When in need of comfort...

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." — John 16:33

My time in the missionary training center in Brazil was very difficult for me. At the end of the first month I was feeling pretty hopeless. I was progressing, but it seemed so slow and the idea of being out in the field in one month terrified me. The mountainous task of learning the Portuguese language and using it to bring actual investigators to the truth of the gospel seemed impossible.

I remember it was a night after a particularly hard day in the MTC. In these kinds of moments of confusion or sadness I often flip through the pages of the scriptures and allow the Spirit to lead me to where the Lord would have me read.

I opened the New Testament and, after a moment of page turning, my eyes fell upon a verse in the gospel of John which says:

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

As I read these words of comfort from the Savior of the faithful disciples of old, I too felt comforted. These words, He spoke perhaps, just minutes before he descended into the suffering of Gethsemane.

There, I know, He truly did overcome all the trials and pains that each one of us have or will go through in this life. I took comfort in my knowledge that He knew personally my feelings of frustration and inadequacy that I had at that time, and that He would help me pass through them a stronger person if I let Him.

Now that I'm in the field, trials are not easier. If anything, the tribulation has increased tenfold. But when the frustrations and trials of the world press down upon me I turn again to the scriptures for relief. They truly are the words of God and will lead us to safe harbor in this life.

So if you ever feel hopeless, powerless before the travails of this life, remember the words of the Savior, "but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

We can triumph over anything in this life because He already has.