When a trial gets thrown my way, I immediately start to think, “What am I supposed to learn from this?”
There’s a part of me that thinks if I learn my lessons quickly enough, then the trial might end sooner.
But sometimes… the trial is just the worst.
It’s heavy. It’s no fun. There’s no end in sight.
And I can’t find even a shred of a lesson to be learned anywhere.
Except… just endure.
Several years ago, I endured a few months of a severe trial.
It was kicking my booty.
And then, the trial was over.
I felt so much better, lighter, more free…
But I still didn’t know what lesson I was supposed to learn from it.
I thought I would get clarity afterwards. But the trial just seemed dark still, even looking back.
Hmmmm. Maybe there wasn’t a lesson to learn other than that life is just hard sometimes.
One day, a friend called me and told me about her latest trial.
It was exactly what I had experienced.
I turned into full-on empathy mode. I told her to complain to me. I constantly checked in with her.
I told her that I knew this was the worst, and that there wasn’t much that was going to make it better and that I was so sorry.
And then I heard about someone else I didn’t know super well who was going through the same trial.
It felt a little awkward at first, but I knew I needed to reach out and lend an understanding listening ear.
Finally one evening, I reflected.
What if THAT was the blessing?
What if the blessing of my trial was the empathy that I gained for others? For the future acts of service I could perform because I perfectly understood how crushing it was to endure?
The Lord taught in D&C 103:12: “For after much tribulation… cometh the blessing.”
Sometimes the blessings are evident during the trial. Sometimes they are evident right afterwards.
But sometimes… sometimes it’s not until after.
Long after.
That we begin to see what the blessing might have been.
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black
