"Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted." (Matt. 5: 4; 3 Nephi 12:4)

There is a particular story in the Bible that I really love. It is about Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, and a very dear friend of Jesus'. Lazarus was very sick, and he sent for Jesus and Jesus responded by saying, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby" (John 11:4). Before Jesus gets to Lazarus, he dies, and has been dead 4 days by the time Jesus arrives.  Martha and Mary know Jesus is the Christ and has the power of resurrection. Jesus knows that He is going to restore life to Lazarus. But before He does this He does something that is so tender and loving and kind. Mary and Martha are in mourning because of the loss of their brother. Even though they know he will be resurrected again in the Lord's time, they are filled with grief. What the Lord does is a deep expression of how He feels for and with us when we are in mourning and great sorrow. "Jesus wept" (John 11:35).


We are never alone in our sorrow or our suffering.

"And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind... and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities (Alma 7:11-12) 

Christ knows exactly how to succor us in our times of sorrow and suffering. In our times of mourning He will make our sorrow into joy. He said: "I will turn their mourning into joy; and I will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow." (Jeremiah 31:13) Our sorrow and suffering doesn't go unnoticed. There is a time to mourn (Ecclesiastes 3:4) and we are blessed when we mourn: "Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted" (Matt. 5:4; 3 Nephi 12:4). The Lord knows exactly what we need in everything because he has suffered it all. He has lost loved ones, suffered grief and pain. He loves us and wants to comfort us. The challenge is to turn our hearts and minds to Christ so He can comfort us and help relieve our pain.

As we mourn we have the blessing to "stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in" (Mosiah 18:9), even when we are in the greatest grief we can have "the hope of a glorious resurrection" (D&C 138:14) because of the grace of Jesus Christ. He is alive. He loves us, all of us. And we shall see Him and all our loved ones again. This I testify is the hope that Christ brings to all the earth.