Navigating Mortal Trials with Faith - 26 July 2022

I share today a principle that has recently blessed my life in hopes that it can encourage and inspire others facing challenges.

One of Satan’s greatest tactics to get us to veer off the side of the path we should follow is to overemphasize a virtue or truth until it is taken out of the context of its counterparts. In contrast, the way that Christ showed us is nearly always the middle-of-the-road position between two extremes. For example:

We need to “work out [our] salvation with fear before God” (Alma 34:37), but we also need to remember that God is merciful and that “it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23).

We ought to keep in mind that we need to “be diligent, that thereby [we] might win the prize,” but “it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength” (Mosiah 4:27).

We should be “temperate in all things” (Alma 38:10). We should “use boldness, but not overbearance” (Alma 38:10-12). We should “let [our] light so shine before this people” (3 Nephi 12:16), but also “take heed that [we] do not [our] alms before men to be seen of them” (3 Nephi 13:1).

The way that Christ walked and the way that He taught was always a balance between two extremes.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

After years of ignoring or dismissing unfair and unfortunate circumstances that people have faced, much progress has been made in recent years to acknowledge the diversity of challenges and conditions that we experience in life. But I worry that collectively, we are in danger of swinging too far across the pendulum. In our efforts to acknowledge and empathize with the difficult experiences of others, we sometimes overfocus on and overemphasize these challenges and conditions to the point where labels not only describe and define us but restrict and confine us–to the detriment and “spiritual suffocation” of those involved.

For example, more needs to be done to raise awareness of and empathy toward those who experience real and crippling mental and other health challenges. The same principles apply to those who experience unfortunate life events or unfavorable life circumstances. We need to do better at being sensitive and helpful rather than dismissive of such conditions.

But I have observed and personally experienced that over adopting and over focusing on these labels–letting them loom large in the way we view others or ourselves–can lead to weakened faith in Christ’s power to “make weak things become strong” (Ether 12:27) and to make us “more than conquerors” (Romans 8:37). If we are not careful and let our adversary have his way, we can forget, dismiss, or ignore important counterpart principles. Realistically acknowledging challenges must be coupled with optimistically exercising faith in Christ to endure or overcome our challenges. High love, compassion, and empathy for others who struggle must be balanced with high expectations–believing in others and in Christ enough to help others to reach their highest potential given the circumstances they are in.

As I have faced challenges in life, I have found greater happiness and success–literally finding strength beyond my own to either move or overcome spiritual mountains–when I have focused on acting in faith and trusting in these promises:

“Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him? Wherefore, let us be faithful to him” (1 Nephi 7:12).

“Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth” (Mormon 9:21).

“For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith” (Ether 12:12).

“I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them” (Ether 12:27)

“And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me” (Moroni 7:33)

“I would exhort you that ye deny not the power of God; for he worketh by power, according to the faith of the children of men, the same today and tomorrow, and forever” (Moroni 10:7).

“And Christ truly said unto our fathers: If ye have faith ye can do all things which are expedient unto me” (Moroni 10:23).

“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13).

I testify that Christ lives and that He has ALL power. I have seen that power manifest in my life. Having faith in Christ does not mean that we won’t have challenges or that we will be able to overcome them according to our own timetables, but it does mean that we can and should thrive and even find joy in the midst of them–until they are one day removed. Like Alma, “I have been supported under trials and troubles of every kind… and I do put my trust in him, and he will still deliver me” (Alma 36:27).