It's All About Love

Alma 57 and 58 are continuations of Helaman's letter to Moroni.  In the beginning of Alma 58, Helaman writes about waiting in vain for help from the government.  They were in great need of both men and provisions, but they received only a small amount of each.  In Alma 58:9-11 Helaman writes:

"...therefore, we were grieved and also filled with fear...Therefore we did pour out our souls in prayer to God, that he would strengthen us and deliver us...and it came to pass that the Lord our God did visit us with assurances that he would deliver us; yea, insomuch that he did speak peace to our souls, and did grant unto us great faith, and did cause us that we should hope for our deliverance in him."

I love this.  I love that Helaman doesn't charge right into the story about how they were delivered, but wrote about the wonderful feelings--gifts, really--given through the Spirit so that they no longer feared.  Helaman writes how Heavenly Father didn't just give them the answer to their prayer, he also gave them the faith they so desperately needed, the hope to carry them through, and peace, the total opposite of that horrible feeling of fear.

I know I have received these great gifts as well.  So many times.  But probably not as often as my Heavenly Father wished to give them to me, because I didn't think to ask.  I am so grateful for my testimony that Heavenly Father loves me and wants the best for me.  I think it is true, that the strongest testimonies of that nature are formed during the hardest trials of our lives.  It makes me grateful for those trials because knowing that he loves me is so very important to understanding all the rest of it.  The gospel is all about love.