Why is life so hard? Will I ever get a break from trials? How can I endure?”
Liahona- President Thomas S. Monson
· Trials can help you learn, be humble, and become stronger.
· You can avoid some trials by making good choices.
· Life is a test; trials are opportunities to show that you will be faithful.
· If you seek His help, the Lord can help you endure your trials well.
· Come unto Christ in your trials, and He will give you rest.
Life would be easier without trials, but we wouldn’t learn or grow much. Trials can humble us, help us grow spiritually, and remind us that we need the Lord’s help. Trials can help us learn to appreciate times of peace. Most important, they give us opportunities to show the Lord and ourselves that we will be faithful.
Some trials are a part of mortality, like natural disasters or the death of a loved one. Knowing that these things happen, you can prepare for them and, therefore, endure them better.
Other trials come from your own choices or the choices of others, like mistakes or sins. As you make good choices, you can avoid bringing some of these trials upon yourself. Enduring trials that are the result of others’ choices is difficult. Maybe a friend betrayed you, or you struggle with the bad language you hear around you. In these types of trials, be forgiving, stay faithful, and pray for the Lord’s help and comfort.
How well you endure trials is up to you. Those who grow from their trials stay close to the Lord and ask themselves, “What can I learn from this?” Those who feel sorry for themselves in their trials ask, “Why me?”
Notice how a long war between the Nephites and Lamanites affected the Nephites differently: “Many had become hardened, because of the exceedingly great length of the war; and many were softened because of their afflictions, insomuch that they did humble themselves before God, even in the depth of humility” (Alma 62:41; emphasis added). All were affected by the war, but not all chose to grow from it.
Here are a few ways to endure trials well: (1) Seek the Spirit—the Comforter—through prayer, fasting, scripture study, and righteous living. (2) Serve others, attend church and the temple, and spend time with loving friends and family. These things can bring you peace. (3) Try to keep a balanced perspective: even during trials there are still good things in your life. And (4) ask your parents and bishop or branch president for advice on getting through a trial.
Have you noticed that when you see someone going through a trial that you have gone through, you are more understanding and willing to help that person? Similarly, the Savior took upon Himself your trials—including your pains, sicknesses, temptations, and weaknesses—and He is perfectly compassionate and able to help (see Alma 7:11–12). In your trials remember what He said: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
James B. Martino
Of the Second Quorum of the Seventy said
We may never know in this life why we face what we do, but we can feel confident that we can grow from the experience.
As we pass through the trials of life, let us keep an eternal perspective, let us not complain, let us become even more prayerful, let us serve others, and let us forgive one another. As we do this, “all things [will] work together for good to [us] that love God.”
By Elder Paul B. Pieper
Of the Seventy said
In a moment life changes and we are left searching for answers. This is a critical time of decision. How will we react? Where will we look to find the answers we need?
This is the moment when eternal destinies are forged in the quiet reaches of the heart and mind as we struggle to respond to a personal trial. At such moments we can choose to remember the spiritual witnesses and testimony we have received and rely on the Lord to help us through the challenge in a way consistent with His teachings and commandments. Or we can discount the sacred whisperings we have received from the Spirit and turn to our own or another’s wisdom for a solution. As John saw, in the end only those who choose to rely consistently and completely on their testimonies will be able to overcome all things in mortality and stand worthily before God at the last day.
A new convert to the Church taught me this lesson and strengthened my faith. This woman was converted to the Church in a land where the gospel was new. She gained a testimony of its truthfulness and embraced it with all her heart. The gospel brought her something she had known little of—hope. Her only son, who had struggled for years to overcome an addiction, began to attend church meetings with her and to change. Her heart rejoiced. She finally had hope that he could overcome his past and find happiness together with her.
But then her trial came. One night he came home late after being out with old friends and engaging in old ways. By morning he was dead.
How would she react to her trial? Would the emotion of a mother grieving the loss of her only son overcome her? Would she begin to question her Heavenly Father, as others did, wondering why He would let this happen? Would she become bitter and withdraw from the enlivening doctrines of the Restoration?
No!
She returned to the testimony she had received during her conversion and gave thanks to a loving Heavenly Father for bringing the gospel to her before the crisis so that she would have the strength to endure it. With a witness of the reality of God’s plan, she could go on. She didn’t have all the answers, but she had a testimony and relied on it for the strength to endure her trial. God’s plan is designed so that each of us will go through many trials in our lives. Trials are His way of stretching us and helping us become as He is. Our crises will differ in magnitude and frequency, but they will continue throughout our lives. As John learned, strength to overcome these trials and return to Heavenly Father is found in the word of our testimonies.
