Elder Ulisses Soares on taking up our cross

Elder Ulisses Soares (born October 2, 1958 in Brazil) has served as a Seventy since April 2005, and as a member of the Presidency of the Seventy since January 2013. He was sustained to the Quorum of Twelve Apostles on April 1, 2018.

"We all face adverse circumstances in our lives that make us feel sad, helpless, hopeless, and sometimes even weakened. Some of these feelings may lead us to question the Lord: 'Why am I experiencing these situations?' or 'Why are my expectations not met? After all, I am doing everything in my power to carry my cross and follow the Savior!'

"My dear friends, we must remember that taking our cross upon ourselves includes being humble and trusting in God and in His infinite wisdom. We must acknowledge that He is aware of each of us and of our needs. It is also necessary to accept the fact that the Lord’s timing is different than ours. Sometimes we seek for a blessing and set a time limit for the Lord to fulfill it. We cannot condition our faithfulness to Him by imposing upon Him a deadline for the answers to our desires. When we do this, we resemble the skeptical Nephites from ancient times, who mocked their brothers and sisters by saying that the time was past for the fulfillment of the words spoken by Samuel the Lamanite, creating confusion among those who believed. (See 3 Ne 1:4-7) We need to trust the Lord enough to be still and know that He is God, that He knows all things, and that He is aware of each of us. (See D&C 101:16.) ...

"Brothers and sisters, I want to testify to you that taking upon us our cross and following the Savior requires us to follow His example and strive to become like Him, patiently facing the circumstances of life, denying and despising the appetites of the natural man, and waiting on the Lord. The Psalmist wrote:

"'Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord' (Psalm 27:14).

"'He is our help and our shield' (Psalm 33:20).

"I testify to you that following our Master's footsteps and waiting on Him who is the ultimate healer of our lives will provide rest to our souls and make our burdens easy and light."

- Ulisses Soares, "Take Up Our Cross," General Conference October 2019, Sunday afternoon

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To his ancient disciples, the Savior said, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me" (Matt 16:24). Learning to be obedient and submissive is, according to Elder Soares, "the price to be paid for the salvation of a soul." Many face great challenges in this life, and all of us will face some. But each of us must learn that critical lesson of taking up the cross that is given to us, and trusting in the wisdom of Him who knows intimately what cross we bear. Learning to fully trust in His wisdom and His timing is perhaps one of the most important things we must accomplish in our mortal experience.

Truly "He is aware of each of us and of our needs." But we can't set terms and conditions on God, whose knowledge and wisdom are far beyond ours. Our desire must always be to learn His will for us and follow it with obedience and submission.

(Compilation and commentary by David Kenison, Orem, Utah, 2020)

Elder Neal A. Maxwell on becoming submissive to God's will

Elder Neal A. Maxwell (1926-2004) served as a Seventy from 1976-1981, then as a member of the Quorum of Twelve until his death from cancer in 2004.

"As one’s will is increasingly submissive to the will of God, he can receive inspiration and revelation so much needed to help meet the trials of life. In the trying and very defining Isaac episode, faithful Abraham 'staggered not ... through unbelief' (Rom. 4:20). Of that episode John Taylor observed that 'nothing but the spirit of revelation could have given him this confidence, and ... sustained him under these peculiar circumstances' (in Journal of Discourses, 14:361). Will we too trust the Lord amid a perplexing trial for which we have no easy explanation? Do we understand—really comprehend—that Jesus knows and understands when we are stressed and perplexed? The complete consecration which effected the Atonement ensured Jesus’ perfect empathy; He felt our very pains and afflictions before we did and knows how to succor us (see Alma 7:11–12; 2 Ne. 9:21). Since the Most Innocent suffered the most, our own cries of 'Why?' cannot match His. But we can utter the same submissive word 'nevertheless ...' (Matt. 26:39).

"Progression toward submission confers another blessing: an enhanced capacity for joy. Counseled President Brigham Young, 'If you want to enjoy exquisitely, become a Latter-day Saint, and then live the doctrine of Jesus Christ' (in Journal of Discourses, 18:247)."

- Neal A. Maxwell, "Swallowed Up in the Will of the Father," General Conference October 1995
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For many of us, it's not easy to submit. We are proud of our knowledge and understanding, of our personal abilities and experiences. We have to learn to submit to God, to seek His will first. Elder Maxwell testified that as we learn that lesson and become more and more submissive, we will feel a growth of "inspiration and revelation" to help us deal with the trials of life. Trials will surely come; but will we have the humble submission to trust God when we don't fully understand the reasons behind our circumstances?

When we truly trust in God and have faith in His wisdom for our path in mortality, we will not worry about asking "Why?" in the midst of our trials. Instead, we will confidently move forward with the declaration of "Nevertheless." What a beautiful spirit.

(Compilation and commentary by David Kenison, Orem, Utah, 2019)

Elder Neal A. Maxwell on learning to submit to God

Elder Neal A. Maxwell (1926-2004) served as a Seventy from 1976-1981, then as a member of the Quorum of Twelve until his death from cancer in 2004.

"Thus, the whole mortal schooling process has been so carefully structured to achieve results which could be achieved in 'no other way.' (Hel. 5:9.) We can come to know the Lord as our loving, tutoring Father and God—but not as a policeman posted at every intersection of our lives!

"Hence, our submissiveness to the Lord must be the real thing, not the equivalent of obeying the speed limit only as long as the highway patrolman is there in his pace-car. Indeed, awaiting full development is our willingness 'to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon [us], even as a child doth submit to his father.' (Mosiah 3:19.) This is a sobering gospel truth about submissiveness! It is a wintry declaration! This truth is not likely to evoke from us an 'Oh, goodie' response!

"During our schooling in submissiveness, we will see the visible crosses some carry, but other crosses will go unseen. A few individuals may appear to have no trial at all, which, if it were so, would be a trial in itself. Indeed, if our souls had rings, as do trees, to measure the years of greatest personal growth, the wide rings would likely reflect the years of greatest moisture—but from tears, not rainfall."

- Neal A. Maxwell, "Thanks Be to God," Ensign, July 1982, p. 51
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Sometimes, we are tempted to view God as Elder Maxwell warns us: a policeman standing watch, eager and alert to catch us in any misdeed or violation and punish us swiftly and appropriately. But Elder Maxwell invites us instead to view Him as "as our loving, tutoring Father and God." Having that understanding makes a very large difference in how we interact with him. King Benjamin's wonderful comparison about how a child submits to a father in receiving guidance and training is so appropriate. As we learn to recognize the loving and tutoring nature of our Heavenly Father, we begin to understand the real meeting of submissiveness and the blessings that can flow from it.

But as we ponder the tutoring nature of our mortal experience, we have to be careful about how we view our own tutoring as compared to those around us:

Sometimes we think we are the only one being "tutored with trials." Elder Maxwell points out that there are many who bear crosses we can not see. But regardless, we need to recognize that the greatest growth and progress can come in the times when the difficulty seems the most painful and hard to bear. The call to be "as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father" (Mosiah 3:19) is never more crucial than in those precious moments.

(Compilation and commentary by David Kenison, Orem, Utah, 2018)