Trials: Then What?

In a meeting I attended via Zoom yesterday, Elder Suarez said that we were going to talk about trials.  People had sent in a lot of questions on how to endure trials and not just endure them, but endure them in such a way that our faith and the faith of those around us are strengthened.  He began by talking about preparedness and how if we are prepared we wouldn't fear (Doctrine & Covenants 38:30).

Today, as I thought about this I wondered what happens if we have a trial that feels like it has caught us completely unaware.  It seems to come out of left field, and hit us like a ton of bricks.  We do not feel prepared.  And, we might be afraid.  Is it too late then to endure that trial well?

I do not think so.  Even if we have tried our whole lives to prepare for every eventuality, we are human, and we really can't succeed completely.  It will help for sure, but some trials are just going to catch us unaware and feeling unprepared.  Sometimes I think we are going to experience fear.  But then what?  I think that is the most important thing.  Then what?

Always the Lord is waiting for us to turn to Him. Always He is wanting to help us.  Sometimes in those trials we feel so unprepared for and are afraid of, we are going to need to choose to hope.  We are going to need to choose to believe Christ when we fail to see Him or feel Him near.  We are going to need to search out gratitude, and hang on to the grace given by Him and by the people near to us.  And the more we do this, the more we will have faith in Christ, and the stronger that faith will be.  The stronger our faith is, the more our fear will fade.

I think we need to know that if we are afraid, we are not bad, and we can work on preparedness in the midst of fear and trials.  It is just important that we turn to Christ and not away from Him and that we do not give up.  He loves us and He will not give up on us!