faith is not faith if never tested

Faith is not faith if never tested. Faith is not strong if never opposed. So don’t despair if you have trials of faith or unanswered questions.

Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"Nourish the Roots, and the Branches Will Grow" General Conference October 2024

forget yourself and go to work

I was not well when I arrived. Those first few weeks, because of illness and the opposition which we felt, I was discouraged. I wrote a letter home to my good father and said that I felt I was wasting my time and his money. He was my father and my stake president, and he was a wise and inspired man. He wrote a very short letter to me which said, “Dear Gordon, I have your recent letter. I have only one suggestion: forget yourself and go to work.” Earlier that morning in our scripture class my companion and I had read these words of the Lord: “Whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.” (Mark 8:35.)

Those words of the Master, followed by my father’s letter with his counsel to forget myself and go to work, went into my very being. With my father’s letter in hand, I went into our bedroom in the house at 15 Wadham Road, where we lived, and got on my knees and made a pledge with the Lord. I covenanted that I would try to forget myself and lose myself in His service.

Gordon B. Hinckley

"Taking the Gospel to Britain: A Declaration of Vision, Faith, Courage, and Truth," by Gordon B. Hinckley. Ensign. July 1987. Adapted from a talk given at a BYU symposium on the 150th anniversary of the opening of the British Mission. As quoted in Not My Will, but Thine by Neal A. Maxwell. 2008. Deseret Book. p. 117, 118

chasten his people

We are also told that “the Lord in his great infinite goodness doth bless and prosper those who put their trust in him.” (Hel. 12:1.) However, it is the disposition of many men that when all things are done for them, they “harden their hearts, and do forget the Lord their God, and do trample under their feet the Holy One—yea, and this because of their ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity.

“And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, … they will not remember him.” (Hel. 12:2–3.)

It is a sobering thought that the purpose of having opposition in all things, trials and tribulations in our lives, commands a concern for the needy in order to humble us and draw us closer to the Lord our God and nearer to perfection.

Robert D. Hales, "Welfare Principles to Guide Our Lives: An Eternal Plan for the Welfare of Men’s Souls." General Conference April 1986.