One of my friends recently posed this question: “What is the role of adversity in Heavenly Father’s plan?”

Here are some of my thoughts on this question. I hope you’ll share your thoughts and experiences on the role adversity has played in your life, too.

Adversity is part of Heavenly Father’s plan to try our patience and our faith (see Mosiah 23:21) “to see if [we] will do all things whatsoever the Lord [our] God shall command”  (Abraham 3:25). Peter encourages all those who experience fiery trials and suffering to “commit the keeping of their souls” to God trusting that He is “the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, [and] after that ye have suffered a while, [He will] make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you” (1 Peter 4:19, 5:10). Trials and suffering are part of Heavenly Father’s plan to strengthen us, to support us, to establish us on a firm foundation, and to make us fit for His kingdom and glory.

President Henry B. Eyring described how to build an unshakeable foundation so that we can weather adversity in his talk, “Mountains to Climb.” He reminded us that “in Their perfect love for you, Heavenly Father and the Savior want you fitted to be with Them to live in families forever.” He shared that his mother fought cancer for ten years. Of her trials and suffering, President Spencer W. Kimball said at her funeral: “Some of you may have thought that Mildred suffered so long and so much because of something she had done wrong that required the trials….No, it was that God just wanted her to be polished a little more.” As we climb over boulders, make our way out of pits, and scale over cliffs, we learn to rely more on our Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ, for help and support. By drawing closer to Them in the depths of our despair and difficulties, we feel of Their love which increases our faith in Them and Their plan for our happiness and salvation.

The process of fitting us for the kingdom involves turning our weaknesses into strengths as we endure trials and overcome adversity. The Lord gives us weaknesses to humble us. When we are humble, we turn to the Lord and ask for His help. Through the grace of Christ’s Atonement, our weaknesses are made strong and we are strengthened to endure and overcome our hardships. As we experience the Lord’s mercy, we feel His love and hope for something better. Our increased faith and hope in God’s power and promises enable us to feel His love and charity for us. As we feel His love for us and see the promises for a better world that He extends to us, we feel His love for all of His children and our charity for others increases, our actions become more kind, and ultimately we become more like our Savior and more fit for His kingdom.

Our weaknesses may be physical, mental, or spiritual. Because of our weaknesses, we are not perfect, we are not whole in body or spirit. Therefore, we make mistakes, we succumb to temptation, we are tried, we suffer, and we sorrow. These stumblings and sufferings humble us. They help us realize that we can’t become whole or fix things on our own. In our weakness and humility, we turn to God and ask for His help. This is the purpose of our adversity, to bring us to God. When we use our agency to freely come to God and ask for His assistance, He is able to succor us, strengthen us, and stabilize us through the mercy and grace of Christ’s Atonement (see Ether 12:27). Climbing our mountains of adversity with the help of God, polishes our souls and turns our weaknesses into our strengths.

Elder Neil L. Andersen, in his recent address “Trial of Your Faith,” cautioned that “These fiery trials are designed to make you stronger, but they have the potential to diminish or even destroy your trust in the Son of God and to weaken your resolve to keep your promises to Him. These trials are often camouflaged, making them difficult to identify. They take root in our weaknesses, our vulnerabilities, our sensitivities, or in those things that matter most to us.” It is important to remember the Lord gives us weaknesses to make us stronger and to bring us closer to Him. He wants us to succeed and He wants to help us, but He has given us our agency and we must use it to ask for His help. As we exercise our faith in Him, we hope in His promised blessings and remember His great love for us, even His charity of giving the world His Only Begotten Son that we might be redeemed and ransomed from our trials and afflictions (see Ether 12:28, 36-37 and John 3:16-17).

I think Elder D. Todd Christofferson explained beautifully how adversity helped him draw closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. “Though I suffered then, as I look back now, I am grateful that there was not a quick solution to my problem. The fact that I was forced to turn to God for help almost daily over an extended period of years taught me truly how to pray and get answers to prayer and taught me in a very practical way to have faith in God. I came to know my Savior and my Heavenly Father in a way and to a degree that might not have happened otherwise or that might have taken me much longer to achieve….I learned to trust in the Lord with all my heart. I learned to walk with Him day by day.”

When I am beset by adversity, I sometimes feel like I am standing at the bottom of an overhang, alone, in the cold and the wind and I have no idea how I am going to climb over this cliff so I can get on with my journey. I am annoyed that this roadblock is in my path. I didn’t see it coming. I am angry, confused, and bitter. I feel very alone. It is in this dark, cold, lonely place that I humble myself and turn to God to ask for His help. His words wash over and over me trying to calm my soul “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6). Not only does He direct my path He walks with me. Whether it involves scaling over the cliff or retracing my steps and finding a new path, my Lord doesn’t leave me alone. And as I hear His words in my mind, see a single flower bursting forth out of the barren cliff, or feel the warmth of the sun as my hand reaches over the cliff, I know that He loves me and won’t ever leave me alone. I know that He has good things in store for me and that He wants to help me climb higher and achieve greater things (see Joshua 23:8,11,14).

President George Q. Cannon said: “No matter how serious the trial, how deep the distress, how great the affliction, [God] will never desert us. He never has, and He never will. He cannot do it. It is not His character. He is an unchangeable being; the same yesterday, the same today, and He will be the same throughout the eternal ages to come. We have found that God. We have made Him our friend, by obeying His Gospel; and He will stand by us. We may pass through the fiery furnace; we may pass through deep waters; but we shall not be consumed nor overwhelmed. We shall emerge from all these trials and difficulties the better and purer for them, if we only trust in our God and keep His commandments.” And so the choice is ours when we are in the midst of affliction, will we try to find our way alone? who will we turn to for help? will we cleave unto our God and walk with Him? If we do, we will reach the tops of all our mountains.