Scripture power

I have been following a Book of Mormon reading challenge on Instagram.  Every day there are a few chapters posted that we are to read, and by the end of the year it will have us finished reading it's entirety.  I love this forum because thousands of people are following it as well, and many people comment and share their wisdom, interpretations, and personal experiences.  It's like a huge viral Sunday school class.  I can't get enough of it.  I feel like I've learned more this month from the scriptures than I have my whole life!  I've never been good at reading the scriptures.  It's always been my biggest challenge.  It's just something that can be thrown on the back burner so easily.  There is always time for "something else."
But I crave finding the time to read now and hear the comments from complete strangers, yet brothers and sisters of my faith.

I can't get over the scripture passage I read yesterday and some accompanying thoughts.  In 2 Nephi we read that the Lord "shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain."

I've previously interpreted that to know there is always something to learn from our trials.  And I know that to be true.  I've definitely felt that in my life, and have always said I'm not grateful for my trials, but for what I've learned and gained from them. 
But when someone made the comment about it becoming holy, it resonated in my heart.

The definition of consecrate is to make or declare something sacred; to dedicate formally to a religious or divine purpose.  When a girl pointed this out it was a huge moment of revelation for me.  She continued to say that understanding the verse with this added definition changes the way she thinks about the trials in her life.  If she turns to Christ, He will make those hard experiences sacred and holy, and He will dedicate them for a divinely appointed purpose; to transform me into one worthy of exaltation in His kingdom.  This makes adversity seem like a sacred blessing from the Lord instead of a trial. 

WOW. 
It was the strangest thing as I finally fused together those words in my head to the feeling I've had in my heart.  I guess I'd never fully made that connection, even though I knew it to be true.

When I think of sacred experiences in my life they've all been choices that I have made.  I thought I chose to partake in holiness or not.  Such as the decision to get married, and seal that relationship in the temple.  One of the most sacred experiences of my life...looking at the man I loved in the holiest of all places I could be and covenanting together to keep certain promises.  ( I cried during the entire ceremony!!  I couldn't help it.  I was so overcome with the Spirit.)

Three other sacred experiences occurred in the miraculous stories of adopting our children.  Seeing the hand of God almost physically lead and connect us to our children is something so holy and spiritual it was life changing.

So I feel like my holy experiences are all good choices I have strived to make my entire life and God has blessed me in return.  Also attending church every Sunday and keeping the commandments have brought mighty blessings.

Yet when I think of the undesired and painful experiences of the trials wrought upon me, I also count them among my sacred experiences.  I don't see my trials as dark, lonely, downtrodden times that I want to erase from my life.  I review them as pillars of light.  As beacons of hope.  Yes there was pain and suffering that occurred, but never darkness or fear.
They are also events like described above, that I have felt closest to the Lord.  Through my suffering, pain, and loss, He has allowed me to get close to him, rely on him and trust him so He could in turn prove his love and loyalty to me.  At times when I clung on with a mere ounce of my being, or a dangling thread of hope, He always gave me peace.  When I felt like I could bare no more, He helped me stand.  When I cried in anguish I knew He heard.  We were building our relationship and I found the courage to merge on the path He set out for me while letting go of my personal dreams and bravely trusted in His plan for me.  What greater experience could amount to such a special and sacred experience.

When I got married in the temple, I knew I was doing the right thing.  It was easy to feel holiness.  But when one of my biggest nightmares came true and I had to let go of the baby in my arms as our 2nd adoption dissolved, and what I felt like was our lives along with it, it was an experience as far from sacred as one can imagine.  Or so you would think.

I sought him most fervently and with all my heart and soul and reached for him because He promised He would be there, and He made good on that promise.  That's why He atoned in the Garden of Gethsemane, so He could succor me.  He knew exactly what I was feeling and exactly what I needed to heal.  He wrapped his arms around me and loved me and made certain I knew it.  He wanted to prove He was loyal and that's why He allows hardships and pain to enter our lives.  Not because He wants to see us hurt, but because He wants to be the one to make it better.  And He does, better than any physician or medicine can heal.

We are refined and chipped away at a little bit more with each "affliction" that we choose to turn to Christ in.  We evolve and become closer to emerging into the person God wants us to be.  We become, as the comment at the beginning, transformed so we can be worthy of exaltation in His kingdom.

What a beautiful disguise.  Do we choose to see it? 

The Lord shall consecrate thine afflictions for the gain.