"As a victim, do not waste effort in revenge or retribution against your
aggressor.  Focus on your responsibility to do what is in your power to correct."
--- Richard G. Scott
General Conference, April 1992

There was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope.
--- Bern Williams

No pang that is suffered by man or woman upon the earth will be without
its compensating effect...if it be met with patience.
---  James E. Talmage

One of the secrets of life is to make stepping stones out of stumbling blocks.
--- Jack Penn

Fear can keep us up all night, but faith makes one fine pillow.
--- Philip Gulley

Sorrow can enlarge the mind and heart in order to 'give place,' expanded space for joy.
--- Neal A. Maxwell

From: Ruthie Ashurst

I walked a mile with pleasure,
  she chattered all the way,
But left me none the wiser
  for all she had to say.

I walked a mile with sorrow,
and ne'er a word said she;
But, oh, the things I learned from her
When sorrow walked with me!
      --- R.B. Hamilton

From: "Elizabeth Fagersten"

Some people complain because God put thorns on roses, while others praise
Him for putting roses among thorns.
-God's Little Instruction Book p.23-
(As members of the church we are all roses among the thorns.  I admire all
that you are doing and I cry for the pain that you are bearing and I pray
for the strength that you will be blessed with.  Thanks for being who you
are.  Elizabeth Fagersten, Cedar Falls, IA)

From: "--=| cucumber |=--"

What you want to be eventually you must be every day.
With practice, the quality of your deeds will get down into your soul.
-= Frank Crane

The foundation of excellence lies in self control.
--- H.L. Baugher

The greatest discovery is that a human being can alter his life by altering
his attitudes of mind.
--- William James

We must be the change we wish to see in the world.
--- Gandhi

The beginnings of all things are small.
--- Cicero

We must leave our mark on life while we have it in our power.
--- Isak Dinesen

From:  "Dennis Miller"

        Over my life I have made an observation that it is the hard
things in life that give our spirit and charicter strength. There is a
very great parallelism between out physical body and our spirit. The
only way that we can gain physical strength is to work against more
opposition than we are normally accustomed to. (lifting weights,
running, aerobics, etc.) It is exactly the same with our spirit. By
"toughing it out" through trials and rough times, our spirit gains the
same kind of strength.
      It would be wonderful if we could just see how "buff" our
spirit had become after we have overcome some trial in our life and
get ready to meet the next, like an exercise program.
                                      Dennis R. Miller
                                      Brigham Young University
                                      Provo, Utah

From: Kaatia Larsen

"Courage is fear that has said its prayers."
--- Unknown

"No man stands taller than when he falls to his knees in prayer."
--- Unknown

From: Dshell102

"Keep smilin'!  It's good for the mind, heart, soul and body."
--- David J.  Mulholland

From: Stan Cronin

Don't let life discourage you:  everyone who got where he is had to begin where he was.
--- Richard L. Evans

The deeds you do may be the only sermon some persons will hear today.
--- St. Francis of Assisi

The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear
--- Socrates

From: Cathi L Brown

Neal A. Maxwell:

"It makes sense to me that the Lord would choose out of the world those
who are (or who could become) different from the world, and, therefore,
could lead the world to a different outcome.  We must be different in
order to make a difference."

"On the other side of the veil, there are perhaps seventy billion people.
 They need the same gospel, and releases occur here to aid the Lord's
work there.  Each release of a righteous individual from this life is
also a call to new labors.  Those who have true faith understand this.
Therefore, though we miss the departed righteous so much here, hundreds
may feel their touch there.  On day, those hundreds will thank the
bereaved for gracefully forgoing the extended association with choice
invidiuals here, in order that they could help hundreds there.  In God's
ecology, talent and love are never wasted.  The hopeful understand this,too."

"You and I in our own little circles have been placed here to light up
the landscape of life for others, frail and flickering as our own flames
seem at times."

"Righteous sorrow and suffering carve cavities in the soul that will
become later reservoirs of joy."

"We may genuinely wonder if any good can come out of a particular
situation of suffering.  Whether the sufferer is actually growing and
developing in some needed way may not be apparent to us.  We may wonder
whether the suffering of another person provides an opportunity for the
rest of us for expressions of service, prayer, empathy, and attentiveness
that we need to develop further."

From: "Kelli Freel"

These clippings were of great help and comfort to me at a time when my world seemed to crumble.  I felt great pain and confusion for the senseless cruelty and an early death brought about  by a disturbed person.  I hope these thoughts do the same for others.

RECOVERY
  by Elinor M. Carey

The time must come
When all things black
Give in to tones of gray;
When piercing darkness
Of the night
Breaks with light of day.
It will not happen quickly,
As a wave upon the shore:
Flowing forth, then receding
Gone forevermore.
But rather, fading slowly
As a mountain turns to plain,
Washed away to nothingness
By gentle drops of rain.

TOGETHER
by Carol Lynn Pearson

Perhaps we can be together there,
In that next place
Where bodies are so pure
They pass through planets--
Perhaps there,
Where the light that lighteth the sun
Is kept on all night, every night,
And no one watches for morning
Holding the cold off with a candle--

There, perhaps,
Where pain is exchanged
For peace and a memory--

You and I can touch as we pass
And gather in the good of one another.
We can love and give
In whatever loving, giving ways
There finally are.

We will still wish
To be together then, I think.
Perhaps then we shall know how.
Perhaps, even, we shall know why
We cannot be together now.

From: Douglas Wood

D&C 122

"Forgive Them Father for they know not what they do."
"Love one another as I have loved you."
                            --- Our Savior

Give tender comfort to each other amid this time of trial - Trust in the Lord - Move forward if only at a snails pace with faith in every footstep - The Lord has great purpose in this extraordinary event, though it may at times seem difficult to understand - Hidden deep inside is untold treasure.

Like the Savior, the pain you now feel leads to blessings and gifts and opportunities and future reunions of priceless value - And like the angel sent to comfort our dear Brother and Lord and Saviour amid His suffering in Gethsemene, we feel so deeply the desire to comfort you.

"Two men looked out the self same bars, one saw the mud, the other the stars."

We choose what to see and therefore how we feel. Hard as this is in this season of your mortal journey, use the faith and power the Lord prepared and placed within you long ago in preparation for this time... and see the stars... and express gratitude to the Lord with all your soul - The stars are brilliant beyond anything you may have yet imagined or experienced. Believe and accept with all the energy of your precious valiant spirits that this is a time of meeting with the threshold of growth and magnifying of your being... and that much like trying to work through the pain of lifting weights to develop new muscle, you will come through victorious, with greater power to love in the Lord's way, than you yet understand. Fill your hearts with gratitude for the priceless sacrifice your friends and loved ones have made that you may be blessed in this way. They are well taken care of by the Master of love and compassion. Your reunion will be glorious if you will take this precious gift and run with it in the Lord's way... for all you are worth.

I have a friend who passed away tragically several years ago, this passed week her father was reunited with her - What a time of celebration amid the Lords grand eternal work - Look forward with anxious, joyous anticipation for your day of reunion... and opportunity and privilege to give a valiant accounting of the gifts you are being blessed with today because of their noble and loving sacrifice for you.

I speak with a great degree of heart felt understanding my brothers and sisters, and enormous compassion for your pain. Our 4 year old just this past December gave me and my dear wife and family and so many others, a similar gift. And now your experience reminds me of just how precious and sacred it is. You see, he was badly burned with second and third degree burns that covered 30% of his little body on the back of him. The emotions and questions and whole experience of a loved one suffering greatly is an experience I would not wish on anyone, and yet to do so is to rob them and you and myself and the Lord of the unspeakable love and blessings and glory the Lord pours out in such times if we will only put all our trust in Him - He feels our pain more than we do, and He is so good at healing and loving and blessing us and making extrordinary good out of even the most ugly of situations.

I think of the dear angels the Lord called down from our glorious Father and Mother's presence, to bless and heal and bind greatness in the souls of the Nephite children. They encircled them about with eternal fire and love, and blessed them with experience which would serve them for the rest of their lives and eternity. All my faith and prayers and love are combined with that of countless others, that the angels will bless you all with similar gifts. You may or may not see them, but certainly they are already well at work, and they come in many forms, not just the one from heaven clothed in glorious white.

If the pain is unbearable at times, and you have sought the Lord in fervent prayer, and you remain uncomforted, perhaps the Lord would bless you through communication with one who has also felt deeply the pain of loved ones suffering. I would humbly and prayerfully be more than willing to communicate by e-mail or phone if any are so inclined... any time.

With Love,

Douglas Wood
Email: dmw@gppinc.net
Tel: (604) 534-6032