Father and Mother Smith experienced personal setbacks, forcing them to move their family numerous times before finally giving up on New England and making the courageous decision to move farther west, to New York State.
President M. Russell Ballard, “Shall We Not Go On in So Great a Cause”
As we so often see in the scriptures, (and in life), adversity helped the Smith Family end up in the location they needed to be. What inspiration and direction did they receive in dealing with their challenges and in deciding where to go?
In a talk entitled, “Irony: The Crust on the Bread of Adversity” Neal A. Maxwell said, “Irony is the hard crust on the bread of adversity. Irony can try both our faith and our patience. Irony can be a particularly bitter form of such chastening because it involves disturbing incongruity. It involves outcomes in violation of our expectations. We see the best laid plans laid waste…
“Amid life’s varied ironies, you and I may begin to wonder, Did not God notice this torturous turn of events? And if He noticed, why did He permit it? Am I not valued?
“Our planning itself often assumes that our destiny is largely in our own hands. Then come intruding events, first elbowing aside, then evicting what was anticipated and even earned. Hence, we can be offended by events as well as by people.”
When have you felt that bit of irony and wondered where God was? Have you yet been able to look back and see why that experience was necessary, to understand where God was trying to bring you and what He was trying to help you become?
