Patiently Enduring

 

The Refining Fire of Affliction

By Elder D. Todd Christofferson

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

With divine help, ultimately consolation replaces pain, peace replaces turmoil, and hope replaces sorrow. God will convert trial into blessing and, in Isaiah’s words, “give … beauty for ashes” (Isaiah 61:3). His promise is not to spare us the conflict but to preserve and console us in our afflictions and to consecrate them for our gain (see 2 Nephi 2:2; 4:19–26; Jacob 3:1)....

Patiently Enduring

These and other examples show us that adversity is typically overcome over time. There is a need for enduring and persevering. Still, our Heavenly Father watches over and helps us throughout the course of that enduring—He does not wait until the end.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell (1926–2004) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles once observed: “By itself, of course, the passage of time does not bring an automatic advance. Yet, like the prodigal son, we often need the ‘process of time’ in order to come to our spiritual senses. (Luke 15:17.) The touching reunion of Jacob and Esau in the desert, so many years after their sibling rivalry, is a classic example. Generosity can replace animosity. Reflection can bring perception. But reflection and introspection require time. So many spiritual outcomes require saving truths to be mixed with time, forming the elixir of experience, that sovereign remedy for so many things.” ⁴

President M. Russell Ballard, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, stated:

“Waiting upon the Lord does not imply biding one’s time. You should never feel like you are in a waiting room.

“Waiting upon the Lord implies action. I have learned over the years that our hope in Christ increases when we serve others. …

I pray that each of us will draw close to our Heavenly Father and Savior through our personal adversity. At the same time, may we learn to minister to others in their adversity according to God’s pattern. It was through “suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind” that the Savior came to “know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities” (Alma 7:11–12). As for us, “when, for the moment, we ourselves are not being stretched on a particular cross, we ought to be at the foot of someone else’s—full of empathy and proffering spiritual refreshment.”