Suffering can humble you and open you to the influence of God’s Spirit. Through your own afflictions you can learn compassion. Through the afflictions of others you can learn to truly serve.

No wonder that God says, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten” (Revelation 3:19). At times, He blesses and perfects us through experiences that try our souls.

As the Lord told Joseph Smith during a period of intense suffering: “Know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good. The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?” (Doctrine and Covenants 122:7–8).

What would you like to do next?