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Devotionals

Rise Through Your Trials

Brothers and sisters, Mele Kalikimaka and Aloha! Thank you, Heather, for your enduring love and support - she is my "better half" and I am indeed both a happy philosopher and a happy husband!

Whether we are currently facing monumental struggles, or the more common challenges of life, I hope that my remarks today will kindle renewed inspiration to not just endure, but  rise through our trials.

Speaking about adverse circumstances and our perspective, Elder Paul H. Dunn of the Seventy noted that “there are those who seem to have the knack of seeing the positive side. A young businessman was opening a new branch office, and a friend sent a floral arrangement to help celebrate the occasion. When the friend arrived at the opening, he was appalled to find the wreath bore the inscription 'Rest in Peace'. Angry, he later complained to the florist. After apologizing, the florist said, 'Look at it this way. Somewhere today a man was buried under a wreath that said, Good luck in your new location’ ” (Ensign, May 1987).

We have been sent here to be tested

Indeed, how we look at things ‒ our perspective ‒ can entirely change our attitudes and therefore our actual experience. Through scripture we gain divine perspective about why we have been  put here in mortality. In the pre-existence the Lord said: “[W]e will make an earth whereon these [souls] may dwell; And we will prove [or test] them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them” (Abraham 3:24-25). We have been put here to be tried and tested; therefore, testing and challenge are a natural part of our existence.

My mission president understood the principle that trials and challenges can be good for us. Shortly after I had been given the responsibility for directing the work of several missionaries, I received a phone call from a district leader reporting that two missionaries in his district had a heated argument that nearly ended in a fight. My companion and I went to the missionaries’ home to try to restore peace and resolve concerns.

We sat down with the two missionaries and started our meeting with a prayer. In the middle of the prayer we were interrupted by the knocking of another missionary living in the same home who reported to us that his companion, fully dressed in his missionary attire, was unresponsive, lying down, and appeared to be in some kind of a coma. After trying for some time to get this missionary to respond by shaking him, yelling, splashing water on him, and so forth, we finally called for an ambulance. EMTs arrived, revived him, and took him to the hospital.

As soon as the ambulance left, the first thing I did was to call my mission president on the phone. I related to him what had occurred with the fighting elders, as well as the elder in the coma. Feeling overwhelmed by these circumstances and in way over my head, I asked him, “President, what should I do?” I’ll never forget his wise response that became one of the greatest lessons of my life. Although funny now, it was a bit of shock to me at the time. “President, what should I do?” His reply, “I don’t know Elder Hoag. What should you do? You’re the senior zone leader – you pray about it, figure it out, and then call me back. That’s why I put you there.” 

That's why he put me there.

Although I wanted him to, my mission president didn’t take the trial away from me, knowing that, like muscles, our mental and spiritual capacities grow and are strengthened by challenge.

President Spencer W. Kimball taught, “Strength and struggle go together. The supreme reward of struggle is strength. Life is a battle and the greatest joy is to overcome. The pursuit of easy things makes men weak…. It is following the lines of least resistance that makes rivers and men crooked” (Kimball,  The Miracle of Forgiveness, p. 164). Usually it is not in spite of, but rather because of, our trials that we progress.

Trials and opposition are all around us

Whether we realize it or not, trials and opposition are with us all the time; they are part of the everyday reality of living in this world. A few examples of some of the common opposition we face daily in the physical realm:

  • 1 - Gravity. This causes babies to fall when trying to walk. However, once we acquire the necessary skill and strength, gravity also allows the movements and act of walking, since without the opposing force of gravity we would simply float away.
  • 2 - Air Pressure. When walking or running, we notice on windy days that wind resistance and air pressure slow us down. But air pressure also allows flight in airplanes - as air moves faster over the top of the wing than the bottom, greater pressure on the bottom of the wing creates lift, making flight possible. Direct air pressure on a large kite wing, is also what allows my friends and I to kite surf out in Laie Bay. Jumps are fun, crashes not so much!
  • 3 - Obstacles. Things get in our way, sometimes preventing our ability to move forward as desired, such as when a tree has fallen across the road. But, viewed properly, obstacles can also become stepping stones. I enjoy doing bicycle “trials” – balancing, riding and jumping bikes on and over obstacles. In bike trials, obstacles are seen as an alternate path. Although I do bike trials for fun, I've noticed a side benefit – I've found that regular mountain biking and dirt biking have become easier.
  • 4 - Resistance. Opposing forces on our muscles, whether from tension or gravity, can cause us to experience fatigue and injury. But the right kind of resistance also allows our muscles to become stronger and more healthy. In fact, we must not just use, but overwork and overload, the muscular and cardiovascular systems of our bodies if we expect to see any real growth. As the saying goes, "working out is supposed to feel like work".

Trials and opposition exist for our good

Indeed, we learn from the prophet Lehi that opposition exists for our good. Regarding opposition in the spiritual realm, he taught his son Jacob, "For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so...righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad" (2 Nephi 2:11).

Adam and Eve were the first of us  put here to eventually experience opposition and trial. Lehi further explained that opposing choices are what allows mankind to "act for himself", and that "men are, that they might have joy" (2 Nephi 2:16, 25).

We might understand this intellectually, however, some “trials and hardships we encounter in life are severe and appear to have lasting consequences” (Quentin L. Cook, Ensign, November 2008). They can be tough emotionally, and could be illustrated by some of the following questions and statements:

  • “I have prayed fervently for healing, but it has never occurred. Why won’t God help me?”
  • “Times are so tough; how will we have enough money for food, or to pay the rent?”
  • “I have prayed and fasted for an eternal companion, but no one has come.”
  • “I bombed another test; why am I so dumb at math?”
  • “Opportunities are bleak in this economy, how will I find a good job?”
  • “Why did my father have to die and leave my mother and us alone?”
  • “I am so discouraged. I’m not sure where my life is going or whether it is even worth it.”

(Taken and adapted from Gene R. Cook, “The Love of God”, February 2005 BYU Devotional.)

It is sometimes difficult to know the specific answers to these kinds of questions. Trials can sometimes seem unfair and unjust, shake the faith of some, and cause some to doubt God’s love for us or even His existence (see Pres. Henry B. Eyring, Ensign, May 2009). Some philosophers have labeled this concern "the problem of evil" and argued that human suffering demonstrates that either God does not exist; or if He does, He is not powerful enough to prevent evil from occurring in the lives of good people, or He simply does not care.

Indeed, in times of trial or suffering we may ask, to echo my mission experience,  Can this really be why I was put here?

Two family experiences

Let me share two family experiences involving trials. The first experience happened to my parents, two years before I was born.

In February of 1964 a vehicle ran head-on into my parents' car shortly after they emerged from the Kaneohe exit of the Wilson tunnel. Back then there was no concrete barrier dividing the oncoming lanes, as there is now. As a result, my mother suffered numerous serious injuries, including multiple face, jaw and head fractures, a ruptured spleen, a totally shattered pelvis, a fractured right hip, and multiple fractures in both ankles and feet. At the time my father was a Catholic and my mother a semi-active Latter-day Saint, so when the doctors said twice in the first week that she would soon die, twice she received the Catholic "last rites" to prepare her for death. And twice afterwards my mother's family called Melchizedek Priesthood holders to give her blessings of healing, miraculously restoring her life.

During this experience my grandmother promised my mother that, 'the Lord will be by your side to carry you through this horrific ordeal', and that 'one day you will look upon this sad experience as a blessing in disguise.' And indeed it was. The experience dramatically changed perspectives, especially my father's.

A confident naval aviator and Marine Corps helicopter pilot, my father had previously paid little attention to the LDS missionaries; he now saw firsthand that the power of the priesthood was real. He re-took the missionary discussions with a new outlook and was later baptized. And to the amazement of everyone, my mother lived, walked again, and had children when I was born two years later and my sisters thereafter. We were later sealed as a family here, in the Laie Hawaii Temple, in 1968 - just four years after the car accident.

Of this experience my mother later wrote joyfully, "we testify that miracles occur, in the due time of the Lord. We have witnessed His hand after the trial of faith many times in our lives!"

Sometimes the Lord allows and uses traumatic, physical experiences like these to literally re-arrange and elevate our lives for good. More often the rearranging is less extreme, but still effective. Christian writer, C.S. Lewis, observed:

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself” (Lewis, Mere Christianity).

The second experience I'll share is much less dramatic than the first, but one that most of you will appreciate as college students, faculty and staff. In my second year of law school, over 20 years ago, I took a class in "Family Law"; the study of the statutes and case law that deal with marriage, divorce, adoption, etc. Most law school classes have no homework you turn in, attendance doesn't count, and there are no quizzes. Your whole grade typically depends on just one, three-hour, final examination.

The semester came and went, and the day of the Family Law final exam arrived. The three-hour test began and, for whatever reason, I was not "focused" that day. As I recall, I slowly read the first of three essay questions and jotted down some notes. Then I went to the restroom. I returned to my seat and considered how long I still had - well over two hours - a lot of time. I thought about what I would do after the test at home. I slowly finished the first answer, then went to the restroom again, then slowly read the second essay question. Do you see a pattern emerging here?

Fast forward to 40 minutes left in the three-hour period and I began to realize that I had little time to finish my second answer and get to the final essay question. Mild panic started to set in, and I began to write furiously. As the 30 minute to time up mark came, I realized that I had written myself into a corner on the second essay answer and had come to the wrong conclusions. But because I had squandered my time, there was nothing I could really do to fix it.

With 20 minutes left, I began writing my answer to the last question but could hardly concentrate as full panic had now set in. At this point, only half my brain was functioning on the exam because the other half was too occupied worrying - as well as scolding me for my uncharacteristic carelessness and inexplicable stupidity. People began turning in their tests. As I was maybe half way through answering the third question, time up was called. What just happened? I asked myself in disbelief.

As I left the room and walked out into the cool December air I knew that I had bombed the test; I couldn't even cling to the hope of some miracle "C-". I felt worse than I ever had before in my life about any test. Unlike my early college years, my academic performance was no longer just about my GPA (grade point average). I thought about my wife and children who were now depending on me to do well, so I could find a good job and provide for them. I was distraught.

As I waited for my wife to pick me up outside the law school, I began praying fervently for guidance. I felt my despair lighten as the very slightest glimmer of hope entered my heart. I vowed that I would never make the same mistakes again.

I began to analyze what I had done wrong leading up to the exam, and especially during the final; how I had ignored established study methods, test taking strategies, time management, advice on the need to outline essay answers before beginning to write, and so forth. You could say that I began the process of "academic repentance" over the next several days.

I pondered deeply the words of the Lord to Moroni in the book of Ether. As you'll recall, Moroni felt inadequate about his writing ability - what Moroni called his "weakness"; in response to his concerns the Lord taught: "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them" (Ether 12:27).

I firmly believed that, with the Lord's help and grace, this weakness would be made a strength; because of this trial I would not make the same mistakes again, and I would be stronger for it.

A few weeks later I learned that I indeed had received a "D" on the exam. I was not surprised. It of course hurt my GPA some, but my test taking in the remaining time in law school was much better as a result. I later graduated from law school, landed a great job at a Honolulu law firm, and began the three-month preparation period for the dreaded Bar Exam.

This was the two and a half day test that determines whether you are allowed to practice law as a licensed attorney; i.e., whether you can work as a lawyer. Considering that law school graduates who have been studying for months using professional test preparation courses often fail the pass/fail Bar Exam, it is a source of fear and anxiety for everyone. Many people have had to take it multiple times in order to finally pass, including John F. Kennedy, Jr., Hillary Clinton, future U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and future U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Benjamin Cardozo (he had to take it six times).

In the months preceding the exam, like my fellow graduates, I devoted just about every day to study and practice test taking. On the inside of my Bar Exam binder that contained all of my notes and outlines for the many subjects to be tested over the three-day exam period, I had written the words found in Ether 12:27. I began each day's study by praying and pondering over this scripture. As the time for the exam approached and anxiety started to build, I also sought a blessing of comfort and counsel from my father, and felt at peace.

The days of the Bar Exam arrived, I took the tests over a trying three days and felt good. All of the test strategies that I had learned through prep classes and my own experiences, including my Family Law test, culminated in that one exam. After the test was over, I told my wife that I didn't want to ever take another test again in my life!

Several weeks passed by and I received a letter in the mail from the Bar Examiners office. With my wife standing near me at home, I opened the letter, and as I read the very first word, "Congratulations," I involuntarily fell to my knees out of relief. Heather and I shed tears of joy and gratitude that I had passed the exam, and we knelt down at that moment to offer a prayer of thanksgiving.

Our two oldest daughters, then only 5 and 3, came into the living room and wondered why Mom and Dad were on their knees crying. They were confused as we told them we were crying because we were so happy! That made absolutely no sense to them. (By the way, a classmate of mine who also passed the exam made the mistake of opening his congratulatory letter at the post office, where he also fell to his knees and began crying and shouting, right there in public.)

There in our home, in that moment of joy, we thanked the Lord for his grace that undoubtedly strengthened and lifted me beyond my natural capacities. I later learned that more than a fourth of the test takers failed the Bar Exam, and that I did  much better than I had hoped. Through faith in the Lord and His abundant grace, my earlier weakness and trial had indeed become a blessing to me and my family.

Pres. Henry B. Eyring has taught: “The very opportunity for us to face adversity and affliction is part of the evidence of [the Lord’s] infinite love. God gave us the gift of living in mortality so that we could be prepared to receive the greatest of all the gifts of God, which is eternal life....And I know from my own experience that He can and will give us strength to rise through every trial" (Ensign, May 2009).

This is why we were put here in mortality.

How we can rise through our trials

The scriptures are full of examples of those who rose through their trials, using  them as stepping stones to greater heights:

  • Abraham passed his test of his faith and demonstrated he was willing to sacrifice his miracle son, his only son, Isaac, when asked by the Lord; and thus received the promise that "in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice" (Gen. 22:18).
  • Joseph, son of Jacob, rose through his trials of being sold into slavery by his own brothers, and then later unjustly imprisoned for refusing the advances of his master's wife, to become second only to the Pharaoh in all of Egypt, and a savior to his estranged family and Egypt in times of famine.
  • Nephi through the eye of faith saw success to "go and do" the Lord’s command to obtain the brass plates from the wicked Laban. Nephi's  perspective stands in stark contrast to his older brothers who, discouraged, saw in this trial only "a hard thing", failure, loss of family fortune, and a certainty of death. In spite of two failed attempts, nearly losing his life, being beaten with a rod by his own brothers, and with no clear direction initially from God, Nephi pressed on and encouraged them saying “Let us be strong” and “Let us go up; the Lord is able to deliver us” (1 Nephi 4:2, 3).

We can learn much from Nephi about overcoming trials, who with faith focused on the path, not the obstacles. As a result of his persistent faith, he was led by the Spirit and delivered – not from his trial, but through it (see Henry Eyring,  To Draw Closer To God, p. 86).

Nephi’s experience illustrates how faith and good cheer are closely related. Satan understands this relationship and thus tries to erode our faith by discouraging us. Elder Marvin J. Ashton of the Twelve taught, “Whisperings of ‘you can’t do it,’ ‘you’re no good,’ ‘it’s too late,’ ‘what’s the use?’ or ‘things are hopeless’ are tools of destruction. Satan … wants you to quit trying. It is important that discouragement is cast out of [our lives]” (Ensign, May 1988).

In contrast, the Holy Spirit not only comforts us, he fills us with good cheer, courage, hope and confidence – especially in times of trial and tribulation. He can be not only our Comforter, but also our greatest Cheerleader. And our Savior, Jesus Christ, reminds us: "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).

We can heed the Lord’s oft-repeated command to “be of good cheer” by choosing to fill our lives with activities and entertainment that are uplifting. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, Periscope, and the like can be forums where we seek out and share goodness, including gospel messages. But if we are not careful, the sometimes negative and lewd content in such media can quickly erode our spirituality and virtue. We can suffer unnecessary trials of our own making if we allow darkness and sin into our lives, and thereby prevent the Lord from aiding us as He would like. We will be blessed with good cheer when we repent as needed, consistently filter out evil, and fill our lives with light and virtue.

Jesus Christ rose through the trial of the atonement

As in all things, on the subject of overcoming and rising through our trials, Jesus Christ is our great Exemplar. He can help us with our hardships, for in the darkest hours when He atoned for our sins, even He felt overwhelmed and alone. In the face of ultimate adversity, even He wished for some possible way that He could be spared ‒ perhaps as Isaac was rescued at the last minute.

We read in Matthew: "Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and... began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt" (Matt. 26:36-39).

Unlike Isaac, there was no ram in the thicket for Our Savior; He obeyed and drank of the cup of the unimaginable trials of Gethsemane and the cross. Jesus overcame and rose through His suffering, death, and resurrection. Descending triumphant through the air as a resurrected and perfected being, He announced Himself to the Nephites saying, "Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world. And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me" (3 Nephi 11:10-11).

We can trust the Lord and rise

I am still a relatively young man who has not experienced severe trials, so how can I be sure of the Lord's counsel to Joseph Smith, and to all of us, when He said: "know thou, my son, that  all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good" (D&C 122:7)?

I believe this because I know that the Lord lives, that repentance and the atonement are real, and that He loves us as we cannot understand. Perhaps like Nephi, I might say, “I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things” (1 Nephi 11:17).

I recognize that not all trials have a happy ending, especially as viewed from our mortal perspective and limited timeline. But I trust that if we choose to obey God, all things will be made right in the eternal scheme and time of He who beholds the past, present and future as 'one eternal now'. I know that through the Lord's grace and mercy, our weaknesses can become strengths, and our suffering turned into joy.

From C.S. Lewis: "[The Lord] said (in the Bible) that we were ‘gods’ and He is going to make good His words. If we let Him—for we can prevent Him, if we choose—He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful, but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said" (Lewis,  Mere Christianity).

God in His great power could have delivered the brass plates to Nephi in a trial-free way, but He didn’t. As He has done with Adam and Eve, the prophets, and even His own Son, God put us here to experience challenge and trials as an opportunity for us to grow, and exercise faith, for ‘He loves us more than our being perfectly happy day by day’ (see Gene R. Cook, cited above).

We can do hard things with God’s help, and experience joy, even if we can’t see how at first. I testify that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Through Him we are capable of many great things if we have faith, obey, repent as needed, maintain an eternal perspective, make the effort to do good, and persist.

In the words of Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "We acknowledge that your path will at times be difficult....Stand tall and walk in the light of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ! You are stronger than you realize. You are more capable than you can imagine. You can do it now!" (Ensign, November 2013)

May we go forward with good cheer, having faith in Christ, that we may rise through our trials. This, indeed, is why we were put here.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.