with my knee problems. This is it:
I am happy today for the sunshine, for the skys of gray or blue. For within my heart is a song of love. I'll live, I'll work, I'll do.By the way, what was the answer you gave to the question I asked you above, "Has any adversity you may have faced actually turned out to have had a beneficial effect in you?" If you would like, you could e-mail your answer to me at: jneilmelva@gmail.com I will keep your answer confidential and not share it on my blog unless you ask me to do so.
No cloud can cast a shadow over courage such as mine. For I'll sing this song as I go along. I'll live, I'll work, I'll do.
Painting: Heinrich Hofmann
The Resurrected Jesus Christ
* The Lord Jesus Christ admonishes us to have broken hearts and contrite spirits!
Please click on the following link to read the words of our Resurrected Savior, Jesus Christ as he admonished the more righteous of the Nephite Nation while speaking out of the darkness from the sky. He had not yet descended to be with them on the earth. [A.D.]
SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS: After you have clicked on the link below and when the scripture is on your screen, please scroll up and click on the word, Listen, which you will see on the upper left hand side of your computer screen. When you hear the voice reading the words of the scripture you can click on the minus (-) sign you will see on the Audio Window which has come onto your screen, so it will be removed and be non-distracting. After you have finished reading and listening to this chapter, please click on the white left arrow in a blue background. This will bring you back to this post.
The following link, when clicked upon, will allow you to view the latest Mormon Messages Video. You will find it very well done and hopefully will be applicable to you and to your particular needs.
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I deeply appreciate your readership and hope you found very beneficial, that which was presented to you in this blog post.If you have any questions about what you have read or viewed in this post or in any previous posts of mine, or if you even have a curiosity about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and or its teachings, please e-mail me. I'm Neil and my e-mail address is: jneilmelva@gmail.com. If you contact me I'll get back to you just as soon as possible.
I invite you to let your friends and relatives know about this blog if you think they would be interested. Please be advised that I also have two additional blogs. One is in Spanish: http://varsinaisella.blogspot.com/ and one is in Finnish: http://varsinaisesti.blogspot.com/ The content of each is translated from the English in this blog.
Neil Birch
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