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Gift #4: Darkness

This is how excited I am that you're back for round four! And don't worry, it's a short one. 


November 22, 2015
Ichinomiya, Japan
I thought about the times when I felt abandoned and alone and felt miserable, about ready to throw everything away...but I think those dark moments make the gospel even more real—it gives [the gospel] more definition. We need those hard times—we need the refiner’s fire.

But along the same note, God isn’t going to give up on us. He isn’t going to lure us in with spiritual experiences, string us along and then drop us when He thinks we can do it by ourselves. We aren’t spiders He is dangling above the burning flames of hell—note: this is a reference to an 1800s sermon I read in a high school English class—We are his children.

Like I’ve said before, going through my journals has been emotionally taxing. My mission gifted a lot of darkness, but I am grateful for those dark moments. I believe in a Heavenly Father who loves me so much that He will expose me to difficult experiences.

This is one benefit of keeping a journal. Even though I was miserable then, being tossed back and forth between anxiety and depression depending on the day, I look back now and I can see God's hand during the hard times. Tasting darkness helped me develop empathy. It helped me to grow and grow up.

It helped me find light in the Savior Jesus Christ. Like this guy:


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