If nothing ever tested our faith or our resolve of our convictions, ( Because we really do not know what we believe in or what we believe, until we are tested)then what are our chances we would progress far enough spiritually in this lone and dreary world? Whether we like it or not, our trials and struggles can tend to accelerate our push toward Godliness. This life was destined to be a test, a test to determine if we want to be part of the kingdom of God more than we want anything else. Mortality offers a wide range of experiences and opportunities; everything from countless ways to serve our fellowman to an endless array of distraction, deceptions and modes of self gratification. Prophet Joseph Smith said " A Religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation." Our mortal experience is designed to test what we really want to become and how we really feel about our Father and His Son. We don't really know what we believe in or care about until what we believe in or care about is threatened, challenged, or measured. President Boyd K Packer said " These are the days of great spiritual danger....the world is spiraling downward at an ever quickening pace. I am sorry to tell you it will NOT get better. I know of nothing in the history of the church or in the history of the world to compare with our present circumstances. Nothing happened in Sodom and Gomorrah which exceeds the wickedness and depravity which surrounds us now" Evil breeds evil. Anytime Lucifer convinces a man or woman or most horrifying a society- that unrighteous behavior is normal, he has made inroads that are difficult to combat and almost impossible to reverse. How can we ensure that though life is meant to be vigorous, we do what we came here to do and live up to who we are as Latter Day men and women of God? There is only one answer: By living the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that is possibly only if we obtain a personal witness of Jesus Christ and his Atonement and Crucifixion. When we obtain for ourselves a witness that Jesus is the Christ, that His gospel has been restored to the earth, that His prophet leads and guides His church, and that all of the power and ordinances necessary to purify, sanctify, and exalt us here on the earth today, there can be no turning back. As our understanding of what the Father has promised us and what the Savior did for us increases, our love for them increases so much that we are willing to do whatever they ask us to do. Imagine-all that the Father has is potentially our ALL!!! Nothing held back. We have the potential of being joint heirs with Christ. It's difficult not to wonder- at least when seeing through a mortal Len's-how much an exquisite, ultimate reward can possibly be fair, considering what He did for us. If life were easy, we would have nothing to show for our time here. President Boyd K Packer "Life will not be free from challenges, some of them bitter and hard to bear. We may wish to be spared all the trials of life, but that would be contrary to the great plan of happiness. 'for it must needs be that there is opposition in all thing'-(2 Nephi 2:11) this testing is the source of our strength. While we have been assigned to take the test of mortality during the most spiritually rigorous and demanding time in the world's history, we have not been Left alone. We have the gift and power of saving ordinances that bind us to each other and to the Lord. (D&C 68:6) The answer to meeting life's challenges head on is and always will be having a personal witness that Jesus is the Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, our elder brother who when called upon premortaly said "Here am I, Send me" and who then fulfilled His atoning mission perfectly and completely. These are time that try mens souls, meaning we are living in the roughest of tough day. President Gordon B Hinckley said " All of us have problems, we face them everyday. How grateful I am that we have difficult things to wrestles with. They keep us young. If that is possible they keep us alive, they keep us going, they keep us humble, they pull us down to our knees to ask God of Heaven for help in solving them. Be grateful for your problems, and know that there will come a solution" Just do do the best you can, but be sure it is the very best. Then leave it in the hands of the Lord. Even during those days when the challenges in front of us seem more intense and demanding than we have the copacity to handle, a personal testimony of Christ and an understanding of the power that lies within His gospel will make it possible for us to do our very best.
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