When the burdens on your back are overbearing, remember that our stumbling blocks are God’s gifted stepping stones.
Pandemic. Job loss. Family division. Controversy. Wars. Rumors of wars. We are all affected by the turmoil of the world right now, and it is scary. Some people shake their fists at the heavens in disappointment and anger, wondering why God would let these things happen to us.
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In D. Todd Christofferson’s talk “As Many as I Love, I Rebuke and Chasten,” he tells of a righteous man who, at a critical point in his career, was denied a promotion due to his religious affiliation. He had been working hard for this promotion, but to no avail. After venting his frustrations to God, the man was reminded by the Lord that the Lord’s ways are higher than our ways, even when we have no notion of what the Lord’s plan is.
I am numbered among the countless millions who have been impacted by the bombardment of strife in our time. I had to drop out of school for a while, work full-time at a job I hated, and look for more work until I could resume school. It was exhausting. However, I learned that while we can sometimes feel like we’ve been stumbling into obstacles at nearly every step on our path in life, Elder Christofferson reminds us that these obstacles are stepping stones, not stumbling blocks.
God tells us: “My people must be tried in all things, that they may be prepared to receive the glory that I have for them, even the glory of Zion; and he that will not bear chastisement is not worthy of my kingdom” (D&C 136:31). While we may wish to progress horizontally, God may want to help us climb vertically—this type of growth is challenging and uncomfortable, but worth it. We each have a divine potential, and the Lord, in his wisdom, gives us these trials to strengthen us and provide us opportunities to grow into our potential.
To learn more about trials and chastening, read the rest of D. Todd Christofferson’s talk entitled “As Many as I Love, I Rebuke and Chasten.”
Source: General Conference
—Kyme Lambson, Latter-day Saint Insights
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