When Elder Mark A. Bragg, General Authority Seventy, received the assignment several months ago to speak at BYU–Idaho’s devotional on Tuesday, June 2, a topic immediately came to his mind. But it wasn’t until recently that he learned why.
As he began his talk on the Rexburg, Idaho, campus, Elder Bragg told the students that he was speaking to those who are tired, troubled, discouraged, disappointed and heartbroken. He shared with them how they can survive their trials and be sanctified by them through what he termed “Christlike resilience.”
When the Savior, Jesus Christ, was in Gethsemane, He “fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39). That word “nevertheless” may be the most resilient word in all of scripture, Elder Bragg said.
He quoted President Dallin H. Oaks, now the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who said at BYU in 1995, “Adversity will be a constant or occasional companion for each of us throughout our lives. We cannot avoid it. The only question is how we will react to it.”
Elder Bragg outlined how to react to adversity and maintain faith when the cup does not pass — or at least not as quickly as hoped — through five principles that he has found lead to Christlike resilience.
1. Anchor your hope in Christ. In the Book of Mormon, when Alma’s people were in bondage, the Lord did not change their circumstances, He changed their strength and made them more capable of bearing their burdens. (see Mosiah 24:14). Christ made them more resilient, Elder Bragg said. “Christlike resilience starts with hope in Christ.”
2. Be faithful in making and keeping covenants. Baptismal, priesthood and temple covenants provide holy connections with the Father and the Son and bring resilience and confidence. “Don’t drift away from the Lord; draw close unto Him. Keeping covenants when we hurt is one of the deepest manifestations of Christlike resilience.”
3. Pray with “importunity.” This word means to “keep asking, keep knocking, keep pleading,” Elder Bragg said. It means praying “until heaven’s quiet, resilient strength settles upon you.”
4. Find strength in your ancestors. Elder Bragg, who is the executive director of the Church’s Temple and Family History Department, pointed to research that shows people who know about their ancestors have more resilience. This is also a spiritual truth, he said. “As our hearts turn to our ancestors, we will feel that their hearts have already turned to us, and we will feel of their strength and their encouragement.”
5. Turn outward, not inward, in adversity. The Savior blessed, forgave, cared and comforted even on the cross, Elder Bragg said. As he has talked about only rarely, when he was a new bishop, his mother was killed. That same week he was given the opportunity to minister to a family in the ward who also experienced tragedy. “Christlike resilience is not just about getting through; it is about reaching out to bless others while we are getting through,” Elder Bragg said.
Recently, Elder Bragg needed to put these five principles to the test in another situation he never could have imagined. His dear and closest friend, Elder W. Mark Bassett — a General Authority Seventy whom Elder Bragg sat next to in every meeting they were in together and spoke to weekly even when they served in different countries — died on May 11.
Elder Bragg said the Lord knew back in November when he received this assignment what he would need when Elder Bassett died. In the days that followed his friend’s death, Elder Bragg anchored his hope in Christ, sought solace in his covenants with Heaven, prayed with importunity for Elder Bassett’s family, reflected on family stories and tried to reach outward to others who were also mourning.
“I testify that heaven did not remain silent,” Elder Bragg said. “There came peace. There came comfort. Not an erasing of loss — but an abundance of hope, a quiet assurance that death is not destruction, that separation is not abandonment and that loss certainly is not permanent. It was the kind of comfort that does not deny sorrow but guides you through it.”
