Infuriating Unfairness | Dale G. Renlund | | April 2021 

We have some body issues experience in common. As they say, instead ask why not me? Some things are custom made for us and most others aren't gangster enough to experience them anyway. At the end of our time in this world, we will wear our trials like Olympic medals, because we endured so much to get to the finish line.

That's so beautiful don't loose heart or hope I really enjoyed this talk to and have similar issues with my body and looks. But your testimony of the gospel over rules all that isn't perfect in this life but knowing we are perfected in Christ and will have rest in him proves his grace is sufficient for all of us . 💗🙏🌷

Amen and amen

Your words are so true. I am disabled and it is awful the things done to me in my life. The only comfort is in Christ. He suffered and understands everything.

Good, now don't compare the Lord's servants to each other. He is a MIGHTY APOSTLE!!! Love you and Merry Christmas!

Thank you for sharing this testimony Ishmael!

That’s why I’m here as well. Blessings to you

And Christ is so ready to reach out and help us.

Like Elder Renlund said, one day, everthing will be made right. One day, people who have participated in hurting the people in genocides will pay. God will take care of that. God will make everything right. I would not want to be in the persecuters' shoes.

Thanks for sharing！ I love ❤️ Elder Renlund as one of our apostles, even though I do not know him personally. :) His talks are full of Holy Spirit. Also, I can feel the harmonious bond between Elder Renlund and sister Renlund. God bless!

It's the best talk ever given on the subject. So well said👍👍

^^^

Yep. I have to think about my Dad while singing that, bc my mother and i, different story.

I have struggled with that same thing. I always sat quietly during that part or even through the whole song because it wasn’t true for me. But as a mother now I’ve chosen to focus more of my attention on making sure that when my sweet babies are old enough to sing that song that they will know it’s true for them. And I hope you always know that having imperfect earthly parents, has no impact on the perfect love of our Eternal Parents. ❤️

I feel this.

Think about your heavenly parents instead of earthly parents.

Same thoughts. He's skinny

Yes, we do pray for him

He has stated it was an intentional diet and exercise to improve his health as to the reason he has lost weight. Good for him.

Maybe President Nelson is asking the apostles to be kinder to their hearts. Soares has also lost weight.

I noted the same thing Jacquie!! ....greetings from Australia 🇦🇺

It looks like they’re still working on getting all the transcriptions done. But, when they do they can be found at churchofjesuschrist.org, the Gospel Library App, or the May Liahona magazine (also found in the gospel library app or at Deseret Book.

Probably. I wonder if the transcripts online might have a full text?? He is coming to my ward this month, I can ask if you would like.

I agree that our pace of learning with a perfected body, would be great (or at least we would have an eternity to study). However, the key recipe for much knowledge comes from experience. Consider how you could study a topic all day, and then go to do a lab and feel as if you have no clue what to do. There is much you can learn in the studying phase, but there is also much you MUST learn in the action phase. Many of these action phases require a chance to fall short to learn. I know personally, messing something up promptly teaches me to correct and do my best to not repeat the same mistake. I learn much more quickly when I fall short. Consider the story once taught: sometimes going down the wrong path for a brief moment (without knowing it’s the wrong path), is actually a blessing in that you adjust course… you then walk down the other path knowing it’s the right path. What a blessing it is to know and not doubt. If you had gone down the right path from the very beginning you might stumble.. you might hesitate.. you might drag your feet, all while doubting and second guessing your choice in path. When you know the path you walk is right, you can put full purpose of heart into it and march on with confidence. Sometimes it takes unintentionally falling a little bit to know with confidence what makes you happy. Gaining earthly knowledge unlocks the potentials in the experiences we can have. Academic studies allow us greater opportunities to learn by unlocking doors. So to circle back to your question, our advantages are a result from our experiences. Knowing the right choice because we’ve physically made it before is much better than someone telling us what the right answer is. The confidence we can muster as a result of experience is a huge source of peace. There’s also the point to make that: would you trust someone to just tell you the answer? Consider children: parents tell their children to not touch the hot stove. Some children do it anyways, and then promptly find out their parents were right and they should have just listened. Now, you may not be one to touch a hot stove, but each and every one of us has been disobedient to a parent who tried to protect us from consequences. If not an earthly parent, then definitely a Heavenly one. Our Father in Heaven loves us more than we can possibly comprehend in this life. And many of us, when we become parents, can feel the soul-wrenching love when we long for our child’s success. That love is only a glimpse of what our Heavenly Father has for us. I can testify to you that He loves us in ways language can not describe. Because of that love, I can testify to you that He would not make us doing anything that wasn’t for our good. This life is important. The work you are doing is important. You are important. There is much happiness in store for each of us to learn. The Plan of Salvation is truly one of happiness. It is designed to maximize each and every one of our potentials, no matter what choices we decide to make. There is a place for all of us to be.

Hi, thanks for your great question. While we don’t have all the answers, Elder Renlund addresses this question when he says, “In mortality, we can “come boldly” to the Savior and receive compassion, healing, and help. Even while we suffer inexplicably, God can bless us in simple, ordinary, and significant ways. As we learn to recognize these blessings, our trust in God will increase. In the eternities, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will resolve all unfairness. We understandably want to know how and when. How are They going to do that? When are They going to do it? To my knowledge, They have not revealed how or when. What I do know is that They will.”

One thing to consider and ponder is: don’t try to focus on others’ circumstances too much. Consider possible answers: 1) the ones who only need a body are more valiant or dedicated to obedience than us 2) love God more than us 3) etc. none of these possible answers help to further our individual progression. These answers can actually make us more hard, or upset, on ourselves in an un-constructive way. And in fact, we don’t know. They may be less valiant or loving or so on, but there is always wisdom in Heavenly Father’s way. That we can know. It is in similitude of comparing ourselves to others. Just as the “currant bush” story, your best self is different than the best self of others (the currant bush was attempting to be as the trees, but produced no fruit). There is a need for trees and there is a need for fruit bushes. Without one, life would be much less. In such, focus on your love for God and it will help you to pull through your trials much happier than if you focus on what happens to other people. It’s extremely easy to switch from the healthy way we learn from other peoples’ mistakes to the unhealthy way of thinking our circumstances should be the same. When I think of Job, or Joseph Smith, or anyone else who had a brutally trying life… I am grateful that my trials are different. I don’t know that I could handle some of the trials that others seemingly pass through. All I can offer is the comfort that I KNOW God loves each one of us individually. I promise you that He cares about you. This life is indeed a test to prove to God what we will do in a given situation (and to ourselves). Just as we may say “if someone was being mugged I would absolutely step in to help” or “if someone on the side of the road needed help, I would absolutely stop and help” only to find ourselves in those situations saying “oh, it’s probably best if I don’t make things worse” or “they probably don’t need help or have already been helped”. While you may see it as a risk to our souls, I testify to you that it is actually an Opportunity to grow. The first time I passed someone on the side of the road, I justified not stopping. It was then that I chose to change. Without these tests to fall short, we don’t learn to change our hearts. This I can promise you: so long as you continue to love Jesus Christ, you will never fail. Yes, you will fall down. You will fall short at times, but you will never fail so long as He lives. And He lives!

Renlund often can sound like tough love. When people are going through a lot of pain, the "tough love" approach can be the wrong method for certain personalities even if everything being said is true.

Michael Barrister, you hit the nail on the head! This talk says it all about the times we live in! Elder Renlund has the answer to much of the last year's civil unrest and angst.

God loves you just like He loves all His children. There have been times when I have felt God was unfair to me. I later realized it wasn’t God being unfair, it was me sinning. We cannot blame God when the natural consequences of our actions come into fruition.

It is not God, it is people in religion. The Christ I know in the Bible would not judge. He would accept and love, no matter what orientation everyone is. Love is love. 🌈

Maybe you volunteered to have this challenge so others could learn to love unconditionally like the Savior? What a sacrifice, let Christ’s love radiate from you. Don’t forget your story isn’t over, it’s just beginning.

@@darronsanderson4837 except the Savior DOES judge. He is the judge of us all. A compassionate, merciful, and fair judge but a judge nonetheless.

Just to ease your concerns, he has mentioned on his Instagram account that he and his wife decided to make some exercise and lifestyle changes over the past year, which resulted in improved health and some weight loss.