Trials

LDS Quotes on Trials

All of our decisions will not be perfect. We will feel hopefully only temporarily, regret. But let us never wait for perfect clarity. It will be a rare decision indeed when all of the data in perfect clarity is apparent before the decision is made. Some of our greatest growth comes from the mind stretching exercise of filling in where information is not available and weighing that which is incomplete. Sometimes there must simply be a leap of faith.

Hugh W. Pinnock  |  “Decisions Determine Our Destiny,” February 6, 1981

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“Realizing that change is a process, most of us would never get angry at a seed for not being a flower or expect a sculptor to transform a block of marble into a masterpiece overnight.”

Brad Wilcox

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Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf

We don’t always know the details of our future. We do not know what lies ahead. We live in a time of uncertainty. We are surrounded by challenges on all sides. Occasionally discouragement may sneak into our day; frustration may invite itself into our thinking; doubt might enter about the value of our work. In these dark moments Satan whispers in our ears that we will never be able to succeed, that the price isn’t worth the effort, and that our small part will never make a difference. He, the father of all lies, will try to prevent us from seeing the end from the beginning.

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf  |  “See the End from the Beginning,” Ensign, May 2006, p. 43

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“Sometime in the eternities to come, we will see that our trials were calculated to cause us to turn to our Heavenly Father for strength and support. Any affliction or suffering we are called upon to bear may be directed to give us experience, refinement, and perfection.”

Delbert L. Stapley  |  "The Blessings of Righteous Obedience", Ensign, Nov. 1977

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Joseph Smith Portrait

The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.

Joseph Smith  |  The Wentworth Letter

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“Our deepest healing seldom comes in the ways or modes that we envision. What we think we need to be happy and whole is not always what the Healer knows we need to be happy and whole. Solutions that seem obvious to us may be distractions from where the deepest pain lies…

“A loving Savior does all he can to help us choose the most fulfilling and most healing pathway; the precepts with which he provides us are for our liberation and not our confinement. It all comes down to trust. ‘The servant knoweth not what his lord doeth,’ he tells his disciples, ‘but I have called you friends.’ Friends trust each other.”

Terryl and Fiona Givens  |  "The Christ Who Heals"

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“A friend is a possession we earn, not a gift. . . . The Lord has declared that those who serve him and keep his commandments are called his servants. After they have been tested and tried and are found faithful and true in all things, they are called no longer servants, but friends. His friends are the ones he will take into his kingdom and with whom he will associate in an eternal inheritance.”

Marvin J. Ashton  |  “What Is a Friend?” Ensign, January 1973, p. 41

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“Distancing yourself from the kingdom of God during a trial of faith is like leaving the safety of a secure storm cellar just as the tornado comes into view.”

Elder Neil L. Andersen  |  Trial of Your Faith

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“Sometimes we find that even when we do our best to serve God, we still suffer. The key is to remember that faith and obedience are still the answers – even when things go wrong, perhaps especially when things go wrong.”

David E. Sorensen

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“Here then is a great truth. In the pain, the agony, and the heroic endeavors of life, we pass through a refiner’s fire, and the insignificant and the unimportant in our lives can melt away like dross and make our faith bright, intact, and strong. In this way the divine image can be mirrored from the soul. It is part of the purging toll exacted of some to become acquainted with God. In the agonies of life, we seem to listen better to the faint, godly whisperings of the Divine Shepherd.

“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. … In this way the soul can become like soft clay in the hands of the Master.”

James E. Faust  |  The Refiner's Fire, Ensign, May 1979, 53

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