Trials & Tribulations

• Ecclesiastes 4: 8-9…Two are better than one.  If one falls, the other lifts him up.  Woe unto him who is alone when he falleth.
• 1 Nephi 15:5…Even Nephi has felt overcome (overwhelmed) by his afflictions
• Romans 5:3-4…Tribulations worketh patience, patience produces experience which produces hope.
• Romans 5:2…Glory in tribulations because they worketh patience.
• 2 Corinthians 11:23-28…Church leaders experience hardships and trials in their daily life and on top of it need to fulfill their church duties.
• Alma 26: 27…Bear your afflictions with patience and then the Lord will give you success
• Mosiah 24: 16-19…Suffer burdens & afflictions with faith and patience and the Lord will bless you
• Mosiah 24: 15…We must submit cheerfully and with patience to the will of the Lord during burdens
• Alma 7:12…Christ will take upon him our infirmities so that he can understand us.
• Mosiah 27:28-29…Sin causes (1) much tribulation; (2) close death; (3) gall of bitterness; (4) bonds of iniquity; (5) dark abyss; (6) soul racked with eternal torment.   Repentance snatches it all away.
• Alma 21:14-15…After very hard trials, Aaron and his brethren still went forth again to declare the word.
• Alma 20:29…After being in prison naked, bound (causing worn skin), suffering hunger, thirst, and all kinds of afflictions, Ammon’s brethren were patient in all their sufferings.
• Alma 17: 29-31…When you’re in a tough situation, don’t get down, just think for solutions and overcome it happily
• Alma 25: 6…After suffering much loss and so many afflictions people remember and believe in the Lord, and are converted
• Mosiah 15: 6…Despite Christ’s persecutions, trials & tribulations He won’t open His mouth
• Mosiah 14: 7…No matter how difficult the afflictions or trials, be like Christ and don’t open your mouth
• D&C 58: 3-7…After tribulation comes blessing
• Malachi 3: 18…Serve Him or not? Trials find that out
• D&C 136: 31…Need it to be worthy; preparing us
• Ether 12: 6…Trial of faith
• 2 Cor. 4: 17…A brief moment helps for eternity
• Moroni 9: 25…Be happy in Christ during hard times
• 2 Nephi 2: 24…All things done in wisdom of God
• Hebrews 12: 6…Trials b/c He loves you
• Helaman 15: 3 …Trials b/c He loves you
• Mosiah 23: 21-22…Trials to test our faith & patience
• 1 Peter 1: 5-7… Trials to test our faith & patience
• “Like a Broken Vessel”, Talk by Jeffrey R. Holland
• “Accept trials, setbacks, and “surprises” as part of your mortal experience. Remember that you are here to be proved and tested, “to see if [you] will do all things whatsoever the Lord [your] God shall command [you]” ( Abraham 3:25 )—and may I just add, “under all circumstances.” Millions of your brothers and sisters have been or are being thus tested, so why would you be exempt? Some trials come through your own disobedience or negligence. Other trials come because of the negligence of others or simply because this is a fallen world. When these trials come, the adversary’s minions begin broadcasting that you did something wrong, that this is a punishment, a sign that Heavenly Father does not love you. Ignore that! Instead, try to force a smile, gaze heavenward, and say, “I understand, Lord. I know what this is. A time to prove myself, isn’t it?” Then partner with Him to endure well to the end. Spiritual confidence increases when you accept that “often trials and tribulations are allowed to come into [your life] because of what [you] are doing right” (Glenn L. Pace, “Crying with the Saints” [Brigham Young University devotional, Dec. 13, 1987], 2; speeches.byu.edu ).”  Jörg Klebingat, October 2014 General Conference
• Mosiah 7: 29…For behold, the Lord hath said: I will not succor my people in the day of their transgression; but I will hedge up their ways that they prosper not; and their doings shall be as a stumbling block before them.
• Developing a Positive Mental Attitude: “In Martin Seligman’s twenty-two-year study at the University of Pennsylvania, summarized in his book Learned Optimism, he determined that optimism is the most important quality you can develop for personal and professional success and happiness. Optimistic people seem to be more effective in almost every area of life. It turns out that optimists have four special behaviors, all learned through practice and repetition. First, optimists look for the good in every situation. No matter what goes wrong, they always look for something good or beneficial. And not surprisingly, they always seem to find it. Second, optimists always seek the valuable lesson in every setback or difficulty. They believe that ‘difficulties come not to obstruct but to instruct.’ They believe that each setback or obstacle contains a valuable lesson they can learn and grow from, and they are determined to find it. Third, optimists always look for the solution to every problem. Instead of blaming or complaining when things go wrong, they become action oriented. They ask questions like ‘What’s the solution? What can we do now? What’s the next step?’  Fourth, optimists think and talk continually about their goals. They think about what they want and how to get it. They think and talk about the future and where they are going rather than the past and where they came from. They are always looking forward rather than backward.” Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy, Page 86-87
• “Certainly not everything we struggle with is a result of our actions. Often our trials result from the actions of others or just the mortal events of life. But anything we can change we should change, and we must forgive the rest.” Broken Things to Mend (Jeffrey R. Holland)- Kindle Location: 64-65
• “I had been raised with resiliency and the ability to regroup. Whenever I suffered a setback, I put my life in perspective: I wasn’t a starving peasant in Darfur. I didn’t have cancer. Instead, I lived in the free, democratic, and prosperous United States in the most technologically advanced time in history. There is, therefore, no excuse but to keep trying to make a difference in the world.” The Agent: My 40-Year Career Making Deals and Changing the Game (Steinberg, Leigh;Arkush, Michael) – page 140
• “Every trial a man goes through, if he is faithful in that trial and does honor to God and his religion he has espoused, at the end of that trial or affliction that individual is nearer to God, nearer in regard to the increase of faith, wisdom, knowledge and power, and hence is more confident in calling upon the Lord for those things he desires. I have known individuals who have trembled at the idea of passing through certain ordeals who after they were through the temptation have said they could approach the Lord in more confidence and ask for such blessings as they desired. …”   Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Lorenzo Snow, 2011
• “No matter how serious the trial, how deep the distress, how great the affliction, [God] will never desert us. He never has, and He never will. He cannot do it. It is not His character [to do so]. He is an unchangeable being; the same yesterday, the same today, and He will be the same throughout the eternal ages to come. We have found that God. We have made Him our friend, by obeying His Gospel; and He will stand by us. We may pass through the fiery furnace; we may pass through deep waters; but we shall not be consumed nor overwhelmed. We shall emerge from all these trials and difficulties the better and purer for them, if we only trust in our God and keep His commandments.” Freedom of the Saints, in Collected Discourses, George Q. Cannon
• “Some of us remember David as a shepherd boy divinely commissioned by the Lord through the prophet Samuel. Others of us know him as a mighty warrior; for doesn’t the record show the chant of the adoring women following his many victorious battles, “Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands”? Or perhaps we look upon him as the inspired poet or as one of Israel’s greatest kings. Still others recall that he violated the laws of God and took that which belonged to another—the beautiful Bathsheba. He even arranged the death of her husband, Uriah. I, however, like to think of David as the righteous lad who had the courage and the faith to face insurmountable odds when all others hesitated, and to redeem the name of Israel by facing that giant in his life—Goliath of Gath.” Meeting Your Goliath (Thomas S. Monson) Kindle Loc. 40-45
• “Our most significant opportunities will be found in times of greatest difficulty.”  Meeting Your Goliath (Thomas S. Monson)- Kindle Loc. -82-83
• “It’s not so much what happens to us but how we deal with what happens to us.”  (James E. Faust, Ensign, Nov. 2004, 20)
• Progression, Perfection)“You will have all kinds of trials to pass through. And it is quite as necessary that you be tried as it was for Abraham and other men of God. And God will feel after you, and He will take hold of you and wrench your very heart strings and if you cannot stand it, you will not be fit for an inheritance in the Celestial Kingdom of God.” (John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, 24:197)
• “No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude, and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God…and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father and Mother in heaven.” (Orson F. Whitney, Ensign, Nov. 1987, 60; Faith Precedes the Miracle, 98)
• “Often those who struggle with adversity ask the question ‘why did this happen to me?’ They spend sleepless nights wondering why they feel so lonely, sick, discouraged, oppressed, or brokenhearted. The question ‘why me?’ can be a difficult one to answer and often leads to frustration and despair. There is a better question to ask ourselves. That question is ‘what could I learn from this experience?’ The way we answer that question may determine the quality of our lives not only on this earth but also in the eternities to come. Though our trials are diverse, there is one thing the Lord expects of us no matter our difficulties and sorrows: He expects us to press on.”  (Joseph B. Wirthlin,Ensign, Nov. 2004, 101)
• “The Lord has made no secret of the fact that He intends to try the faith and the patience of His Saints. (Mosiah 23:21.) We mortals are so quick to forget the Lord: ‘And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions…they will not remember him’ (Helaman 12:3). However, the Lord knows our bearing capacity, both as to coping and to comprehending, and He will not give us more to bear than we can manage at the moment, though to us it may seem otherwise. (DC 50:40; DC 78:18.) Just as no temptations will come to us from which we cannot escape or which we cannot bear, we will not be given more trials than we can sustain. (1 Corinthians 10:13.)…President Brigham Young said of a geographical destination, ‘This is the place.’ Of God’s plan of salvation, with its developmental destination, it can be said, ‘This is the process’! President Young, who knew something about trial and tribulation but also of man’s high destiny, said that the Lord lets us pass through these experiences that we might become true friends of God. By developing our individual capacities, wisely exercising our agency, and trusting God—including when we feel forsaken and alone—then we can, said President Young, learn to be ‘righteous in the dark.’ (Secretary’s Journal, 28 Jan. 1857.) The gospel glow we see radiating from some—amid dark difficulties—comes from illuminated individuals who are ‘of good cheer’! To be cheerful when others are in despair, to keep the faith when others falter, to be true even when we feel forsaken—all of these are deeply desired outcomes during the deliberate, divine tutorials which God gives to us—because He loves us. (Msh. 3:19.) These learning experiences must not be misread as divine indifference. Instead, such tutorials are a part of the divine unfolding.” (Neal A. Maxwell, Ensign, Nov. 1982, 67)
• “The Lord has determined in His heart that He will try us until He knows what He can do with us. He tried His Son Jesus. … Before He [the Savior] came upon earth the Father had watched His course and knew that He could depend upon Him when the salvation of worlds should be at stake; and He was not disappointed. So in regard to ourselves. He will try us, and continue to try us, in order that He may place us in the highest positions in life and put upon us the most sacred responsibilities.” Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Lorenzo Snow
• “The sacrifices you have made, the hardships you have endured and the privations you have suffered will … sink into insignificance, and you will rejoice that you have obtained the experience which they have furnished. … Some things we have to learn by that which we suffer, and knowledge secured in that way, though the process may be painful, will be of great value to us in the other life.” Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Lorenzo Snow
• Mosiah 9: 3… And yet, I being over-zealous to inherit the land of our fathers, collected as many as were desirous to go up to possess the land, and started again on our journey into the wilderness to go up to the land; but we were smitten with famine and sore afflictions; for we were slow to remember the Lord our God.
• “For the faithful, our finest hours are sometimes during or just following our darkest hours.” (Neal A. Maxwell, Ensign, May 1984, 22)
• 1 Nephi 11:17… I know that [God] loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things. “There have been and will be times in each of our lives when such faith must be the bottom line: We don’t know what is happening to us or around us, but we know that God loves us, and knowing that, for the moment, is enough.”  (Neal A. Maxwell, Not My Will But Thine [1988], 119)
• “He will reveal Himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings that [we] shall pass through in his fellowship; and [we] shall learn by [our] own experience who He is. We will discover He is more than the Babe in Bethlehem, more than the Carpenter’s Son, more than the greatest teacher ever to live. We will come to know Him as the Son of God, our Savior and our Redeemer.”  (Thomas S. Monson, Ensign, May 1986, 39)
• “Things we cannot solve, we must survive.” (Boyd K. Packer, Ensign, Nov. 1987, 18)
• John Taylor, the third President of the Church, said: “I heard the Prophet Joseph say, in speaking to the Twelve on one occasion: ‘You will have all kinds of trials to pass through. And it is quite as necessary for you to be tried as it was for Abraham and other men of God, and (said he) God will feel after you, and He will take hold of you and wrench your very heart strings, and if you cannot stand it you will not be fit for an inheritance in the Celestial Kingdom of God.”