Hebrews 11:40

We read in Doctrine and Covenants section 122, "all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good."

When things in life are good, i use the analogy of looking for a job. You can't expect to become the executive of a huge worldwide company, if you have absolutely no experience at all, right? When you go through your interview and you are asked to explain why you deserve the job, you will have no examples or experiences to prove you know what you're doing and deserve the job. Likewise, how will we prove to Heavenly Father that we are ready to become like him, if we have absolutely no experience? Christ came to earth to learn how to succor his people. He didn't NEED the experience, as Elder Maxwell said. He could've used the Spirit and revelation to know how to help us. But he chose to come here and gain experience, to know for himself, the best way to help us, in our fallen state.

Now, when things are going bad in my life, and I'm in the eye of the storm, being tossed about every which way, it's hard to look at that scripture in the same light. All i can think is, "i don't WANT any experience! There has to be some, other way. This is so miserable. I can't see any way that this specific experience is going to make me a better person."

In a talk given by Elder Richard G. Scott called "Trust in the Lord" he says:

"No one wants adversity. Trials, disappointments, sadness and heartache come to us from two basically different sources. Those who transgress the laws of God will always have those challenges. The other reason for adversity is to accomplish the Lord's own purposes in our life that we may receive the refinement that comes from testing. It is vitally important for each of us to identify from which of these two sources come our trials and challenges for the corrective action is very diffrent.

"Just when all seems to be going right, challenges often come in multiple doses applied simultaneously. When those trials are not consequences of your disobedience, they are evidence that the Lord feels you are prepared to grow more. He therefore gives you experiences that stimulate growth, understanding, and compassion which polish you for your everlasting benefit. To get you from where you are to where He wants you to be requires alot of stretching, and that generally entails discomfort and pain."

I have experienced this in my own life. I often use the phrase, "when it rains, it pours", because, it seems, just like Elder Scott says, that trials usually come in packages which are harder to handle vs. if they came slowly, one at a time, where we might more easily handle them. Why DO they come in "multiple doses", "simultaneously"?

The only reason i can think of is so we will have to rely on the Lord to get through them. If they came one at a time, we might think we could easily handle them on our own, without His help. But that won't help us grow. A wise Heavenly Father knows this. And it especially won't help us to become more like Him, which is why we're here.

In Hebrews 11:40, in the Joseph Smith Translation at the bottom we read:

"God having provided some better things for them through their suffereings, for without sufferings, they could not be made perfect."

I know this principle is true. I have experienced it, in my own life. Because of some personal storms, i chose to hold tighter to the things i know and trust that Heavenly Father knows what is going on and loves me so much that He has an individual plan of happiness, for me. I will admit, it was hard at times, and still is, but that's what faith and hope is.

"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

Hebrews 11:6

"For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it."

Romans 8:24-25

I know God loves us. I know he's made a plan for our happiness. That plan includes trials. But through those trials, sometimes referred to as the "Refiner's fire", we can gain experience and become more like Him. And in the end, receive a fullness of joy. "For without sufferings, we cannot be made perfect."