On Trials

As I was reading today one of the things that stood out to me was the trials that Nephi had to deal with in these chapters and how he faced them. Elder Scott taught about trials:

"No one wants adversity. Trials, disappointments, sadness, and heartache come to us from two basically different sources. (1) Those who transgress the laws of God will always have those challenges. (2) The other reason for adversity is to accomplish the Lord’s own purposes in our life that we may receive the refinement that comes from testing." (Richard G. Scott, "Trust in the Lord")


In life we all encounter adversity and challenges. When we encounter these challenges it is important to remember that God's purpose is to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." (Moses 1:39)This helps us to recognize that for whatever reason these trials come our way that they are there to help to accomplish this purpose.

These trials that stem from our own personal wickedness exist for three reasons:"(1) to persuade us to repent, (2) to refine and sanctify us, and (3) at times to redirect our course in life to what God knows is a better path." (D. Todd Christopherson, "As Many as I Love, I Rebuke and Chasten") At other times our trials come solely for us to receive the refinement that can only come from experience. (See: 1 Nephi 20:10, D&C 122:7)

In the midst of these trials the Lord has promised his children that he will not forget them. (1 Nephi 21:15) He will preserve the righteous by his power. (1 Nephi 22:17) Elder Quentin L. Cook shared the following insight on trials an the atonement in a general conference address:


"We are aware that many who are listening to this conference are experiencing trials and hardships of such intensity that the underlying feeling in their hearts as they approach our Father in Heaven in prayer is “Hope ya know, I’m having a hard time.”

Let me share with you the true account of one sister, Ellen Yates from Grantsville, Utah. Early in October, 10 years ago, she kissed her husband, Leon, good-bye as he left to go to work in Salt Lake City. This would be the last time she would see Leon alive. He had a collision with a young man 20 years of age who was late for his first job and had tried to pass a slower vehicle, resulting in a head-on collision that killed them both instantly. Sister Yates said that after two compassionate highway patrolmen told her the news, she plunged into shock and grief.

She records, “As I tried to look ahead in life, all I could see was darkness and pain.” It turned out that her husband’s best friend was the bishop of the young man’s ward. The bishop called Sister Yates and told her that the young man’s mother, Jolayne Willmore, wanted to talk with her. She remembers “being shocked because I was so centered on my grief and pain that I had not even thought about the young man and his family. I suddenly realized that here was a mother who was in as much or more pain than I was. I quickly gave my permission … for a visit.”

When Brother and Sister Willmore arrived, they expressed their great sorrow that their son was responsible for Leon’s death and presented her with a picture of the Savior holding a little girl in His arms. Sister Yates says, “When times become too hard to bear, I look at this picture and remember that Christ knows me personally. He knows my loneliness and my trials.” One scripture that comforts Sister Yates is “Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you.”

Each October Sister Yates and Sister Willmore (both of whom are here together in the Conference Center today) go to the temple together and offer thanks for the Atonement of Jesus Christ, for the plan of salvation, for eternal families, and for the covenants that bind together husbands and wives and families on both sides of the veil. Sister Yates concludes, “Through this trial, I have felt the love of my Father in Heaven and my Savior in greater abundance than I had ever felt before.” She testifies that “there is no grief, no pain, no sickness so great that the Atonement of Christ and the love of Christ cannot heal.”  What a wonderful example of love and forgiveness these two sisters have demonstrated. It has allowed the Atonement of Jesus Christ to be efficacious in their lives.

Think of the Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane during the Atonement process, suffering agony so great that He bled from every pore.  His cry to His Father included the word Abba.  This might be interpreted as the cry of a son who is in distress to his father: “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” I testify that the Atonement of Jesus Christ covers all of the trials and hardships that any of us will encounter in this life. At times when we may feel to say, “Hope you know, I had a hard time,” we can be assured that He is there and we are safe in His loving arms." ("Hope Ya Know, We had a Hard Time")

I hope and pray that we rely on the Atonement as we go about our trials. That we choose to make correct choices. Then when we wander we accept the Lord's invitation to return to doing what we should. As we do we will experience strength to overcome our hardships and a greater measure of peace in our lives as we continue on our steady upward progression.

P.S. It just occurred to me that my last two posts have both kind of been about trials. I'm not sure if it has to do with my approaching finals, the rather large paper than I am working on, or the upcoming trial of reading through the Isaiah chapters in 2 Nephi. But I apologize for this, I have just always loved Nephi's approach to the problems he encountered in his life and there are a ton of different topics that I want to talk about in the upcoming chapters.