How Did He Continue On?

HOW did Mormon continue on?

His “heart did begin to rejoice within” for them” (Mormon 2:12) only to have “sorrow...return unto me again.” (2:15) 

He saw “willful” (1:16) and “open rebellion.” (2:25) 

He saw “blood and carnage spread throughout... the land.” (2:8)

He saw them “curse God,” “boast in their own strength,” and “swear before the heavens.” (3:9-10) 

He saw “they delighted in the shedding of blood continually” (4:11)

He saw them “struggle for their lives without calling upon that Being who created them.” (5:2)

He “was without hope” for them. (5:2)

Oh, my heart just aches for Mormon! What more could he do for them? To know “they were once a delightsome people, and they had Christ for their shepherd” (5:17) no wonder his soul was “rent with anguish,” crying, “O ye fair ones, how could ye have rejected that Jesus, who stood with open arms to receive you!” (6:16-17)

How could he continue on? How could he move forward amidst so much sorrow?

How do WE do this, too? If “men are that they might have joy,” (2 Ne. 2:25) how do we HAVE joy when the world can be SO dark? Where is hope to be found?

“Wherefore, ye must press forward with a ​​​steadfastness​ in Christ, having a perfect brightness of ​​​hope​, and a ​​​love​ of God and of all men.” (2 Ne 31:20)

-HOPE in Christ & His atonement! CLING to the goodness you have felt! Mormon had “tasted and knew of the goodness of Jesus.” (Morm. 1:15) and surely held fast to it! He knew “the Lord will remember the prayers of the righteous.” (5:21) 

-LOVE & PRAY for others! Despite it all, Mormon “loved them, according to the love of God which was in me, with all my heart; and my soul had been poured out in prayer unto my God all the day long for them” (3:12) Charity never faileth!

-Keep an ETERNAL perspective! Certain things are out of our hands! God had to remind Mormon: “Vengeance is mine, and I will repay.” (3:15) There is a bigger picture, and all will be made right!

-We are NOT alone! The Lord sends angels, seen & unseen. I love that we know the 3 Nephites were there. “I have seen them, and they have ministered unto me.” (4 Ne. 28:26)

We CAN have hope, even in darkness. God’s promises are sure.