00:00:01 As long as we live in Satan’s world,
00:00:05 all of us will face situations
00:00:08 that can rob us of our peace.
00:00:11 Regaining that peace can be difficult
00:00:14 but not impossible.
00:00:17 In this video, we will hear
00:00:19 from three sisters and two couples
00:00:22 who will speak candidly about their trials
00:00:26 and how they struggled to cope with them.
00:00:29 But in spite of what they have endured,
00:00:33 please take note of their smiles, their joy,
00:00:37 and what they did to regain and maintain their peace.
00:00:42 And take special note of how Jehovah helped them.
00:00:50 The Governing Body knows that many of you
00:00:53 are suffering circumstances
00:00:55 not unlike the ones we will hear about,
00:00:59 and they trust that the examples in this video
00:01:03 will help each of you to maintain your peace
00:01:06 as you endure various trials.
00:01:15 Brothers and sisters all over the world are facing
00:01:19 natural disasters,
00:01:22 economic collapse,
00:01:25 illness,
00:01:28 and persecution.
00:01:31 Despite all that,
00:01:33 they keep joy and peace.
00:01:39 I can learn a lot from them.
00:01:43 My name is Antoinette.
00:01:45 I live here in Las Vegas, Nevada,
00:01:47 with my supermom
00:01:49 and my troublemaking sister.
00:01:53 Family and friends have always been important to me.
00:01:57 As a child, I lived with my mom and dad
00:02:00 and I was very close to my dad’s side of the family.
00:02:03 It was very loving, unified, and fun.
00:02:10 I was pretty happy.
00:02:13 But I already was starting to feel the effects of my cancer.
00:02:17 We just didn’t know what it was really.
00:02:19 One day I was OK, and then the next day I started feeling bad, you know.
00:02:29 In my childhood,
00:02:32 I played an unusual game.
00:02:34 I would catch insects,
00:02:38 put them in a jar, and then bring them home.
00:02:44 Then, I would get books, such as the Criminal Procedural Code,
00:02:48 open them up, and start judging one of the bugs.
00:02:52 I would play the role of investigator and judge at the same time.
00:02:58 I was born into a family where everyone,
00:03:01 starting with my grandparents,
00:03:04 was either wearing an officer’s uniform or a judge’s robe.
00:03:08 That’s why I had this strong sense of justice.
00:03:15 But in 1989,
00:03:18 my mother was in a tragic car accident,
00:03:22 and
00:03:24 she got severe burns
00:03:26 on her face, hands, and body.
00:03:31 And then my father,
00:03:33 at seeing my mom’s condition,
00:03:36 decided to leave us.
00:03:40 Yeah.
00:03:44 And it was at that moment, I guess,
00:03:47 that my world, my ideals,
00:03:51 they crumbled.
00:03:54 As a little kid, I always wanted, like, one big happy family.
00:03:59 Once we moved to New York for my treatment,
00:04:02 I no longer had that big family bond anymore.
00:04:07 What I was feeling back then in New York was
00:04:11 just sadness,
00:04:13 never really peace.
00:04:20 Here in California,
00:04:24 we’re used to fires.
00:04:29 But when I got the call to evacuate that morning,
00:04:33 I never knew that by that evening,
00:04:36 the whole town of Paradise would be gone.
00:04:52 Just before the fire, we had the needs of the congregation
00:04:57 where they instructed us what to do in the case of a disaster.
00:05:01 I had the truck full of gas,
00:05:04 I had my go bag ready,
00:05:07 and I had a map of where I was going.
00:05:12 I was ready.
00:05:15 The brothers, also in their instructions,
00:05:18 said to obey the traffic instructors.
00:05:21 The instructor told us to turn right,
00:05:23 and I didn’t want to turn right,
00:05:25 but they said obey them.
00:05:28 So I turned right,
00:05:30 though I thought it would be really bad.
00:05:37 The smoke got darker and darker,
00:05:45 and finally it got black.
00:05:49 You couldn’t see anything.
00:05:58 My mom has always told me
00:06:00 that I’ve always been
00:06:03 a caregiver ever since I was a little girl;
00:06:05 it was just part of who I was.
00:06:09 I don’t like to see people suffer; it’s very difficult for me.
00:06:16 I remember that when I first started working as a nurse,
00:06:22 I would always cry.
00:06:24 I cried— Literally I cried
00:06:26 every day that I had to go to work.
00:06:32 Not only was I overwhelmed being a new nurse
00:06:35 but also
00:06:38 I was battling my depression.
00:06:44 In 2017,
00:06:46 I was the treasurer
00:06:48 for a prestigious bank in Nicaragua,
00:06:50 and I was the father of a one-year-old son.
00:06:53 We were very happy.
00:06:56 But then I lost my job.
00:07:00 So I said, ‘I have the experience,
00:07:03 and Jehovah will help me find another job, something similar.’
00:07:07 And I kept looking for jobs, but doors kept closing.
00:07:11 I felt very tense;
00:07:14 it made me feel very useless,
00:07:16 like
00:07:19 I couldn’t even provide for my family.
00:07:21 It was something very difficult for me.
00:07:31 These dear brothers and sisters
00:07:34 faced serious challenges.
00:07:37 They may have had moments when they felt like Job
00:07:41 when he said: “I loathe my life.”
00:07:46 That is not an unusual human emotion.
00:07:50 Sometimes things in life
00:07:53 don’t work out as we had hoped,
00:07:56 and it can hurt us deeply.
00:07:59 Does this mean that we are helpless victims of our circumstances?
00:08:04 Not at all!
00:08:06 Please pay close attention
00:08:09 and take note of why we can say
00:08:11 that Margaret, Feliks,
00:08:14 Miguel, Nikki, and Antoinette
00:08:17 are not helpless victims.
00:08:20 To the contrary,
00:08:22 they are conquerors.
00:08:25 As you watch and listen,
00:08:28 look for specific actions they took
00:08:31 to maintain their peace
00:08:34 and please give thoughtful attention
00:08:37 to ways that you can imitate their faith.
00:08:43 Growing up, I wondered,
00:08:47 ‘Why does the Supreme Judge, God,
00:08:50 allow injustice and suffering?’
00:08:54 And inside of me, I had this need to restore justice.
00:08:58 It was such a burning desire within me.
00:09:02 And with that in mind,
00:09:04 I moved to Russia to stay with my sister.
00:09:08 She started to study the Bible
00:09:12 and was overflowing with the truth.
00:09:16 We talked for hours till late into the night.
00:09:21 So that’s when my special relationship with Jehovah began.
00:09:27 That’s when I got a taste of what it’s like
00:09:30 to have a caring Father.
00:09:31 It had been a while since I was able to feel that.
00:09:37 My baptism date was very exciting.
00:09:46 The spiritual family I inherited was very vast.
00:09:50 You can instantly feel the love.
00:09:54 I got baptized, and it seemed like miracles happened
00:09:57 one after the other.
00:10:07 We had a great life.
00:10:13 And then
00:10:16 the persecution started with Brother Christensen,
00:10:19 and then there was a ripple effect of arrests, one after the other.
00:10:22 Then it was our turn.
00:10:24 In June of 2018,
00:10:27 a huge group of armed men came to us, to our home.
00:10:33 They represented the ideals of my childhood.
00:10:38 But now these people,
00:10:40 this judicial system,
00:10:46 became the source of injustice to me.
00:10:51 I was sitting in a cage, the same way my bugs used to be in a jar.
00:10:59 I guess I felt like they did.
00:11:04 In your head at that moment when you hear the verdict
00:11:08 that you’ll stay in prison,
00:11:11 it’s like you’ve been knocked unconscious.
00:11:13 You’ve been hit in the head with something,
00:11:16 and there’s just a ringing sound in your ears.
00:11:21 And so I was taken away in handcuffs.
00:11:26 Of course, I wasn’t in the best mood.
00:11:33 But then
00:11:35 the doors of the elevator opened up, and in front of us,
00:11:51 a lot of brothers and sisters
00:11:54 were clapping their hands as hard as they could.
00:11:59 And some were crying,
00:12:01 but not crying because they felt sorry for me.
00:12:04 They cried because they loved us
00:12:07 and because they were proud of us.
00:12:11 That’s what always happens.
00:12:12 When you’re just about to lose all your strength,
00:12:15 Jehovah does that something for you that gives you a second wind.
00:12:21 And so, the applause, the love,
00:12:25 the tears,
00:12:26 the shouts, “Hang in there; everything will be OK!”
00:12:29 —they gave me a second wind.
00:12:35 And with renewed strength, I could run the next part of the race.
00:12:41 One of the guards was so surprised that he said,
00:12:45 “Now that’s some support you’ve got!”
00:12:49 Yeah.
00:12:53 Without friends, I would be very lonely.
00:12:55 I would constantly be focusing on my illness.
00:12:58 The day I met Marissa was at a convention.
00:13:01 She’s a really great friend, a spiritual friend.
00:13:05 When she’d take me to my hospital appointments,
00:13:07 we would eat out.
00:13:09 I think food is just the common language between everyone, you know.
00:13:13 When you talk about food, you know, it’s like:
00:13:14 “Ah! Yes, we have something to talk about,” you know.
00:13:17 I would be excited when she would take me to my hospital appointment.
00:13:20 She always makes me laugh, you know.
00:13:22 She always helps me have a good time no matter what.
00:13:27 Again, friends really help encourage me.
00:13:31 Proverbs 17:17 says:
00:13:35 “A true friend shows love at all times
00:13:38 and is a brother who is born for times of distress.”
00:13:42 And I have seen this come true in my life.
00:13:45 When I lost my job at the bank,
00:13:47 well, I felt very depressed, troubled, tense.
00:13:52 And I have a good friend who I can talk to,
00:13:55 and when I told him how I was feeling, he told me:
00:13:58 “Look, Miguel, don’t look for the same
00:14:02 “line of work.
00:14:04 “Maybe what you need to do is make a change in your life.
00:14:08 “Why don’t you find some simple work outside of an office for a time?
00:14:13 “That can help you to keep your eye simple
00:14:17 and allow you to provide for your family.”
00:14:20 I watched my wife make bread for our family,
00:14:26 and one day I told her:
00:14:28 “I’m going to make that bread, but not for our family.
00:14:31 I’m going to make it to sell.”
00:14:33 So she told me, “No, are you crazy?”
00:14:36 It was a big change—right?—
00:14:38 from having a position at a bank
00:14:42 and handling a lot of money
00:14:44 to selling on the street.
00:14:46 So I told her, “Look, I’m going to put this hat on,”
00:14:49 and I put like a chef’s hat on.
00:14:52 And I told her,
00:14:54 “I’ll be back in less than an hour, whether I sell or not.”
00:14:58 And that’s what happened.
00:14:59 And to her surprise, I came back without any bread.
00:15:02 So when I got ready to leave the second time to sell,
00:15:05 she said: “OK. Go, but leave the hat here.”
00:15:29 I also started to iron clothes for people in their homes,
00:15:32 and it looked strange because normally where we live
00:15:35 that type of work is done by a woman.
00:15:38 But for a man to go and iron clothes at someone’s home,
00:15:42 you don’t see that.
00:15:43 But I didn’t want to just sit back with my arms crossed
00:15:46 and see what would happen.
00:15:47 No!
00:15:48 I had to put my hands to work to earn a living for my family.
00:15:55 So I would preach one day, and the next day I would iron clothes.
00:15:58 The next day I would preach, and the day after that I would go out and sell bread.
00:16:02 So my mind was always occupied on doing something,
00:16:04 either for the Kingdom or my family.
00:16:06 And that helped me a lot.
00:16:12 I was feeling so sad.
00:16:14 I really needed Jehovah’s help to figure out what was going on with me.
00:16:17 And I remember
00:16:20 that the 2009 article about depression came out.
00:16:26 And I realized: ‘OK, Jehovah, you’re telling me this is what I have.
00:16:31 ‘So now that I realize I have this,
00:16:34 I’ve got to figure out how I can manage it.’
00:16:37 So I changed my eating habits.
00:16:40 I started exercising a lot more.
00:16:42 I realized that exercising and eating healthy
00:16:45 really, really did help.
00:16:48 Also, I made a journal,
00:16:52 and I made different sections
00:16:55 of the different aspects of my depression that I dealt with.
00:16:59 In each section, I would put scriptures;
00:17:02 I would put articles.
00:17:04 And the illustrations, the pictures,
00:17:06 they speak a lot without saying anything.
00:17:12 Jehovah hears us.
00:17:15 Jehovah cares.
00:17:24 After some time in prison,
00:17:26 they transferred me to a different cell.
00:17:29 In it were inmates who followed the orders
00:17:32 of the investigators.
00:17:35 They did everything they could to other inmates
00:17:38 to make life unbearable.
00:17:43 Why did they do this?
00:17:45 To break a person
00:17:48 so that they would start to collaborate with the investigators,
00:17:51 confess to everything, and then be able to get transferred to another area.
00:18:01 Psalm 37:3: “Trust in Jehovah and do what is good.”
00:18:06 I said: “Jehovah, please help me to stay loyal to you.
00:18:11 Please help me.”
00:18:12 My prayers were really simple
00:18:14 —actually like two words: “Jehovah, help!
00:18:16 Jehovah, help! Jehovah, help!”
00:18:19 Despite how they treated me,
00:18:21 when I dealt with others, I tried to treat them with kindness.
00:18:26 These people,
00:18:29 they made life
00:18:31 uncomfortable, unbearable,
00:18:34 but when they were treated kindly,
00:18:37 they started to soften.
00:18:39 They began to treat me differently.
00:18:42 When I was being transferred
00:18:44 out of that cell,
00:18:46 the inmate who ran the area called me over to him and said,
00:18:51 “Come sit beside me.”
00:18:54 And I sat down.
00:18:56 Then he said, “If anybody in this prison touches you,
00:19:00 tell him that I’ll come looking for him.”
00:19:05 Then he said, “Get his things”
00:19:10 (he told the other prisoners).
00:19:12 The cell doors opened
00:19:16 and the guards saw
00:19:18 a crowd of inmates
00:19:20 grabbing my things and putting them out into the hallway.
00:19:25 I left the cell without having to carry a thing!
00:19:30 The guard quietly closed the door.
00:19:33 And before the inmates returned to their cells,
00:19:35 they even said goodbye, hugged me, and said: “Hang in there!
00:19:38 You’re going to be OK.”
00:19:41 They went into the cell, and the guard closed the door and asked me,
00:19:44 “Boy, how long have you been in there?”
00:19:47 I said, “Three weeks.”
00:19:51 He said: “Well, normally people leave this cell beaten up,
00:19:54 “and they’re thrown out by the other inmates.
00:19:56 “They have to carry their own things, and that’s if the other inmates
00:19:59 haven’t thrown their stuff out the door.”
00:20:02 He couldn’t believe what had just happened.
00:20:05 That’s Jehovah.
00:20:09 Exercising, changing my diet,
00:20:12 the publications, journaling —that was my lifeline.
00:20:16 That really actually helped me for a long time.
00:20:20 But it came to a point where it stopped working as effectively.
00:20:25 I remember getting ready, dressing for the meeting,
00:20:28 and I was fine.
00:20:30 I was getting dressed for the meeting and about to walk out the door,
00:20:33 but I couldn’t.
00:20:35 There was this overwhelming fear that came over me
00:20:38 and an overwhelming sadness that came over me.
00:20:41 And I just lost it; I just started crying.
00:20:45 I couldn’t get myself together.
00:20:49 It was bad.
00:20:50 It got really bad; my depression got really bad.
00:20:56 So it was very difficult for me
00:20:59 to approach the brothers to ask them for help.
00:21:02 But at that time, I knew that if I didn’t,
00:21:06 that
00:21:09 something bad would happen.
00:21:13 So I decided: ‘You know what?
00:21:15 I’m going to ask for a shepherding call with my brothers,’
00:21:17 because I’d never talked about my depression with the elders at all.
00:21:20 This was my first time speaking with them.
00:21:23 And there was one brother, one of the elders,
00:21:27 who also battled depression.
00:21:29 And he suggested,
00:21:32 “Have you thought about seeking medical help?”
00:21:38 Seeking professional help was something I never wanted to do.
00:21:42 I thought that I didn’t need to do it,
00:21:45 but sometimes there comes a point where
00:21:49 you need additional help
00:21:52 and what you’re doing is not enough.
00:21:56 In this world, they make you feel that it’s a bad thing,
00:22:00 that depression is a dirty word,
00:22:02 or that seeking medical help is something that you don’t do.
00:22:05 But I realized also
00:22:07 that seeking medical help
00:22:10 was part of my being able to worship Jehovah effectively.
00:22:13 That’s me doing my part.
00:22:15 Not everyone needs to take that step, but for me, this is what I need to do.
00:22:20 And I’m glad I did it because of the fact
00:22:22 that I’ve never ever felt this good
00:22:28 in my life.
00:22:32 About a year later,
00:22:34 we were released.
00:22:38 But my wife and I understood
00:22:41 that they could put me back in prison again,
00:22:44 so
00:22:46 we needed to use the time until then to the full
00:22:49 in the best way possible.
00:22:53 So, what did we do?
00:22:56 Psalm 119:165:
00:23:00 “Abundant peace belongs to those who love your law.”
00:23:05 We had family worship,
00:23:09 read the Bible, and prayed together.
00:23:12 That’s how I spent my four months of freedom.
00:23:21 Then I was put into prison
00:23:25 for three years.
00:23:30 When they told me about my cancer being gone,
00:23:35 I was really happy; I was ecstatic.
00:23:36 I was like: ‘Finally I’m going to get to do normal things
00:23:39 ‘that a kid my age should be able to do.
00:23:42 I don’t need to be afraid or anxious anymore.’
00:23:50 Unfortunately, I did relapse again,
00:23:54 and basically right now my present condition is
00:23:58 there’s nothing really more to do.
00:24:00 They’re just waiting to let nature take its course basically,
00:24:07 and that’s it.
00:24:13 In harmony with Ephesians 4:26,
00:24:17 I had to let myself process the news
00:24:20 and let myself be sad and be angry.
00:24:25 Let yourself feel those feelings;
00:24:29 do not try to repress them.
00:24:31 But you can control your thoughts and your actions.
00:24:35 Pretty much my whole life has revolved around my illness,
00:24:39 but I’ve learned how to shift focus.
00:24:41 I just don’t focus on myself all the time.
00:24:44 I focus on others and their trials,
00:24:47 which are different but just as hard.
00:24:51 You read the stories on jw.org in the Newsroom.
00:24:55 The Russian brothers and sisters,
00:24:58 I pray for them constantly because
00:25:02 they are going through a very tough time.
00:25:07 “There is [definitely] more happiness in giving than receiving.”
00:25:11 And in our situation, this proved true.
00:25:14 I would say
00:25:18 this really helps to relieve your pain.
00:25:21 If you focus on yourself, your pain gets worse.
00:25:25 When you focus on others and on their problems,
00:25:28 your pain lessens, diminishes.
00:25:48 Hello!
00:25:51 Hello!
00:25:54 Antoinette, I was so—
00:25:58 When I was told that we would talk with each other,
00:26:02 this was something very special for me.
00:26:05 Same for me too.
00:26:07 When the brothers told me as well
00:26:09 about meeting you, I was really excited.
00:26:12 Thank you for your prayers in behalf of the brothers in Russia.
00:26:16 They are precious.
00:26:19 We can learn so much from you.
00:26:24 Thank you.
00:26:26 It’s really nice of you to say that.
00:26:29 We’ve both been through very many hardships.
00:26:34 I’m sure prison was super hard.
00:26:37 You know, in prison, us brothers had a saying,
00:26:43 “If you ask: ‘How much worse can it get?’
00:26:49 you won’t have to wait long to find out.”
00:26:52 Or in other words, when you think, ‘How much worse can it get?’
00:26:56 for sure something worse is bound to happen.
00:26:59 And when we received our sentence, we thought:
00:27:03 ‘Well, that’s it. That’s the worst that could happen.’
00:27:14 And then, of course, it got worse.
00:27:20 Upon arrival at the prison,
00:27:23 we were beaten up
00:27:26 and for hours we were humiliated.
00:27:39 We thought, ‘How much worse can it get?’
00:27:43 Then the next day, we were told,
00:27:45 “You are going to the punishment cell.”
00:27:47 We thought,
00:27:49 ‘Well, how much worse can it get?’
00:27:54 At first, it started with one floor,
00:27:57 then it went to another floor, and then the whole entire hospital.
00:28:01 Every floor had COVID patients.
00:28:06 That was some of the hardest nursing that I’ve ever done in my life
00:28:11 in all of my years of nursing.
00:28:14 And we lost a lot of good nurses
00:28:18 who were right in the trenches with me who were in there doing their best.
00:28:23 We lost a lot of good people.
00:28:25 Even though I was on medication to help me,
00:28:29 it still didn’t take the depression away.
00:28:31 You’re like: ‘What’s the point?
00:28:33 ‘I can’t save anyone.
00:28:35 I can’t, I can’t help anyone.’
00:28:39 It was devastating. It truly, truly was devastating.
00:28:47 Have you ever felt as Feliks did when he asked,
00:28:52 “How much worse can it get?”
00:28:56 Nevertheless, a spiritual person
00:28:59 can see each new challenge
00:29:02 as an opportunity to rely on Jehovah.
00:29:06 As we watch the concluding part of this video,
00:29:11 please take note of how Jehovah strengthened
00:29:14 these brothers and sisters
00:29:16 and deepened their friendship with him.
00:29:20 Think about your own circumstances
00:29:23 and the ways that Jehovah has helped you through trials,
00:29:27 and have full confidence
00:29:30 that he will continue to do so.
00:29:38 And then I decided that I was going to stop asking,
00:29:41 “How much worse could it get?”
00:29:45 I asked Jehovah for endurance
00:29:47 and joy for that day—just for that day.
00:29:54 And at those times, I just
00:29:58 cry to Jehovah,
00:30:00 talk to Jehovah about how I’m feeling,
00:30:05 and just ask for his peace to help me to deal.
00:30:11 I’ve talked to Jehovah very intimately and personally
00:30:16 but never like I have when I was so alone there.
00:30:24 I realized that I was going to die.
00:30:29 I asked Jehovah if he saw enough good in me,
00:30:34 that he would just resurrect me
00:30:37 and that I’d love to be in his new world
00:30:39 and see my husband again and my children.
00:30:44 And I thanked him so much for the life that I had.
00:30:48 And I felt such a peace
00:30:53 like I’d never felt before.
00:30:57 And then
00:31:02 I just knew it was Jehovah getting me out.
00:31:06 The obedience, just doing what we were told,
00:31:09 it came from Jehovah, and it was so simple.
00:31:12 That gave him something to bless, and it may have saved my life.
00:31:22 I just never wanted to be a burden on people,
00:31:26 but
00:31:28 the brothers and sisters had come from all over the country
00:31:32 to do work for this house and the other houses—all of them.
00:31:38 They made me feel wanted,
00:31:41 and they made me feel loved.
00:31:45 To feel like Jehovah cared enough to give attention to me,
00:31:51 I
00:31:54 just felt so unworthy.
00:31:56 And here all these people
00:31:59 are here taking care of me.
00:32:01 And you just look at them, and then you think:
00:32:05 ‘I’m part of this organization. I’ve got to do better.
00:32:08 I’ve got to be like them and make other people happy.’
00:32:18 When I’m able to help people who are battling depression,
00:32:22 I feel like Jehovah is using me in that way,
00:32:24 and it makes me happy that I can be of use to Jehovah.
00:32:28 It’s good to feel— It’s so nice to feel good again,
00:32:32 to feel happy again, to be able to smile,
00:32:36 to be able to take in enjoyment
00:32:38 of the small things, you know, in Jehovah’s creation
00:32:41 —and, you know, just be happy that I’m alive.
00:32:46 So
00:32:49 yeah, yeah.
00:32:59 Now I have a stable job.
00:33:01 I work at a hardware store.
00:33:05 And I feel at peace.
00:33:06 The adversities have made me stronger,
00:33:09 and overall, I have a much closer relationship with Jehovah.
00:33:13 But I’m still making bread.
00:33:16 And at home, yeah, I’m the one who irons the clothes.
00:33:23 After a while, I found out that I was being deported.
00:33:28 I remember getting off the train.
00:33:32 They took me through the back door,
00:33:34 but my wife, Zhenya, was standing at the main entrance.
00:33:37 She was on the phone. She couldn’t see me.
00:33:39 She was looking at the main entrance.
00:33:43 And I threw my bag down as I ran to her.
00:33:49 She could see from the corner of her eyes someone was running.
00:33:53 She was a little confused, even scared.
00:34:03 And there I was
00:34:09 hugging the person I loved the most.
00:34:12 It was one of the most beautiful days of my life.
00:34:23 Hi.
00:34:26 Privet.
00:34:29 Hello.
00:34:34 When I heard that you were praying for us
00:34:39 and for the brothers and sisters in Russia,
00:34:43 it really encouraged me and Feliks.
00:34:45 It’s such an example for me personally.
00:34:49 We mentioned it in our prayer yesterday;
00:34:51 Feliks was saying
00:34:53 that you are a great example of how we need
00:34:56 to genuinely care for our brothers and sisters.
00:35:02 We love you very much.
00:35:17 Goodbye.
00:35:18 Goodbye.
00:35:19 It was nice meeting you.
00:35:20 Goodbye.
00:35:25 My cancer is uncurable,
00:35:27 but I know the cure is in the new system.
00:35:31 So that’s the cure!
00:35:38 I like to imagine, ‘When that time happens, what will I be doing?’
00:35:43 Obviously, I’m going to be jumping for joy
00:35:45 because I’m going to be rid of my cancer.
00:35:48 I’m going to enjoy food that we never really got to enjoy,
00:35:51 and I’m going to have so many animals.
00:35:55 I’m going to make a house. I’m going to learn how to make a house.
00:36:00 Peace in this world is not the absence
00:36:03 of illness,
00:36:06 danger,
00:36:08 persecution,
00:36:12 or economic problems.
00:36:16 Peace in this world is listening to Jehovah’s guidance,
00:36:21 praying to Jehovah constantly,
00:36:26 meditating on Jehovah’s Word and his promises.
00:36:33 Peace in this world is also
00:36:36 having good friends by our side
00:36:40 and having a good sense of humor.
00:36:47 What I’ve learned from all of this
00:36:50 is peace isn’t from what’s outside,
00:36:55 from what’s going on, or from what you’re experiencing.
00:36:58 I’ve learned that peace is on the inside,
00:37:02 and that comes from Jehovah.
00:37:11 These examples we’ve just seen
00:37:14 are of ordinary people
00:37:16 “with feelings like ours.”
00:37:19 Yet, they felt peace
00:37:22 even when confronting serious trials.
00:37:25 How did they do it?
00:37:28 When Miguel lost his job,
00:37:30 he kept his focus on serving Jehovah
00:37:34 and he was not too proud to do humble work
00:37:38 to provide for his family.
00:37:41 Margaret was prepared for a natural disaster,
00:37:45 and throughout her ordeal,
00:37:48 she prayed to Jehovah.
00:37:51 While struggling with depression,
00:37:54 Nikki did research using our publications
00:37:58 and asked for help from the elders.
00:38:02 Even when facing brutal persecution,
00:38:06 Feliks showed kindness to his persecutors.
00:38:10 He knew that the way he responded
00:38:13 would reflect Christian qualities.
00:38:16 And dear Antoinette,
00:38:18 despite her diagnosis,
00:38:21 focuses not on herself
00:38:24 but on helping others.
00:38:27 As she said, the cure for her
00:38:30 —as it is for all of us—
00:38:33 is God’s Kingdom.
00:38:36 If you are experiencing trials,
00:38:40 focus on what you can control,
00:38:44 help others,
00:38:46 be grateful,
00:38:48 and rely on Jehovah and his organization.
00:38:54 If you are not experiencing serious trials,
00:38:57 do what you can to prepare for them
00:39:00 by building yourself up spiritually.
00:39:05 Do not be anxious.
00:39:07 Fear of what might happen
00:39:10 is often worse than the trial itself.
00:39:14 Trust in Jehovah, and be assured
00:39:19 that he will never abandon his friends.
00:39:24 The dear brothers and sisters whom we’ve just listened to
00:39:29 are doing well spiritually.
00:39:31 We thank them for participating in these interviews.
00:39:36 We’d also like to thank all our brothers and sisters
00:39:39 working in the medical field
00:39:42 who have gone the extra mile during this pandemic.
00:39:46 James 5:11 reads:
00:39:49 “We consider happy those who have endured.
00:39:54 “You have heard of the endurance of Job
00:39:57 “and have seen the outcome Jehovah gave,
00:40:00 that Jehovah is very tender in affection and merciful.”
00:40:06 The blessings we receive by enduring trials
00:40:10 can strengthen us for the future
00:40:13 and help us to become the kind of person
00:40:17 that Jehovah wants us to be.
00:40:20 The inner peace and joy we experience
00:40:24 is a gift from Jehovah.
00:40:28 As these brothers and sisters from around the world
00:40:31 have reminded us,
00:40:33 we need never doubt
00:40:36 that our wonderful heavenly Father will bless
00:40:39 all those who continue loving him.
