Standard-Examiner correspondent
OGDEN -- In life, pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.
That's the message David Osmond wanted the audience to remember when he spoke Sunday night at the Ogden Tabernacle, which was filled to capacity.
Osmond and his father, Alan Osmond, were the guest speakers at the annual community interfaith devotional.
"Pain comes to all of us, but suffering is optional. It's a choice," David Osmond said. Osmond and his father have multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease that attacks the central nervous system.
The younger Osmond said he was diagnosed just six months before he was to be married.
He was singing at the Missionary Training Center in Provo when his toes went numb. One week later, the numbness had traveled to his shins. Three months after that, it had moved to his chest and he was in a wheelchair. He also had lost some of his vision.
"There I was, in a wheelchair. I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe very well, and I didn't know what was going on," he said.
Today, Osmond can walk and see. He said he believes in miracles.
"On paper, I'm not supposed to be walking, but I'll tell you what -- you are looking at a miracle," he said.
"I don't take one step for granted anymore. It's a gift. We have no right to ask, when sorrow comes our way, 'Why would this happen to me,' unless we are willing to ask the very same thing of every moment of happiness that comes our way."
Osmond also spoke of his experience on "American Idol," where he made it through to the final round.
He remembers Barry Manilow telling him the secret to success isn't luck -- it's opportunity and preparedness.
As he was sitting inside the Kodak Theatre with laryngitis, waiting to find out if he had made it through to the next round, he said a scripture came to mind.
"It goes something like this, 'Now is the time for men to prepare to meet God.' I thought to myself, 'Are you prepared for that?' All of a sudden, this show didn't mean so much," he said.
"We are all God's kids. He knows every one of us and every experience we have ever gone through. He knows every hair on our head.
"I don't know how, but I believe it, and I pray that we will take upon us his glorious name and act and say as he would do."
Alan Osmond, who said, "I may have MS, but MS doesn't have me," spoke about his Ogden roots and how thrilled the family was to be back in their hometown.
He talked about how the family made it into show business and about living with MS.
"I remember not being able to move my leg and arm. I couldn't make the Scout sign with my fingers," he said.
"I turned to my Father in Heaven and said, 'Help.'
"We all have tests. That's why we came to this world, but if you will pray, you will find the Lord Jesus Christ and out of that test will come testimony.
"If you are humble and let the Lord help you, he will. He lives. He is the way, and the family is God's plan of life."
Source: Standard Examiner
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