Signs and Weapons

Things are crazy these days.

Just look at the weather, let alone all of the catastrophes that are happening: wars and rumors of wars, fires, floods, earthquakes...all seeming to occur with increasing frequency.  Back to the weather, "unseasonable" seems to be a standard word in the modern weatherman's vernacular.  From "unusual warm spells" to "record-setting snow falls," it seems that the world has been turned topsy-turvy.

Let's throw the oft-touted, dis-proven hoax of global warming out the window and move on :).  (Thanks, Quayle...nice try.)

When prophets hundreds and thousands of years ago can describe in better detail than our news people what is going on right now, I think it is something to consider.  Signs of the Second Coming are everywhere!

Now, I am like Alma who states in Alma 13:25:

And now we only wait to hear the joyful news declared unto us by the mouth of angels, of his coming; for the time cometh, we ^aknow not how soon. Would to God that it might be in my day; but let it be sooner or later, in it I will rejoice.

In the meantime, though, my sweet daughter Liliputian had an interesting response to one of the latest "unbelievable!" reports: "You know, mom.  It is cool to see these signs and know that the Second Coming is closer."  I agree. I also am encouraged ofttimes as I look around at the disarray of politics, instability and harshness of the world, and the sometimes scary cataclysmic events and see them in their context: signs to us that God knew this would happen and that He is there, mindful of how it unfolds and if we look to His prophets for direction, we can find peace knowing we (and the world) are in His hands and under His watchful eye.

I feel like it is almost like He is saying through the predictions of the prophets: "I know it is going to be tough but don't worry.  I knew and allowed this to happen for a reason. I knew it would be hard so I had the prophets reveal it thousands of years ago so you would recognize it as My hand and My will when it came.  Be still and know that I am God."

I hear so much of torment and heartache, trials and strivings among my friends and family!  Oh, my heart aches for them. Selfishly, it aches for me as I wage battles in my soul with my own demons.  So many of us are truly being tried by storms within and storms without.  Could it be we are being tested during this final hour to see if we, with those saints in the past, will truly be valiant to our testimony of Christ until the end?  Those saints that crossed plains, suffered persecutions and even death, who bore the shame and crosses of the world?  Why is it that we acknowledge that all must be tried, but then when our own "tests" come, we complain that it is uncomfortable?

Guilty.  Completely guilty. I love to complain when things get hard: woe is me, what am I doing wrong, this is too hard...etc.  The litany goes on.  How powerful would it be when we truly can become as Paul who proclaimed:

And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; (Romans 5:3)

I loved this follow up scripture that I found while finding the exact reference of the previous one:

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; (2 Cor. 4:17)

 

"Light affliction" sometimes doesn't seem very light, but I believe that when we look back, we will be humbled and grateful that it was as light as it was and will see the very merciful and watchful hand of God making sure that it was "just enough" to help us become worthy of His eternal glory.

There is much to be said with coming together to strengthen one another. I believe it gives us perspective, perspective to know that not only God is with us, but that we have companionship and compassion in those around us.  As I watched a friend suffer through their own inner demons, from the "outside" I could see God reaching out to them...and it didn't seem that He was getting in.  As I prayed fervently in my heart that they would allow God in to heal them and give them direction, seeing that their pains were being held so closely to their heart that it was eating them alive, that uncomfortable mirror of reflection was turned on me and I could see the things that I was "holding on to," nursing grudges and grievances and locking God out.  That same healing I plead for silently for my friend, my God was also pleading for me.

Maybe it is good that things that need to be fixed within ourselves are uncomfortable...kind of like pain of the flesh is an indication of a problem that needs to be fixed.

The signs of the Second Coming are without and within, as Satan wages a war "within the hearts of man" equal and perhaps surpassing the wars that are raging abroad.  Battle we must.  Battle through prayer, battle through love, battle through humility...odd "weapons," I suppose, but God's ways never were our ways, right?