Mosiah 28:4

"And thus did the Spirit of the Lord work upon them, for they were the very vilest of sinners. And the Lord saw fit in his infinite mercy to spare them; nevertheless they suffered much anguish of soul because of their iniquities, suffering much and fearing that they should be cast off forever."
Mosiah 28:4


Here is an interesting scripture... I talked before vacation some about how God doesn't want us to suffer... but Alma the younger and the sons of Mosiah did suffer a lot because of what they had done... we can't just turn off the guilt and banish the responsibility we have for our thoughts and actions.  However... just as Alma the younger says in his conversion story... what marvelous light we can behold when we return to God.  The darkness leaves us and we are literally filled with light and peace and God grants us the desires of our hearts.  The suffering we feel is the gap between who we are and who we want to be... and the closer we get to who we want to be, the less the pain.  God absolutely does not want us to suffer... but we have to take the journey to the place where we can be free of that.  God will free us from ANY burdens that we have, any pain that we feel, any guilt for not being who we can be... for causing pain to others.  Nothing is exempt from his healing power.  But, as with most things in life, it takes some effort. :)  The cool thing about it though... these men were "the very vilest" of sinners... and then they turned around and became the very best of saints.  it happens every day.  While we live, there is always always always hope... for ourselves and for those we care about.