Why Must We Endure Adversity?

Apr 2009 Issue

By John M Stuart, MSW
What were we thinking? This is the question of questions as we ponder why any one of us would have elected to come into this mortal experience. After all, life is difficult! If Heavenly Father is a God of love, why would he want us to endure any adversity?

In answering these perplexing questions, we need to take a more introspective look at what the Father of the Universe told Joseph Smith as he was enduring his own trials in Liberty Jail. He said, “all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good” (D&C 122:7).

As we come to know our Father in Heaven more intimately and understand His plan for us, we come to the awakening that this mortal journey is not a collection of random events but a series of soul-fortifying steps. As the Perfect Parent, He allows us to experience mortal setbacks so that we may know our divine identity with increased clarity.

Jesus Christ, the Creator of worlds, did not advocate a plan that he did not know intimately. His empathy and unwavering love for each one of us comes not from studying a celestial textbook on human behavior, filled only with hypothetical case histories; but by his willingness to immerse himself in mortal experience(s) of the most trying kind.

The Master’s counsel to Joseph Smith included the assurance that He descended below all things. Bleeding from every pore in Gethsemane as He compassionately took upon Himself all of our earthbound challenges made Him the only Being in the cosmos who could say, “I know what you’re going through”– and mean it!

The journey of the Master exemplifies the course that we too must travel to reach our ultimate potential. While his suffering in Gethsemane and on Calvary in a grand way represents our own adverse experiences in mortality, his resurrection shows us that we can and will rise above it all, inheriting all that the Father hath. We will one day realize that from an eternal perspective, our trials are really just training tools, propelling us forward, if we use them properly.

While the Savior knows and feels our sufferings, He also knows our greatness. Our loving Father allows us to fall down so we can learn how to get back up. Of course, getting to our feet requires His hand in all things as we develop our relationship with Him.

If we are thinking that life happens to us rather than for us, it’s time to lay our fears and uncertainties at His feet. He can show us how to perceive them differently. To a lost job, Christ says ‘your identity is in Me, not a job.’ To sickness, He says, ‘your identity is in Me, not in your infirmities.’

Does his assurance mean that we sit idly by waiting for a better tomorrow? While it is His work and glory to bring about the immortality and eternal life of man, this in no way infers happiness can only be found in the afterlife.

Surrendering our identity to Christ means that we come to see our potential as he sees it: limitless. Seeing and believing in our potential alone is not enough, we must behave as if we know it to be a reality. We come to know that every component in HIS GREAT PLAN, even the sufferings, are but tutorial nudges, moving closer to making the vision He holds for us the real deal.

Our “Liberty Jail” experiences are transformed into opportunities for growth, not incarceration. The great and spacious building with all of its material allurements becomes a shack when compared to the mansion built upon the rock of our Redeemer.

Thorns, thistles, briars and noxious weeds may cloud the journey of life, but when we learn to see God’s patient, tutoring hand in our trials, we will know exactly what we were thinking as we choose to participate in this vital stage of our eternal progression called mortality.

John Michael Stuart, MSW is a motivational speaker and author of the newly released book, Perfect Circles, Redefining Perfection. He also has worked as a Social Worker in both hospice and rehabilitative settings.
Since birth, John has lived with Cerebral Palsy, a neurological condition that has impaired his coordination. His book, Perfect Circles, Redefining Perfection can be purchased online at
ReadPerfectCircles.com and at Deseret Bookstores. John Stuart will be at the Henderson Deseret Book, 2651 Paseo Verde Pkwy, signing his book on April 18, 2009 from 1pm to 6pm.