Eyring - Mountains to Climb - April 2012

President Eyring speaks about trials in our lives.  He speaks about watching loved ones endure through trials and how he admired them for not giving up.  He shares personal experiences of enduring through our trials and the faith that is required to succeed.  He shares a personal experience where he prayed for trials in his life as he knew that is how God polishes us into great beings.  So one night he prayed for trials that will build him into a better person and the Lord answered his prayers in a short period of time.

• The hardest trial of my life surprised and humbled me. It provided me a twofold lesson. First, I had clear proof that God heard and answered my prayer of faith. But second, I began a tutorial that still goes on to learn about why I felt with such confidence that night that a great blessing could come from adversity to more than compensate for any cost.
  
• You and I have faith that the way to rise through and above trials is to believe that there is a “balm in Gilead” and that the Lord has promised, “I will not … forsake thee.”
  

He speaks about the power to endure and that faith is the foundation of succeeding.

• If the foundation of faith is not embedded in our hearts, the power to endure will crumble.
  

He shares an experience in his youth where he worked to build foundations of homes.  He talks about the process of building forms, placing metal supports, and the patience to let the process be complete.  He compares this process to our building of faith.

• Our choosing the right consistently whenever the choice is placed before us creates the solid ground under our faith. It can begin in childhood since every soul is born with the free gift of the Spirit of Christ. With that Spirit we can know when we have done what is right before God and when we have done wrong in His sight.
  
• Those choices, hundreds in most days, prepare the solid ground on which our edifice of faith is built. The metal framework around which the substance of our faith is poured is the gospel of Jesus Christ, with all its covenants, ordinances, and principles.
  
• One of the keys to an enduring faith is to judge correctly the curing time required. That is why I was unwise to pray so soon in my life for higher mountains to climb and greater tests.
  
• That curing does not come automatically through the passage of time, but it does take time. Getting older does not do it alone. It is serving God and others persistently with full heart and soul that turns testimony of truth into unbreakable spiritual strength.
  
• Now, I wish to encourage those who are in the midst of hard trials, who feel their faith may be fading under the onslaught of troubles. Trouble itself can be your way to strengthen and finally gain unshakable faith.

He assures us that when trials come, we can rely on our faith to see us through them.  The work you have done to build a foundation of faith will be able to be relied upon in your moments of trial.

• When hard trials come, the faith to endure them well will be there, built as you may now notice but may have not at the time that you acted on the pure love of Christ, serving and forgiving others as the Savior would have done. You built a foundation of faith from loving as the Savior loved and serving for Him. Your faith in Him led to acts of charity that will bring you hope. It is never too late to strengthen the foundation of faith. There is always time. With faith in the Savior, you can repent and plead for forgiveness. There is someone you can forgive. There is someone you can thank. There is someone you can serve and lift. You can do it wherever you are and however alone and deserted you may feel.
  

He shares a common observation about the time that it takes to get through some of our trials.

• One of the characteristics of trials in life is that they seem to make clocks slow down and then appear almost to stop.
  

He offers encouragement for us if we will recognize the Savior in this process.

• If we have faith in Jesus Christ, the hardest as well as the easiest times in life can be a blessing. In all conditions, we can choose the right with the guidance of the Spirit. We have the gospel of Jesus Christ to shape and guide our lives if we choose it.

Finally, he tell us that we never have to feel like we need to endure through our trials alone.  The Savior is always there for us to help us along the path of life.

• We never need to feel that we are alone or unloved in the Lord’s service because we never are.
  

It seems that trials are something I know a lot about lately.  Work, Family, Children, have all had issues in the past couple weeks for me.  I have seen the trials come quickly and seem to pile on top of me especially in recent weeks.  Although I have tried to ask the Lord about what I need to learn from these trials, I have been able to see more about what I need to do to improve my faith that the Lord has an ultimate plan for us.  We can't choose the consequences of our sins and mistakes, and sometimes those results are completely out of our hands, but we can choose to not lose our relationship with the Savior as these trials occur.  Constantly asking for His strength, guidance, and support throughout our everyday trials will increase our faith that there really is an ultimate plan in life for each of us to find lasting joy.  I am grateful that the Savior believes I can be sent trials to build me into a better person.  I appreciate the faith He has in me that I will be able to endure those trials and continue to follow Him in faith.