If God is truly a loving, all-knowing, and all-powerful being, how can he possibly allow so much suffering? The Mormon answer to this question is complex and will perhaps be dissatisfying to some, but it may nonetheless provide valuable insight to those undergoing difficult times.

Mormons generally believe that no suffering is completely without meaning or purpose. Like a parent who takes his or her child to the doctor for shots, God allows us to endure fear, uncertainty, pain, discomfort, and hardship for our ultimate good. Our trials are designed to help us—and others within our sphere of influence—to grow, whether such growth is physical, mental, or spiritual in nature.

Some trials are inflicted upon us by the choices of others or ourselves. Some come by accident. According to Mormon teachings, God gives each person the gift of free will (see Choices & Freedom). God so values this gift that he will not generally remove the natural consequences of anyone’s actions, even if such consequences may cause intense suffering.

Whether trials come on their own or as the result of choices, we are encouraged to endure our trials well. The blessings of exaltation and eternal life await all who do.

Oh, how I suffered of cold and hunger and the keenest of all was to hear my little ones crying for bread, and I had none to give them; but in all the Lord was with us and gave us grace and faith to stand it all.

—Jane Elizabeth Manning James (1822–1908)

Trials and tribulations tend to squeeze the artificiality out of us, leaving the essence of what we really are and clarifying what we really yearn for.

—Neal A. Maxwell (1926–2004)

We have got to be tried and proved in all things so that we may stand or fall.

—Ann Marsh Abbott (1797–1849)

I don’t believe that faith means God will remove all tragedies from our path or solve all of our problems for us. I believe it means that he will be with us, suffering with us and grieving with us and working with us as we deal with our own tragedies and work our way through our problems.

—Chieko N. Okazaki (1926–2011)

At such times when we feel the floods are threatening to drown us and the deep is going to swallow up the tossed vessel of our faith, I pray we may always hear amid the storm and the darkness that sweet utterance of the Savior of the world: “Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid” (Matt. 14:27).

—Howard W. Hunter (1907–1995)

To never doubt that [Heavenly Father] guides the details of our lives, to be able in life’s conflict to say “Thy will be done,” is the attaining of the ability to walk by faith. This ability is something that each soul must find in his own way through the creative living out of any and all trying experiences that may come along.

—Stella Harris Oaks (1906–1980)

Peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; and then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high.

—Doctrine & Covenants 121:7–8

While we sometimes feel, and have felt in days that are past and gone, to complain because we meet with oppression, persecution, and affliction, yet I wish to say to my brethren and sisters that these things are the heritage of the Saints of God. . . . I have never read of the people of God in any dispensation passing through life, as the sectarian world would say, on flowery beds of ease, without opposition of any kind.

—Wilford Woodruff (1807–1898)

Adversity is an important part of the preparation for at least three reasons. One, God knows whom he can trust and who, like Job, will stand firm and love him unconditionally. Second, adversity well handled can increase our understanding and compassion. And we will be more effective in helping others when we’ve had a few challenges of our own. We just may need to be an answer to somebody else’s prayer. And third, we draw closer to our Heavenly Father when we are in deep need. Our prayers of thanksgiving and joy of course should be part, and are a part, of our worship, but I guess there isn’t anybody here who won’t admit that we pray more fervently when we’re under the press of problems. Attitude in adversity turns hopeless to hopeful.

—Elaine A. Cannon (1922–2003)

Why face life’s burdens alone, Christ asks, or why face them with temporal support that will quickly falter? To the heavy laden it is Christ’s yoke, it is the power and peace of standing side by side with a God that will provide the support, balance, and the strength to meet our challenges and endure our tasks here in the hardpan field of mortality.

—Howard W. Hunter (1907–1995)

Adversity is frequently a call to do something great with our lives.

—Chieko N. Okazaki (1926–2011)

The Lord compensates the faithful for every loss. That which is taken away from those who love the Lord will be added unto them in his own way. While it may not come at the time we desire, the faithful will know that every tear today will eventually be returned a hundredfold with tears of rejoicing and gratitude.

—Joseph B. Wirthlin (1917–2008)

We are here that we may be educated in a school of suffering and of fiery trials, which school was necessary for Jesus our elder brother, who, the scriptures tell us, was made perfect through suffering. It is necessary we suffer in all things, that we may be qualified and worthy to rule and govern all things, even as our Father in heaven and his eldest son Jesus.

—Lorenzo Snow (1814–1901)

All experience is for our good because we learn in no other way.

—Chieko N. Okazaki (1926–2011)

Every trial a man goes through, if he is faithful in that trial and does honor to God and his religion he has espoused, at the end of that trial or affliction that individual is nearer to God, nearer in regard to the increase of faith, wisdom, knowledge, and power, and hence is more confident in calling upon the Lord for those things he desires.

—Lorenzo Snow (1814–1901)

May we be strengthened with the understanding that being blessed does not mean that we shall always be spared all the disappointments and difficulties of life.

—Heber J. Grant (1856–1945)

The loss of my beloved husband is the hardest thing that has ever happened to me. I am a triple cancer survivor. I have been near death three times from other causes. Those were testing times. Sometimes I thought I had been tested to the point of breaking. But none of them compares with the testing following Ed’s death. There have been times when I literally could not turn the doorknob and leave the house without praying for strength and imploring the Lord for his Spirit to accompany me as I went out to perform my duties.

—Chieko N. Okazaki (1926–2011)

Never is the gospel of Jesus Christ more beautiful than in times of intense need, or in times of a severe storm within us as individuals, or in times of confusion and turmoil.

—Harold B. Lee (1899–1973)

Unfortunately, some of our greatest tribulations are the result of our own foolishness and weakness and occur because of our own carelessness or transgression.

—James E. Faust (1920–2007)

And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.

—Doctrine & Covenants 122:7

Just as a floodlighted temple is more beautiful in a severe storm or in a heavy fog, so the gospel of Jesus Christ is more glorious in times of inward storm and of personal sorrow and tormenting conflict.

—Harold B. Lee (1899–1973)

It is well that we remember that the trials, difficulties, and experiences of life all have purpose. There came to me on the occasion of a year in my life to be remembered when the lovely sisters of our Relief Society wrote this as a prayer in my behalf. It was entitled “May You Have”:

Enough happiness to keep you sweet,

Enough trials to keep you strong,

Enough sorrow to keep you human,

Enough hope to keep you happy,

Enough failure to keep you humble,

Enough success to keep you eager,

Enough wealth to meet your needs,

Enough enthusiasm to look forward,

Enough friends to give you comfort,

Enough faith to banish depression,

Enough determination to make each day better than yesterday.

This is my prayer for the faithful Saints in every land and throughout the world as we look forward to the future with courage and with fortitude.

—Harold B. Lee (1899–1973)

Just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition—such as lifting weights—we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity.

—Stephen R. Covey (1932–2012)

If there were no night, we would not appreciate the day, nor could we see the stars and the vastness of the heavens. We must partake of the bitter with the sweet. There is a divine purpose in the adversities we encounter every day. They prepare, they purge, they purify, and thus they bless.

—James E. Faust (1920–2007)

All of us must face death—our own deaths and the deaths of loved ones. I feel that I am learning something about the way of the disciple that leads through the valley of the shadow of death, but even there—even there—I know I am following the Savior, and I can feel his hand upholding me and his voice promising me, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5).

—Chieko N. Okazaki (1926–2011)

All your losses will be made up to you in the resurrection, provided you continue faithful. By the vision of the Almighty I have seen it.

—Joseph Smith (1805–1844)

All of us suffer some injuries from experiences that seem to have no rhyme or reason. We cannot understand or explain them. We may never know why some things happen in this life. The reason for some of our suffering is known only to the Lord.

—James E. Faust (1920–2007)

For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, . . . righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility.

—Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 2:11