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Adversity touches every life. Trials, sickness, disappointment, and heartache come to everyone at some point — but how a person responds to them can turn hardship into a source of real growth rather than lasting despair.
Where Adversity Comes From
Adversity doesn't have a single cause. It generally comes from one of a few sources:
Personal choices. Some trials come as a natural consequence of pride or disobedience. These can usually be avoided through righteous living, and if they've already happened, they can be resolved through correction and repentance.
The natural course of life. Sickness, aging, and the death of loved ones come to the righteous and unrighteous alike. These trials aren't a punishment — they're simply part of mortality.
Other people's choices. Adversity can come through others' unkind words or hurtful actions, entirely outside a person's control.
Divine tutoring. Some suffering comes through a loving Heavenly Father as a refining, teaching experience meant to help a person grow.
Two Ways to Respond
The Book of Mormon offers a striking contrast in how people respond to hardship. Nephi and his brothers were traveling in the wilderness, hunting for food with bows and arrows, when their bows broke.
Laman and Lemuel responded with complaint, and even their father Lehi began to murmur. Nephi took a different approach — he built a new bow and arrow, then asked his father where he should go to find food. Because of Nephi's example, Lehi turned to the Lord in prayer, and they were led to food (see 1 Nephi 16:15–31).
This story highlights two very different sets of questions people ask when adversity strikes:
Questions that trap: "Why does this have to happen to me? What have I done to deserve this?" These questions, asked repeatedly, can dominate a person's thoughts and drain the energy needed to move forward.
Questions that open a way forward: "What am I to do? What am I to learn? What do I need to change? Whom can I help? What blessings can I remember right now?"
Different Trials Call for Different Responses
Adversity isn't one-size-fits-all, and neither is the appropriate response:
• Those facing illness may simply need patience and faith.
• Those hurt by someone else's words or actions should work toward forgiveness.
• Anyone experiencing abuse should seek help immediately — not endure it quietly.
Those whose trials stem from their own disobedience should correct their behavior and humbly seek forgiveness.
Though the specific response changes with the circumstance, one thing stays constant: trust in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. As the prophet Alma taught:
"Whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day." — Alma 36:3
Trusting God Through Trials
Trusting God doesn't mean expecting Him to remove every trial immediately. Sometimes He allows a person to wait, so they can continue to learn and grow.
Because Jesus Christ experienced pain, temptation, and sorrow Himself, He is able to help those who turn to Him — He took upon Himself:
"...their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy... that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities." — Alma 7:11–12
The Lord also promised through the Prophet Joseph Smith that hardship, endured faithfully, leads somewhere good:
"He that is faithful in tribulation, the reward of the same is greater in the kingdom of heaven... For after much tribulation come the blessings." — Doctrine and Covenants 58:2–4
Finding Peace and Joy in the Midst of Adversity
Peace doesn't have to wait until a trial ends.
The Book of Mormon tells of a people suffering in bondage under a cruel ruler who cried out to God for help. The Lord answered them:
"I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage." — Mosiah 24:14
Because they responded with faith, "the burdens which were laid upon [them] were made light... and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord" (Mosiah 24:15).
The Lord makes a similar promise to anyone facing hardship today:
"All things wherewith you have been afflicted shall work together for your good, and to my name’s glory." — Doctrine and Covenants 98:3
The Bottom Line
Adversity is not a sign that something has gone wrong with a person's life — it's a universal part of it. What matters most is the response:
• Ask the right questions instead of the trapping ones.
• Match the response to the trial — patience, forgiveness, help-seeking, or repentance.
• Keep trust in God constant, even when the timeline isn't.
• Remember that peace is available during the trial, not just after it.
Faced with honesty, humility, and trust, adversity becomes one of the most meaningful teachers a person will ever have.
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