Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Trials and Tribulations: Coming Forth as Gold

Job 23:10- But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

     The subject of "hard things" is one that means a lot to me and that I feel very strongly about. I've gone through trials, as I know that everyone has, and I learned a lot while I was enduring them. I'm just going to share what I learned, in hope that some of you will take something away from it.

     When I was thirteen, my little sister died. I'm sure that all of you reading this already knew that. It was very sudden, and this was a very hard trial for me, but I think that I was able to stay strong and endure it well. How? Ha... I'm not totally sure!

     Hard things... are hard. (I know what you're thinking... that last statement took a lot of brains! (:  )
But seriously. It's easy to say that you will be strong and lean on the Lord during trials... but would you really? The answer is yes. I'm pretty sure that all of you would... and all of you probably have before.

    One thing that I discovered was that you go into a sort of survival mode. You just sort of drift through and don't let things affect you. Eventually though, things start to sink in. When that happened, I was strong because I didn't have a choice not to be.  

I had to be strong.
I had to lean on others.
 had to hang in there.
If I didn't, then that trial would've broken me.

     I learned so many things from this experience.
    
     People are good. Like, so good. Now I always knew that there were good people in this world. but I think that often, it is the bad things that people do that are spotlighted. One thing that I witnessed during this trial was the goodness of the human spirit. When people are going through a hard thing, make sure that you reach out to them. It really does mean so much. NEVER FORGET! You were made to do good.

     I wasn't the only one. Sometimes when hard things happen, we feel as though we are the only one alive enduring such a thing. This is almost never true. I always knew that I had a loving Savior who had gone through everything that I was going through, but I fully realized during this experience that there were many other people, too.
        I learned to never feel sorry for myself. One day I was walking through the cemetery. I saw a headstone that had a whole family on it. A father and his three little girls had all died on the same day. The mother's name was carved too, but she had no death date. She endured losing her whole family. This humbled me to the moon and back. I had gained a new perspective, and I realized that I had it good.
I still had the rest of my family.
I still had a home, and neighbors, and friends.
I still had the gospel. I had knowledge, and still have knowledge, that many people don't have.

     I learned to give myself a break. My family and I could take as much time enduring our trial as we needed. I also learned that you don't have to see the bright side right away. It took me a while before I realized all of these things that I've been writing about.

     Most of all, I gained a new perspective. I honestly don't really remember what my testimony was like before that experience. I know that I had one, but after this trial of mine, it was strengthened a million fold. I had different things that I was striving for after this. Better things. I learned to be SO grateful for trials. SO grateful!
Now don't get me wrong... I wish more than anything that this hadn't happened. I'm just so grateful that when it did happen,  I was able to let that trial refine me, rather than define me.

   You can too. It can be a trial small or big, but IT WILL MAKE YOU STRONGER! God wants us to grow stronger. Trials are a very effective way to do this.


This is a wonderful video that reminds us that If we have faith and endure, all will be well.


To close, I want to share one more scripture.
 Isaiah 41:13- For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
You are never alone. Please don't give up.

No comments:

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...