"...the God of All Comfort..." (2 Corinthians 1:3)

Christ is the light of the world.
I choose to focus on the light

I realize that there is so much suffering, hurt, sorrow, misery, injustice, and pain in the world from which I am sheltered. I cannot imagine what some people must endure from their own choices, other people's choices, and just part of living in a physical world. It's too easy to get sucked into the "dark" if I focus on all the bad things that happen every day in the world. Therefore I choose to focus on the "light", even the Light of Christ. It is defined as: "Divine energy, power, or influence that proceeds from God through Christ and gives life and light to all things" (Light). I love that light is divine energy and power. I can feel this power as I make good choices and focus on the love that God has for all of His children.
  
I also choose to focus on hope. There is always hope! Hope is defined as: "The confident expectation of and longing for the promised blessings of righteousness" (Hope). This hope- even a "perfect brightness of hope" (2 Nephi 31:20) which brings peace, joy, and relief, can only come from One True Source, even Jesus Christ. He is "the God of peace" (Romans 15:33).

I can imagine a "God of peace" (Romans 16:20). Even the "Prince of Peace"(Isaiah 9:6). I can imagine and feel hope because- He lives (D&C 76:22)!

God offers us peace and comfort. And not just the absence of war or contention. But true peace that calms the "troubled heart" (see John 14:1).

"Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God" (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

A Heavenly Father is there to comfort us. A Savior. Our Savior is there to comfort us in our darkest hours. In our painful hours. In the hours of joy and sorrow, He is there to comfort us and to rejoice with us.

I have found that where there is pain there is also joy, because we cannot have one without the other, neither light without darkness (see 2 Nephi 2:11). As I endure physical pain, I am appreciative of this statement by Orson F. Whitney:

No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience, is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father" (Joy in the Journey)

The truth is, Jesus Christ is the source of hope and "the God of all comfort" (2 Corinthians 1:3). Even in our darkest hours, which indeed we may come to find that they are our finest hours, will be filled with light (see The Great Plan of the Eternal God). He is the divine light that fills our hearts with joy, even in the midst of suffering. This I testify.

I love to see the light He offers me. In it I find comfort and joy.

"For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things." (2 Nephi 2:11)

Some days you just fall flat on your face when you hit ice. Well, at least I do. I now have a bruised elbow, and a bruise ego, but other than that, I'm good. I also have a greater appreciation for a healthy body. I have decided that falling was a good thing.  Why? Because without falling I wouldn't realize just how good I have it. I have a body that works, that my fingers can type these words, my eyes can see the beautiful world and creations all around me. I can see the beautiful faces of our children. I am blessed to have teeth~ I am so grateful I didn't smack my mouth or my jaw today. If I hadn't fallen, I wouldn't be appreciating the usual pain-free elbows I have or the knees that are so wonderful to help me pedal my bike, normally without pain.

Today, the opposition that landed me flat on my chest, face, and everything else helped me have a better perspective. It says: "For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so...righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness not misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must need remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility" (2 Nephi 2:11). After falling today, and smacking into the cold, hard cement, I would choose to feel pain so that I could feel the joy rather than have no pain and no joy. I wouldn't give up either one...joy and happiness, kindness and love are too incredible to give up. So, I will endure the pain so that I can have the joy.

Christ wants all of us to have His joy and the only way we can have it is to endure pain. He said, "Wherefore, fear not even unto death; for in this world your joy is not full, but in me your joy is full. Therefore, care not for the body, neither the life of the body; but care for the soul, and for the life of the soul. And seek the face of the Lord always, that in patience ye may possess your souls, and ye shall have eternal life" (D&C 101:36-38). "The spirit and the body are the soul of man" (D&C 88:15) and we get to experience joy and sadness, pleasure and pain so that we may know to "prize the good" (Moses 6:55). Life isn't easy at times, but it isn't all bad either. We get to choose for ourselves to "prize the good". We get to know the joy because of the pain. We get to know the light because of the dark. We get to know holiness because of misery.

What a blessing to fall and to get back up. We don't have to stay on the ground or remain in our sins unless we choose to remain there (see Alma 9:15).  The beauty is we also have a choice to get up off the ground, return to standing, or in other words~ repent (see Alma 9:15). "If [we] return unto the Lord with all [our] hearts, ...and prepare [our] hearts unto the Lord, and serve Him only: [then] He will deliver [us] out of the hand of [our enemies]", or in other words, our fall (1 Samuel 7:3). Choosing to get back up when we fall down may be difficult, but it is the choice that leads us up and closer to Christ. It is returning to Christ. It brings the greatest joy one could ever want and frees one from pain. This I testify.