God’s Will

• “Edith Stein was a woman of Jewish birth who became an atheist by age fourteen, earned a doctorate degree, later converted to Catholicism at age thirty, then wrote a number of theological treatises including “The Prayer of the Church.” At age forty-two, Edith entered the Carmel of Cologne as a nun, and four years later fled to the Carmel at Echt (Holland) to escape Nazi persecution of Jews. While in Holland she wrote: “The thought that we have . . . no lasting home is always with me. I have no other wish than that God’s Will should be accomplished in me. How long I am to be here depends on Him. As to what will happen then, it is not for me to concern myself. But it is necessary to pray much, in order to remain faithful come what may.” At age fifty-one she was arrested, transported to Auschwitz, and executed in August 1942 for faithfulness to her Jewish heritage and opposition to the Nazi cause. Edith—now beatified and known to Catholics as Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross—was seen peacefully praying and actively serving her fellowman in the concentration camp until her last moments.”Broken Things to Mend (Jeffrey R. Holland) Kindle Loc. 1096-1104
• President Benson explained: “Pride is essentially competitive in nature. We pit our will against God’s … in the spirit of ‘my will and not thine be done. … “Our will in competition to God’s will allows desires, appetites, and passions to go unbridled (see ;). … “Our enmity toward God takes on many labels, such as rebellion, hard-heartedness, stiff-neckedness, unrepentant, puffed up, easily offended, and sign seekers. The proud wish God would agree with them. They aren’t interested in changing their opinions to agree with God’” in Conference Report, Apr. 1989, 4; or Ensign, May 1989, 4 
• “In his first general conference address as President of the Church, President Ezra Taft Benson taught about differences between pride and humility: “Pride does not look up to God and care about what is right. It looks sideways to man and argues who is right. …“Pride is characterized by ‘What do I want out of life?’ rather than by ‘What would God have me do with my life?’ It is self-will as opposed to God’s will. It is the fear of man over the fear of God.”  Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Ezra Taft Benson, (2014), 229–40
• “All that is required of us to make us perfectly safe under all circumstances of trouble or persecution is to do the will of God, to be honest, faithful and to keep ourselves devoted to the principles that we have received; do right one by another; trespass upon no man’s rights; live by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God and his Holy Spirit will aid and assist us under all circumstances, and we will come out of the midst of it all abundantly blessed in our houses, in our families, in our flocks, in our fields—and in every way God will bless us. He will give us knowledge upon knowledge, intelligence upon intelligence, wisdom upon wisdom.”  Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Lorenzo Snow
• “We do not control what I call the great transfer board in the sky.  The inconveniences that are sometimes associated with a release from our labors here are necessary in order to accelerate the work there.  Heavenly Father can’t do His work with ten times more people there than we have on this planet, except he will on occasion take some of the very best sisters and brothers. The conditions of termination here, painful though they are, are a part of the conditions of acceleration there.  Thus we are back to faith in the timing of God, and to be able to say not only ‘Thy will be done’…. But also ‘Thy timing be done, even when we don’t fully understand it.” Neal Maxwell, Address to CES Religious Educators, Salt Lake Tabernacle Feb 2, 2001.