Church: Trust in God’s timing – Cook Islands News

God uses trials and challenges to test us and push us beyond our limits. It’s his way of allowing us to discover our own strength, writes Kayla Kemalama Wiley of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

President Spencer W. Kimball, 12th^day A president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints once said, “Life is full of ups and downs. We see many joys and sorrows in the world, many changes of plans and new directions, many blessings that don’t look or feel like blessings, and many things that humble us and strengthen our patience and faith. We all have these experiences from time to time, and I think we always will.”

Remember the famous line from Cervantes’ classic masterpiece, Don Quixote: “When one door closes, another opens?” Well, we know that doors in life often close, and some of those “closings” can bring real pain and heartache. But I believe that when one such door closes, another opens, bringing hope and blessings to other areas of our lives that we might not have discovered otherwise.

What I am saying is that there is an attitude and an approach that we need to adopt if we are to meet the high expectations of our Heavenly Father: a willingness to accept and even seek correction.

Let me illustrate this with the story of Elder Hugh Brown. Elder Brown purchased a run-down farm many years ago. While clearing and repairing his property, he discovered a gooseberry tree that was over six feet tall and had no berries. Brown pruned the tree, leaving only the small stump.

As he did so, he saw a teardrop on the top of each stump, as if the gooseberry bush were crying, and he thought he heard its cry: “How could you do this to me? I grew so well… and now you have cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me… How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here.”

“Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I don’t want you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and when you are full of fruit you will say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down’.”

Many years later, Elder Brown was expected to be promoted to general, but although he was fully qualified, he was unable to do so because of his faith.

Elder Brown recalled: “I stepped onto the train with a broken heart and full of bitterness… When I got back to the tent, I threw my hat on the cot. I clenched my fist and shook it toward heaven. I said, ‘God, how could you do this to me? I did the best I could… How could you do this to me?’ I heard my own voice saying, ‘I’m the gardener here. I know what I want you to do.’

“The resentment in my soul vanished and I knelt beside my bed and begged forgiveness for my ingratitude…Fifty years later I looked up to God and said, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardner, for cutting me down, for loving me even to the point of hurting me’.”

Just like Elder Brown, God has a bigger plan for each of us.

Sometimes, what we desire to be or become is not what God has set for us. It is hard for one to accept such an outcome, especially when one has put so much effort into it. Sometimes, God changes our paths and makes them greater and better than we ever hoped.

God uses trials and challenges to test us and push us past our limits. It’s His way of allowing us to discover our own strength. How can there be alchemy without some intense heat? How can there be greater patience without some beneficial waiting?

Hard times can be powerful tools in God’s hands to make us better people when they humble, hone, teach, and bless us.

We are not always wise or experienced enough to judge all that may be right or wrong in life. At different times in life, we do have to acknowledge that God knows things we do not know and sees things we cannot see.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD” (Isaiah 55:8).

I testify that things will be okay. They always will be okay—especially when we live and love the gospel of Jesus Christ and give it a chance to flourish in our lives. It takes great faith and courage to accept the outcome because it is God’s will for us.

Trust His timing, not our own. I know God uses lovingly inspired corrections to guide us toward a future we don’t have or can’t imagine right now, but He knows is the better path for us.

May God bless us through life’s ups and downs, openings and closings.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.