"If we hold the belief that God will shield us from tribulation because of our obedience and then adversity strikes, we may be tempted to accuse God of not hearing our prayers or, worse, that He doesn’t honor His promises. Obedience to God is not insurance against pain and sadness. Some unpleasant things just come with this telestial turf. Challenges have always been included in God’s great plan to test our faith, to stimulate in us growth, humility, and compassion. Heartache and struggle were divinely designed to stretch us to where we have nowhere else to turn but to God.
"Trusting that the Lord will support us in our trials and give us what to say and do in the moment that we need it can be frightening when we have become accustomed to relying on our own familiar skills.
"The Atonement not only blesses us after we obey but is actually the power that sustains us while we do the deed.
"Cheerfulness in the scriptural context connotes a divinely assured optimism, “a deep trust in God’s unfolding purposes” (Neal A. Maxwell, “But a Few Days,” 4), a grounded conviction that God will always keep His promises. When Christ proclaims, “Be of good cheer,” He is not requesting a naive, Pollyanna-like response to life’s cruel twists and turns. Nor is He promising a pain-free life of constant bliss. Trial is no respecter of persons. Tragedy and hardship do not discriminate. Our world sees opposition among rich and poor, men and women, the righteous as well as the wicked. And while increasing dishonesty and vanity in our society are self-evident, the Savior specifically prayed that God would not take us “out of the world” (John 17:15). “In this world your joy is not full,” He taught us, “but in me your joy is full” (D&C 101:36). How else do we learn that true satisfaction is found only by turning away from the world and coming to Christ?
"What does this mean for each of us here today? I can start by acknowledging that I have had tribulation from which no one else could deliver me but the Lord. Circumstances I would never happily choose have sent me to my knees and turned me to God. And, further, I anticipate additional trials down the road, because God loves me.
"While the Lord clearly promises, “In the world ye shall have tribulation” (John 16:33), life’s challenges are rarely the same for you as they are for me. I can also acknowledge that you have challenges that I will likely never experience, challenges and crosses that will be just as stretching for your soul as mine are for me. I can resist the temptation to assume the role of the Master Physician by announcing to you in your despair, “Be of good cheer” or “I understand just how you feel,” being aware that it is from His voice that you and I both need to receive this message if we will be healed. He is the only one who truly understands our sorrow. Only He has felt our personal pain.
'But I can also come to know the Lord and choose to bear witness of His supernal gift every time I have opportunity to speak or teach. I can realize that I will do more to help another person find the Lord by admitting my utter dependence on Christ in my actions and informal conversations than by parading a seemingly perfect outward appearance, which all too frequently communicates that I no longer need Him. We should be competing against sin, not trying to determine who needs the Savior less. When we acknowledge that we each face difficulties; that the Savior overcame the world; that He has lifted and strengthened and given vision to each of us in very personal ways, we will realize that we are never alone. We will feel a peace within even though the crisis without still rages. We will be filled with hope and even cheer. "
Camille Fronk, “In the World Ye Shall Have Tribulation: But Be of Good Cheer; I Have Overcome the World”
BYU Women’s Conference 30 April 2004
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