My Answer To The "Why?"

For so long I have struggled with the question of "Why?".  "Why?" did Dad get cancer and "Why?" did it return again. I struggled with wondering why my faith and the combined faith of the whole family could not have healed him before he had to endure the cancer treatments and the sickness that came with it.  I have studied and prayed a lot to understand how faith works.  I blamed myself for so long after the cancer came back because I didn't think I had enough faith and that if I did, Dad would not have had to suffer so much.  As the doctor's came out of the surgical room during Dad's second cancer surgery and informed us that the cancer had returned I was so shocked.  I couldn't believe that it was back!  In the month's following the surgery and during his cancer treatments I have learned so much about faith and about the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  I have learned for myself, and continue to learn, about the enabling power of the Atonement.  (If you want to learn more about the enabling power of the Atonement, there is a great article in the March 2013 Ensign entitled The Enabling Power of the Atonement... Read it!  You will love it!)  I love these quotes concerning the enabling power of the Atonement:

"Elder Bednar said, “I frankly do not think many of us ‘get it’ concerning [the] enabling and strengthening aspect of the Atonement, and I wonder if we mistakenly believe we must make the journey from good to better and become a saint all by ourselves through sheer grit, willpower, and discipline, and with our obviously limited capacities.”

The belief that through our own “sheer grit, willpower, and discipline” we can manage just about anything seems to be widespread these days. This simply is not true. Heavenly Father and the Savior can inspire, comfort, and strengthen us in our time of need, if we remember to cast our burdens at Their feet."

And this one: 

"On the eve of Jesus Christ’s suffering in Gethsemane, He issued this benediction to His disciples: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. … Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27). Of this invitation, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said, “[This] may be one of the Savior’s commandments that is, even in the hearts of otherwise faithful Latter-day Saints, almost universally disobeyed; and yet I wonder whether our resistance to this invitation could be any more grievous to the Lord’s merciful heart.” Elder Holland added, “I am convinced that none of us can appreciate how deeply it wounds the loving heart of the Savior of the world when he finds that his people do not feel confident in his care or secure in his hands.”

Christ stands ready with outstretched arms as He waits for us t,o come unto Him and be encircled in the arms of His love (see D&C 6:20). It is here that we can be healed, nourished, loved, enabled, strengthened, and made whole. Although the trial may be hard and the relief may not be immediate, we need to learn to allow God to help carry our burdens. We can do this by turning to Him regularly to seek His enabling power."

To the faithful followers of Alma, who were struggling with heavy persecution from the wicked priest Amulon, the Lord declared, “I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, … that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.” In fulfillment of that wonderful promise, “the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord” (Mosiah 24:14, 15).

Amazing!  Simply amazing!  I still have so much to learn and I am excited for it!  

I came home from church today and listened to the CES Fireside from last week where-in Elder David Bednar spoke.  Wow!  I was hit so strongly from the Spirit when he was sharing the story of a young married couple and their trial with cancer.  Please, Please, Please watch this!  I cannot stress how much of an answer it was for me!  This was the answer to the "Why?" that I have been pondering for so long...  Here is the link: http://www.lds.org/broadcasts/watch/ces-devotionals/2013/01?lang=eng&vid=2201224691001

I hope that it too will bring peace to your lives. 

I am so grateful to our Father in Heaven for this trial.  I am grateful to Dad for being willing to endure such misery and hardship so I could learn and grow. I will be eternally grateful to him for this.  I have grown so much spiritually and I know that as hard-headed as I am it took something big to make me teachable.  Watch this talk.