Johnson - And There Shall Be No More Death - April 2016

Elder Paul V. Johnson of the Seventy spoke about the death of his daughter Alisa to cancer a little over a year ago.  That has prompted him to ponder on the resurrection a little more than usual and speaks about the great hope that the Savior has given to us through the atonement.

• Last year at Easter time, a little over a month before she passed away, Alisa wrote: “Easter is a reminder of all that I hope for myself. That someday I will be healed and someday I will be whole. Someday I won’t have any metal or plastic inside of me. Someday my heart will be free of fear and my mind free of anxieties. I am not praying that this happens soon, but I am so glad I truly believe in a beautiful afterlife.”

He quotes President Hinckley concerning resurrection.

• President Gordon B. Hinckley referred to the Resurrection as “the greatest of all events in the history of mankind.”

Elder Johnson speaks about our challenges in life.  We all have them.  Our Savior is aware of them and provides us help to handle them in this life with an assurance that all will be better in the next life.

• Each of us has physical, mental, and emotional limitations and weaknesses. These challenges, some of which seem so intractable now, will eventually be resolved. None of these problems will plague us after we are resurrected.

He reminds us that nothing is impossible to God.

• The miracle of resurrection, the ultimate cure, is beyond the power of modern medicine. But it is not beyond the power of God.

Elder Johnson shares the truth of the resurrection and atonement.  We have great knowledge about the power of the resurrection and we believe the power of God has the ability to overcome all the bad things in our lives.

• The reality of the Resurrection of the Savior overwhelms our heartbreak with hope because with it comes the assurance that all the other promises of the gospel are just as real—promises that are no less miraculous than the Resurrection. We know that He has the power to cleanse us from all our sins. We know that He has taken upon Himself all our infirmities, pains, and the injustices we have suffered. We know that He has “rise[n] from the dead, with healing in his wings.” We know that He can make us whole no matter what is broken in us. We know that He “shall wipe away all tears from [our] eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain.” We know that we can be “made perfect through Jesus … , who wrought out this perfect atonement,” if we will just have faith and follow Him.

He ends with his testimony of the atonement and resurrection.  He assures all of us that we will see our loved ones again and that this knowledge provides great hope to us all.

• I am grateful for the blessings that are ours because of the Atonement and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. For all who have laid a child in a grave or wept over the casket of a spouse or grieved over the death of a parent or someone they loved, the Resurrection is a source of great hope. What a powerful experience it will be to see them again—not just as spirits but with resurrected bodies.

I have not had to go through the death of a child but I have friends that have.  The pain is heartbreaking.  It is overwhelming.  But those that have the hope of Christ in their lives have a deeper understanding of the purpose of life and seem to accept the challenges of life a little better than those that do not.  I am grateful for a knowledge and hope that I have in the Savior and know that he is the ultimate answer to all of our pains, discouragements, and hurts in this life.  All will be made right in the end.  We can have faith and hope in His love for us.