"For Whom the Lord Loveth He Chasteneth."

This week I yet again have found myself asking "why is life so hard", "why do bad things happen to good people", and "why we have to pass through trials"? I don't think I have found the perfect answer, but I do want to share some things that have comforted and strengthened me. 

My former,sweet companion, Hermana Smith, always said, "Trials are compliments." When she first started saying that I was like, what the heck does that even mean? Then I read the scripture found in Hebrews 12, "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth."

Elder D. Todd Christofferson has explained three different reasons for why we are chastened, "(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."

1: I have seen in my life when I am handed a big trial, that I have literally no one else to turn to but my Heavenly Father. These trials have strengthened my relationship with my Father in Heaven because I am finally humble enough to turn my will into His, and acknowledge the need for His help. I wish I wasn't as prideful or stubborn to need a trial to humble me, but I am grateful for the experiences that have strengthened my relationship with my Heavenly Father.  Elder Christofferson also said, "In addition to stimulating our repentance, the very experience of enduring chastening can refine us and prepare us for greater spiritual privileges. Said the Lord, “My people must be tried in all things, that they may be prepared to receive the glory that I have for them, even the glory of Zion; and he that will not bear chastisement is not worthy of my kingdom.”" (D&C 136:31).


2: Our Heavenly Father has give us this Earthly experience to learn, grow, and experience mortality. And in at least in my own life I have seen personal growth stimulated from trials and difficulties. Robert D. Hales has said, "Tests and trials are given to all of us. These mortal challenges allow us and our Heavenly Father to see whether we will exercise our agency to follow His Son. He already knows, and we have the opportunity to learn, that no matter how difficult our circumstance, “all these things shall [be for our] experience, and . . . for [our] good” (D&C 122:7)." I love the way that James E. Faust  puts it,  

"Into every life there come the painful, despairing days of adversity and buffeting. There seems to be a full measure of anguish, sorrow, and often heartbreak for everyone, including those who earnestly seek to do right and be faithful. The thorns that prick, that stick in the flesh, that hurt, often change lives which seem robbed of significance and hope. This change comes about through a refining process which often seems cruel and hard. In this way the soul can become like soft clay in the hands of the Master in building lives of faith, usefulness, beauty, and strength. For some, the refiner’s fire causes a loss of belief and faith in God, but those with eternal perspective understand that such refining is part of the perfection process."

Through our trials, we can grow closer to Heavenly Father, learn to rely on the Savior, and we have the opportunity to be molded and shaped into the person God wants us to be. 

3: The last reason is to redirect us back to the path of our Heavenly Father. In the speech "The 4th Missionary", Lawrence E. Corbridge has said, "Every Challenge you face, every hard thing you confront, every bad thing that happens to you, every unfairness, every conflict, every sadness, tragedy, every disappointment and heartache, every temptation, and every opposition happens for one purpose only: TO GIVE YOU OPPORTUNITY TO RESPOND BY APPLYING IN YOUR LIFE THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS. As you do so you are changed to become more like Him."

I know that our Heavenly Father loves us and doesn't give us trials because He wants to punish us; He is always giving us opportunities to grow and become more like Him and His son, Jesus Christ. James E. Faust reminds us that we are never alone through our trials. "The Divine Shepherd has a message of hope, strength, and deliverance for all. If there were no night, we would not appreciate the day, nor could we see the stars and the vastness of the heavens. We must partake of the bitter with the sweet. There is a divine purpose in the adversities we encounter every day. They prepare, they purge, they purify, and thus they bless.

When we pluck the roses, we find we often cannot avoid the thorns which spring from the same stem."

When I am passing through a trial, I remind myself of a question that Christ asked Peter, "Will ye also go away?". One may think that a trial will be easier without the gospel, without a belief in God. But, I testify that, that is exactly why we have the gospel is to get us through hard times. Christ will never leave our side, and our Father in Heaven will always answer our prayers.  Trials truly are compliments, because the Lord is giving us an opportunity to grow, and to become more like Him and His Son. I hope that we may all be able to answer as did Peter, "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life."