Reports of a dramatic upsurge in religious worship, prayer and Bible reading in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., should hardly be surprising, considering human behavior.

From infancy, the natural tendency for children in distress is to seek the comfort and refuge that mother or father have to offer. Even adults, in times of stress or difficulty, long for the counsel of their parents.

Small wonder, then, that at a time of intense crisis and collective fear, believing people everywhere would turn to their Creator, their Father and God, in far greater numbers than ordinarily.

At such times, the words of the Savior seem to ring with unusual clarity: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27.)

That message is contained throughout the scriptures and in a number of Latter-day Saint hymns, old and new.

Eliza R. Snow, one of the stalwart heroines of the Restoration, was among those who endured the oppression inflicted upon the Latter-day Saints in Missouri and Illinois. Diligent and faithful through adversity, she was well qualified to pen these lines:

Though deep'ning trials throng your way,

Press, press on ye Saints of God! (Hymns, 1985, No. 122.)

First published in 1841, Sister Snow's hymn text 48 years later would be set to music composed by George Careless. Ill and despondent, Brother Careless one day asked his 11-year-old daughter to bring him the Church hymnbook, which in those days contained only words, not music. From Sister Snow's words, he drew encouragement and strength to rise from his sick bed and found the creative energy to compose his musical setting for them.

Among those who have drawn comfort from the hymn was Freda Joan Lee, wife of President Harold B. Lee. Elaine Cannon, her good friend and a former Young Women general president, told of Sister Lee's grief and loneliness in the days following President Lee's death in December 1973. She sat on a back bench in Church, with a prayer in her heart for peace. It was then that the closing lines of the hymn brought her "a wonderful lifting assurance. . . . The Comforter had come."

Those lines carry a powerful message and seem especially timely today in the wake of events since Sept. 11:

Though tribulations rage abroad,

Christ says, "In me ye shall have peace."

The words allude to this New Testament passage: "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33.)

The Savior does not promise His disciples constant freedom from tribulation. But to the faithful He provides strength to endure it, as He assured Alma and his people: "I will . . . ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions." (Mosiah 24:14.)

At this unsettled time, let us remember the words of President Gordon B. Hinckley at last October's general conference: "May the God of heaven, the Almighty, bless us, help us, as we walk our various ways in the uncertain days that lie ahead. May we look to Him with unfailing faith. May we worthily place our reliance on His Beloved Son who is our great Redeemer, whether it be in life or in death."