As we seek to hear him better we find more clarity and firmness in what we have been taught

Sister Jessie Alldredge

Missionary Serving in the Missouri Independence Mission

Why do we have trials? What is the purpose behind the tears and sorrow? And how is it just?

I was reading a talk by Quentin L. Cook titled "The Songs They Could Not Sing" and he was talking about 2 individual's very different experiences with the titanic. 

The first was a missionary. Six actually. They had just concluded their missions and had tickets for a voyage back home. However, when it came time to leave they learned one of the Elders wouldn't be able to join them at that time. The missionary in charge of the tickets decided to postpone the voyage home and wait until his friend could join them. Many of the other missionaries were a little upset. They were about to have a very fantastic and exciting experience on this new ship, but they remained loyal and waited. When they later learned about the sinking of the titanic they were unbelievably thankful. 

The second was a young mother about 30 years old. She had just finished a six month midwife course in London and was headed home to Utah. "She had significant talents as an artist and musician; she was also a teacher and a nurse. It was her great desire to make a difference in the world. She was careful, thoughtful, prayerful, and valiant." She chose the titanic for her journey because she had heard missionaries would be traveling on it and thought it would promise to be a safer trip. "[She] was one of the few women who did not survive.... Most of the women and children were placed in the lifeboats and were ultimately rescued…. it is believed that she did not get in the lifeboats because, with her special training, she was attending to the needs of the numerous passengers who were injured from the iceberg collision."

Elder Cook goes on to ask and answer, did the woman experience this trial because she had less faith than the missionary? Of course she didn't. She needed to experience different things in life so that she could be prepared when she met God again. It works exactly the same way for each of us. Ultimately, we suffer in this life, so we can have unlimited joy in the next.

However, Heavenly Father does not intend for these trials to be simply pain. He wants us to have joy now and He wants us to grow!

President John Taylor once said, “We have learned many things through suffering. We call it suffering. I call it a school of experience. … I have never looked at these things in any other light than trials for the purpose of purifying the Saints of God that they may be, as the scriptures say, as gold that has been seven times purified by the fire”

President Taylor found a way to experience joy even when he was learning. Like many of the other pioneers of his time he decided to remain thankful and focused on the eternal picture through his trials. 

President Dallin H. Oaks said, "When we give thanks in all things, we see hardships and adversities in the context of the purpose of life. We are sent here to be tested. There must be opposition in all things. We are meant to learn and grow through that opposition, through meeting our challenges, and through teaching others to do the same."

One of my companions once told me the process of refining silver. She said that when a refiner wants to take the impurities out of silver he will put it under a little heat. When he does this the impurities begin to rise to the top, then he'll scrape them off. Then the refiner will turn the heat up a little bit more to get more of those impurities to rise, then he scrapes them off too. This cycle continues until the piece of silver has been cleansed of all those imperfections. But how does the refiner know when it has? He can see his reflection in the piece of silver.

The refiner is God and we are the silver. Throughout this life we gain many, many impurities or sins and Heavenly Father uses our trials and afflictions to remove them. Heavenly Father knows exactly how much we can suffer and He knows exactly what we need to suffer so that one day when Christ looks at us he sees Himself.

I have recognized a difference in my life as I have seen my trials as experiences that will bring me a step closer to showing Christ's reflection back at Him. They become more exciting and bearable and I find a faith and determination to come through them even stronger on the other side!

I want to end with a poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. It says, “There is no chance, no fate, no destiny that can circumvent or hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul.”

I promise that as you reach out to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, with a determination and faith to go forward, they will help you to leave behind your "impurities" and give you the strength to continue forth as they do. I promise your faith will be increased and your hope and vision will be expanded. 

I know with all my heart that this is the restored gospel and church of Jesus Christ. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and translated the Book of Mormon through the power of God. I know we receive knowledge and testimony through the power of the Holy Ghost and as we seek to hear him better we find more clarity and firmness in what we have been taught. I have a testimony that there is power in seeking for ourselves and praying for confirmation. And that as we do so, our faith and trust in God will increase until we one day know as so many others did, that "all these things shall give [us] experience, and shall be for [our] good."

I hope that as you go through your next trial, you will remember you have angels, servants, and God's cheering you on as you do. 

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.