Illuminated through trials.

Often I find myself trying to understand why life is so hard.  It feels like if I'm doing what is right I should be blessed for it, and I am, but that doesn't take away the trials in life.  I was taught the reason for this in my New Testament class this week.  My teacher showed us  Hebrews 10:32 Which says: "But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions;"  He explained that the whole book of Hebrews is a list of greater than statements.  The one in this scripture is persecution > ease. God loves me more than he loves my comfort. There is so much to learn from being tested and tried through our afflictions. The things that we learn cannot be learned through ease and Heavenly Father knows this.  Thus he loves me enough to let me be tried and to go through hard things.

If you are going through a trial.  Don't blame God.  He is showing you how much he loves you by letting you grow and learn by experiencing affliction.  We are "illuminated" by our trials.  I know that I have learned so much about relying on my Savior and his atonement during my hard times.  During times of ease I sometimes get lazy and too slow to turn to God. We should always turn to the Lord, but sometimes we need to be knocked down to realize that there is always a hand to help us get back up.  Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ always have their hands stretched out towards us.  We just need to be willing to stretch out ours and grab a hold.