President Eyring addressed us in April 2012 about trials and overcoming the mountains in our lives. He quoted D&C 122:7 "all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good."
We all go through trials and struggle in our lives. Some struggles come without notice and catch us off guard. These trials are real and they can be very difficult and make us feel as if we were falling and wavering. We may lose a loved one, have a hard decision of where to go, or wonder if things will work out so we can live a joyful life.
So what happens to us when things are going well, or where do we turn in those deepest moments of heart ache where our lives feel like they are falling apart. We wonder and are tempted by so much, asking ourselves is there hope or even an end to these trials. At the most breaking times it seems near impossible to have relief and we are tempted to give up. Where do we turn.
President Eyring says that we will face great mountains that we are called to climb but he helps us to know "God will not forsake thee." He illustrates steps to help us mold and cure an unshakeable foundation that will help us in our lives and trials for years to come.
Heleman 5:12 "And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the arock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your bfoundation;
that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts
in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty cstorm
shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down
to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye
are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build
they cannot fall."
Who is your foundation on which you stand? We are promised that as we are founded upon Christ we will not fall. Be aware that just because you believe in Christ and are established on him does not make you exempt from having trials. We all will have trials, this is part of life and growing. If we did not have struggles we would not grow and develop into a better person and turn to God for help and comfort. If we but establish ourselves on Christ, our Savior we will see blessings come into our lives that will help guide us and uplift us when we are feeling down.
We are to develop and be founded upon Faith in Christ. This faith will help us through all times. Faith is a principle of action as it is of believing in the hopes of better times. So some actions that produce faith and help us act out our faith in Christ are the basics of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: prayer, scripture study and service. As we pray to God we turn to him tapping into his miraculous power that enables us to overcome all things. Reading the scriptures adds an extra strength to your faith and enables us even more to do things that we thought we initially could not do, we come in tune with God and are worthy of his Spirit more as we read. Service:
"Often, the answer to our prayer does not come while we’re on our knees
but while we’re on our feet serving the Lord and serving those around
us. Selfless acts of service and consecration refine our spirits, remove
the scales from our spiritual eyes, and open the windows of heaven. By
becoming the answer to someone’s prayer, we often find the answer to our
own." President Uchtdorf
All these things can and will build us to prepare us for the storms that will rage against us and tempt us to fall off the path that we are walking down. There is hope and light at the end of these most hard times in our life. But we can look to God for comfort and know that he is by our side and we can get through this to see as he sees. I have found that in the midst of great struggles I turn to God in prayer more than ever and strive to see through his eyes, his eternal perspective. One thing that I have developed to do is to see those tender blessings of the Lord in my day where I have felt his love. As I am optimistic about my day and my trials I feel support and happiness from Gods great Spirit and feel his angles around about me to bear me up. God will not leave us, he loves us too much to forsake us and give up on us. He sees our divine potential and continuously beacons us to come to him.
Here are some articles regarding struggles:
President Uchtdorf-Waiting on the Road to Damascus
President Eyring- Mountains to Climb
C. Scott Grow- The Miracle of the Atonement
