There is not a person on earth who will not have to pass through trials. It is something that is inevitable regardless of race, religion, gender or economic status. But, we can become stronger and make changes for the better from the experiences we have because of trials.
Trials happen to all of us and in all parts of the world
Regardless of who you are, where you live, where you work or even how good of a person you are, you will have to endure various trials. No one is exempt. These struggles are sometimes larger than others and can be difficult to cope with, at the time. The amount or difficulty of trials can sometimes seem unfair - either for yourself or others.
It may be hard to understand why we or others have certain hardships. But we must endure with patience and faith. Sometimes people feel that when they are doing what is right they should be exempt from rough times. We may be confused for this reason, and may even feel like we are alone. We may ask, "Why me?" The truth is, we must have patience and rely on our faith to get us through our trials. If we realize that God has a plan for each of us, we may come to a greater understanding of "why" we have the trials we do. Even though our trials may seem unfair or too hard to bear, we need to trust in God and in his timing of answering our pleas for his help.
Trials test us and prove us
Our struggles are not meant to be punishment. Instead, this is the time for us to rely on God and use what we have learned, and know to be true, to get us through our trials. Will we press forward with our faith, or will we give up? Will we trust in God, or shut him out of our life? Trials often prove our faith and help us to become better. What will sustain us through trying times is our faith and application of what we have previously been taught.
Our difficulties help strengthen and change us for the better
Thomas Monson, a civic and religious leader explains, "[God], who gives us so much to delight in, also knows that we learn and grow and become stronger as we face and survive the trials through which we must pass. We know that there are times when we will experience heartbreaking sorrow, when we will grieve, and when we may be tested to our limits. However, such difficulties allow us to change for the better, to rebuild our lives in the way [God] teaches us, and to become something different from what we were -better than we were, more understanding than we were, more empathetic than we were, with stronger testimonies than we had before." We must realize that God uses our trials to shape us, to polish our lives into something magnificent - into who God knows we can become.
We are given trials so that we may prove ourselves and learn and grow from hard experiences. We may not think so in the midst of difficulty, but as we look back, it will be clear how that time in our life helped us to change for the better.
