Trials

Reviewing the bigger trials in my life, I realized that while our personal trials are often for our learning, they can also benefit those around us.

“I had to figure out a way to believe that God existed and that He still loves me while understanding the reality of my situation.”

If for whatever reason your Christmas doesn’t look like everyone else’s, don’t worry. Own it. You are unique, which means you can “keep Christmas” your way.

Melissa Inouye shares five truths to help Latter-day Saints understand life's struggles and find joy and peace in their choice to be on “Team Jesus.”

A scholar, mom, and cancer patient explains why the struggle is Christ’s path.

81-year-old Fran Anderson isn’t one to back down from a challenge.

Here are six takeaways about the ministry of angels that can inspire us in our lives today.

“There is hope in purposeful action. It provides us a measure of control, meaning, and determination that is very different from the feelings that come from passively waiting.”

“I concluded that I was doing it all wrong. I had this challenging trial, dramatic enough to describe in firesides and stake conference, but my response was far from inspiring. Who would be inspired by this puddle of tears?”

Seen any squirrels splayed out on the ground lately? Our bushy-tailed friends might be offering a simple lesson.

We did everything right, but God didn’t spare my husband. Now, when I hear of others’ miracles, I’m learning to respond with faith.

In January 2021, 7'6" Latter-day Saint and 1993 No. 2 NBA draft pick Shawn Bradley became a quadriplegic. Here’s how he and his family have been managing their new life.

The book of Job is the perfect place to go for a case study of someone who was visited with problems that just plain didn’t make sense.

Sometimes life doesn't make sense—especially if we expect God to simply “deliver the goods” once we’ve made some required spiritual deposit. These five scriptures can help make sense of things while we wait for our “eventually.”

Of all the places 12-year-old Karin slept when the sun slipped beneath the horizon at night, the Oakland California Temple grounds were her favorite.

Everyone had a distinct, life-altering experience that day, offering us something to remember when we hear the admonishing phrase to “never forget” September 11.

Notwithstanding all Joseph Smith went through, he never turned against God and never denied his testimony that God and Christ had spoken to him.

The birth of Cameron and Rebecca King’s second daughter isn’t the birth story that most young parents imagine, but it is a story of how the hand of the Lord is always visible, even during hard times.

President Jean B. Bingham, Relief Society General President, recently penned a piece for the Ensignwhere she recalled childhood memories of getting caught in rain storms.

A new video released by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints shares a powerful reminder from President Russell M. Nelson about enduring life’s trials.

When I was about 13 years of age, a new family moved into our ward. They had a 12-year-old son. He and I had some things in common. He was the oldest in his family; I was the oldest in my family. He had an alpha male personality; I had an alpha male personality. But perhaps the thing we had most in common was a very strong dislike for one another. I don’t know why—we didn’t even know each other well enough to be enemies. Yet it was true that we did not get along at all.

This article is written by Dr. David T. Morgan, who writes for LDS Living under the title of “Latter-day Saint Psychologist.” He has a special connection with the person featured in this post.

Christopher Clark, a husband, father, and theater director, was recently honored by the BYU football team as one of their True Blue Heroes.

This week's FHE lesson topic comes from the Come, Follow Me reading of 1–3 John and Jude. Check out this week's Come, Follow Me study ideas on LDS Living for additional resources and suggestions.

I recently experienced a couple of events that taught me about why some trials persist even though we are working hard to defeat them. Before I tell you about that, I need to provide some background. First, you should know we currently have two children at BYU-Idaho in Rexburg. Second, you should know that we live in Vancouver, Washington, which is about 700 miles from there. Third, I should tell you that I enjoy indoor cycling, which is a specific type of stationary bike—some know it as spinning. Please bear with me while I explain how these things are related.

The following is an excerpt from Elder John H. Groberg’s book Fire of Faith, which details his experiences with his family as he served as a mission president in Tonga.

Over a month ago, Latter-day Saint Kaden Laga went missing in the Bitterroot Mountains of Idaho and Montana. Five days later, he safely returned home to his family, including his wife and soon-to-be son. Though Kaden is grateful for his return, he shared that being found alive wasn’t the biggest miracle from this experience.

It’s no secret the Sosa siblings, Ezra and Stephanie, have wowed an audience with their high-energy dancing on the most recent season of So You Think You Can Dance. But like any family, their path to success didn’t always consist of the brightest days. In fact it was unexpected trials that led them to where they are now.

I have a very distinct memory of sitting in a car in the parking lot of the Provo Missionary Training Center. Less than 24 hours before, we had been notified that our son would be coming home early from his mission. We were there to pick him up. If someone had walked by our car that morning, they would have seen a man and a woman, clearly grief-stricken, with their heads bowed in prayer. They would not have been able to hear the soft but sincere pleadings from my lips, imploring Father in Heaven to allow our son to stay and fulfill his mission. My prayer was not answered in the way I had hoped, as about one hour later there were three of us in the car, heading back to our home in Washington.

Author's note: This article was originally published by the Deseret News in January 2015. It has been updated and republished here with permission.

Many years ago, my wife and I were students, had a small family, and had little disposable income. We had one car that had a cracked windshield. The crack wasn’t substantial, but being somewhat of a perfectionist, it bothered me. The only long-term solution was to replace the windshield, which was not in the budget. I lived with the cracked windshield for a couple of years until finally we had saved enough money to replace it. The new windshield was perfect, and I was almost deliriously happy to be rid of that unsightly crack. About a week later I was driving on the freeway. As I passed a large truck, it kicked up a rock that landed squarely on my windshield. It left a large crack.

More than 2,000 miles from his destination, a seasick Alan Alderman steered a 28-foot-long boat crammed with five men. While Alderman had initially compared his epic journey across an ocean to those of scriptural giants like Nephi, Noah, and the Jaredites, at that moment Alderman felt more like Laman or Lemuel.

For daily gospel-based relationship insights, join Jonathan’s Facebook group. To submit a question, click here, or schedule a complimentary 15-minute consultation here.

How would you feel if your community and family shunned you for your faith? What if you lost everything for being baptized? This was 14-year-old Orpha Troyer’s reality when she and her family left their Amish faith to join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Kendal Levine knows exactly what she's going to say to the man who nearly killed her almost five years ago.

This week, I’ve been thinking a lot about pain and suffering. I’ve written about this topic before but this week, it kept coming up in the things I was reading and studying—so here we are again.

When it comes to heavenly communication, does it ever feel like the Lord has everyone else on speed dial—and you’re just sitting there hoping for any little bit of communication, even a generic “new phone, who dis” text?

While I was growing up, my mother frequently reminded me and my siblings not to toss garbage into the wastebasket but to walk over and carefully drop it into the can.

Forty hours before leaving to comfort Latter-day Saints who lost the neighborhoods, woods, homes, and church houses that built many of their family memories in Paradise, California, President Russell M. Nelson lost his daughter, Wendy Nelson Maxfield, to cancer.

As part of an essay we wrote several years ago exploring what the four Gospels have to say about Jesus and suffering, we could easily have begun with any number of historical or scriptural references—from Liberty Jail and the Prophet Joseph in the winter of 1838-39 to Job, whose friends blamed his afflictions on his supposed sins, to the multiple souls described in the Gospels who were plagued by disease, misfortune, natural disasters, or simply the consequences of bad or even impetuous decisions.

The concept of grace can be hard to understand. Just the word itself can have many different meanings—it can be a title, it can mean a prayer, it can denote style, refinement, or civility. It can mean different things in different religions.

Taysom Hill knows a thing or two about adversity.

Heather Pinegar and her family were camping in Arizona for a family reunion when their lives changed forever. They were preparing for their long drive back to Texas when Mick, Heather’s 15-year-old son and an avid dirt biker, asked if he could go on one last ride before they headed home. He loved going on rides after rainstorms, and after receiving consent from his parents, he went on his way.

Missionaries can deal with a slew of issues, and as a parent, sibling, or friend reading and writing letters from afar, you may feel helpless. But you’re not. Check out some ways you can help them with some of these most common struggles, and some prophetic counsel that may help as well.

A convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was delighted to find the Savior more in the scriptures, another woman found ways to share the gospel more with those she surfed with, and the challenge to women to read the Book of Mormon starting at the October general conference and the end of the year also helped another find peace as a parent's health declined.