Necessities of Life

"Hope ya know, we had a hard time!" by Elder Quentin L. Cook given last October was one of my favorite conference addresses. Elder Cook describes a trip with his two youngest sons. The fair weather they had been driving through without warning developed into a monstrous snowstorm. None of the drivers were prepared for what they were about to experience. Elder Cook and his sons had no warm clothing and were low on fuel. Eventually a tow truck pulled them to a service station were they were able to call home. The youngest boy with a quivering voice told his mother, “Hope ya know, we had a hard time!”

Elder Cook states, "I could tell, as our three-year-old talked to his mother and told her of the hard time, he gained comfort and then reassurance. Our prayers are that way when we go to our Father in Heaven. We know He cares for us in our time of need.

...Many of the trials and hardships we encounter in life are severe and appear to have lasting consequences. Each of us will experience some of these during the vicissitudes of life.

This life is not always easy, nor was it meant to be; it is a time of testing and proving. As we read in Abraham, “And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them.” (Abr. 3:25) Elder Harold B. Lee taught, “Sometimes the things that are best for us and the things that bring eternal rewards seem at the moment to be the most bitter, and the things forbidden are ofttimes the things which seem to be the more desirable.” (Harold B. Lee, The Fall of Man (address delivered at a meeting for seminary and institute teachers, June 23, 1954)).

The challenges we face today are in their own way comparable to challenges of the past. The recent economic crisis has caused significant concern throughout the world. Employment and financial problems are not unusual. Many people have physical and mental health challenges. Others deal with marital problems or wayward children. Some have lost loved ones. Addictions and inappropriate or harmful propensities cause heartache. Whatever the source of the trials, they cause significant pain and suffering for individuals and those who love them.

We know from the scriptures that some trials are for our good and are suited for our own personal development. (D&C 122:7) We also know that the rain falls on the just and the unjust. (Matt 5:45) It is also true that every cloud we see doesn’t result in rain. Regardless of the challenges, trials, and hardships we endure, the reassuring doctrine of the Atonement wrought by Jesus Christ includes Alma’s teaching that the Savior would take upon Him our infirmities and “succor his people according to their infirmities.” (Alma 7:12)

One of the great blessings of the scriptures is that they warn us of challenges that are unexpected but often occur. We would do well to be prepared for them. One form of preparation is to keep the commandments.

In numerous places in the Book of Mormon, the people were promised that they would prosper in the land if they would keep the commandments. (2 Ne 4:4) This promise is often accompanied by the warning that if they do not keep the commandments of God, they shall be cut off from His presence. (Alma 36:30) Clearly, having the blessings of the Spirit—the ministration of the Holy Ghost—is an essential element to truly prosper in the land and to be prepared.

Regardless of our trials, with the abundance we have today, we would be ungrateful if we did not appreciate our blessings. Despite the obvious nature of the hardships the pioneers were experiencing, President Brigham Young talked about the significance of gratitude. He stated, “I do not know of any, excepting the unpardonable sin, that is greater than the sin of ingratitude.” (Teachings: Brigham Young, 177.)

Our foremost gratitude should be for the Savior and His Atonement. We are aware that there are many experiencing trials and hardships of such intensity that the underlying feeling in their hearts as they approach our Father in Heaven in prayer is “Hope ya know, I’m having a hard time.”

“Through this trial, I have felt the love of my Father in Heaven and my Savior in greater abundance than I had ever felt before. There is no grief, no pain, no sickness so great that the Atonement of Christ and the love of Christ cannot heal.” (Ellen Yates, personal account delivered at the Grantsville Utah Stake conference, Saturday evening session, Feb. 16, 2008.)

Think of the Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane during the Atonement process, suffering agony so great that He bled from every pore. (D&C 19:18) His cry to His Father included the word Abba. (Mark 14:36) This might be interpreted as the cry of a son who is in distress to his father: “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” (Matt 26:39) I testify that the Atonement of Jesus Christ covers all of the trials and hardships that any of us will encounter in this life.

At times when we may feel to say, “Hope you know, I had a hard time,” we can be assured that He is there and we are safe in His loving arms.

When our beloved prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, was asked on his birthday this past August what would be the ideal gift that members worldwide could give him, he said without a moment’s hesitation, “Find someone who is having a hard time, … and do something for them.” (Thomas S. Monson, quoted in Gerry Avant, “Prophet’s Birthday: Milestone of 81,” Church News, Aug. 23, 2008, 4.)

I, with you, am eternally grateful to Jesus Christ, the rescuer of mankind. I bear witness that He is the Savior and Redeemer of the world. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

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