Sometimes people need to look to someone else who relied on Christ’s Atonement and was able to make it through a terrible tragedy.
As you recall, Alma and Amulek taught the people of Ammonihah. Some of them were so wicked that they responded to the message by building a bonfire and throwing the believing women and children into the flames. They forced Alma and Amulek to watch the horrible suffering.
“How can we witness this awful scene?” Amulek asks.
Alma answers: “The Spirit constraineth me that I must not stretch forth mine hand; for behold the Lord receiveth them up unto himself, in glory.”
Those who believed in God were received unto Him in glory! They died, but they were going to a glorious place.
Amulek says, “Perhaps they will burn us also.”
Alma replies, “Be it according to the will of the Lord. But, behold, our work is not finished; therefore they burn us not” (Alma 14:10–13, emphasis added).
In other words, don’t let this tragedy define your life! You still have your own mission. Like Alma and Amulek, perhaps you were spared because your work is not finished!
After making such a statement, the obvious question becomes, what about those who die in such tragedies? Does that mean their work is finished? Perhaps their work on earth is finished, but apparently there is more work to do in the spirit world.
Death is just another milepost in the plan of salvation. One mission president noted the sadness experienced by families who send a missionary out into the field. He also observed the great joy experienced by the mission president and his wife as they welcome a new missionary into their area. The very same event brings different feelings to different people depending on where they are. Similarly, those who are left behind feel sadness at the passing of their loved one, but there is great joy in the spirit world as the departed spirit enters into the next phase of his or her eternal existence.
The best way to prepare for death is to live life at its fullest. I believe the Lord will hold us accountable for what we did with our lives whether we have trials or not, whether we marry or not, and whether our life is easy or not.
Needless to say, Alma and Amulek witnessed an awful scene. I wonder if they were ever able to forget what they saw. How did they survive? The answer lies in Scripture Four.
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