"And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed.
"Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
"And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven strengthening him."
St. Luke 22: 41-43
Luke records that on the night of Atonement, following the Last Supper, Jesus bowed in awful alienation and grief in the Garden of Gethsemane beneath the load of the world’s sins. He uttered his soul-cry: “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
“And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.” (Luke 22:42–43.) An angel sent from the courts of glory. An angel sent to assist, to support, to sustain the sinless Son of Man in the depths of his greatest agony. “The angelic ministrant is not named,” Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote. “If we might indulge in speculation, we would suggest that the angel who came into this second Eden was the same person who dwelt in the first Eden. At least Adam, who is Michael, the archangel—the head of the whole heavenly hierarchy of angelic ministrants—seems the logical one to give aid and comfort to his Lord on such a solemn occasion. Adam fell, and Christ redeemed men from the fall; theirs was a joint enterprise, both parts of which were essential for the salvation of the Father’s children.” "The Man Adam"
"In a Sunday school class there was sharp criticism of the ill fated Martin and Willie handcart companies, which met with tragedy because of their late start on their trek to the Salt Lake Valley. An elderly man arose and said 'I ask you to stop this criticism. You are discussing a matter you know nothing about. Cold historic facts.... give no proper interpretation of the questions involved. Mistake to send the handcart company out so late in the season? Yes. But I was in that company and my wife...too. We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died because of exposure and starvation, but we became acquainted with God in our extremities. I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness and lack of food that I could hardly put one foot in front of the other. I have looked ahead and seen a patch of sand, and when I reached it, the cart began pushing me. I had looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the angels of God were there. Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart? No. Neither then or any minute of my life since. The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay, and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the Martin Handcart company.'"
"My dear young sisters--you who stand for truth and righteousness, you who seek goodness, you who have entered the waters of baptism and walk in the ways of the Lord--our Father in heaven has promised that you will 'mount up with wings as eagles [you] shall run, and not be weary; and [you] shall walk, and not faint'. You 'shall not be deceived'. God will bless and prosper you . 'The gates of hell shall not prevail against you;... and the Lord God will disperse the powers of darkness from before you, and cause the heavens to shake for your good, and his name's glory.'" President Uchtdorf, "Your Happily Ever After" Ensign May 2010
"I had a woman who came to me who was an incest victim--the victim of a terrible family.She had been abused in about every way there was to be abused. She was not a member of the Church at that time, although this happens to members of the Church also. In high school she met a young man who was a Latter-day Saint and who started taking her to church. with him. Eventually they married. He was gentle and kind and patient...and loved her. They raised boys. Despite this, she had recurring bouts of depression and very negative feelings about herself because she had been taught by the people most important in her early life what a rotten person she was. It was hard for her to overcome that self-image. I worked with her to try to build her self-image. One day she said to me 'Your a stake president; you explain the justice of it....When I see little girls being hugged and kissed and taken to church and appropriately loved by their fathers and mothers, I just have to get up and leave. I say 'Heavenly Father, what was so terrible about me that, when I was that age, I didn't get any of that? What did that little girl do in the pre mortal existence that I didn't do so she is loved, so she is safe? Her daddy gives her priesthood blessings when she's sick. Her mother loves her and supports her and teacher her. What did I do? Can you tell me that God is just if he sends that little girl to that family and me to my family?'
"I would not have known how to answer her in my own capacity because that is manifestly unjust. Where, here or in eternity, is the justice of an innocent child's suffering in that way? But the Lord inspired me to tell her, and I believe with all my heart that it applies to many in the kingdom, that she was a valiant Christlike spirit who volunteered (with, I told her, perhaps too much spiritual pride) to come to earth and suffer innocently to purify a lineage. She volunteered to absorb the poisoning of sin, anger, anguish, and violence, to take it into herself and not to pass it on; to purify a lineage so that downstream from her it ran pure and clean, full of love and the Spirit of the Lord and self-worth. I believe truly that her calling was to be a savior on Mount Zion; that is, to be Savior-like, like the Savior to suffer innocently that others might not suffer. She voluntarily took such a task with the promise she would not be left alone and abandoned, but he would send one to take her by the hand and be her companion out in to the light.
"I think we do not understand the nature of ourselves. I think we do not understand who we are. Some people call the temple ordinances the 'mysteries' of the kingdom. When I went to the temple, I thought I was going to learn which star was Kolob, where the Ten Tribes were, and other such information. But those aren't the mysteries of the kingdom....The uses of adversity are the uses they put us to. May they hone us, and purify us, and teach us, and not destroy us, because of who we are, who God is, and what our relationship to him is. [because those are the mysteries of the kingdom]" "The Uses of Adversity" Carlfred Broderick. exerpt from his book, My Parents Married on a Dare
We have experiences where a heavenly being or guardian angel can come to assist and help us. We also have relationships with people who may be angels in our lives. People who have experienced challenges and made changes in their life so we may be protected from those challenges. People who choose to teach us truths and who choose to love us amidst our weaknesses. People who help us understand "who we are, who God is, and what our relationship to him is."
