President Howard W. Hunter, Ensign, November 1987

     "With reference to both standing and sitting, I have observed that life—every life—has a full share of ups and downs. Indeed, we see many joys and sorrows in the world, many changed plans and new directions, many blessings that do not always look or feel like blessings, and much that humbles us and improves our patience and our faith. We have all had those experiences from time to time, and I suppose we always will....

     "I share the view expressed by Orson F. Whitney in these words:

          “No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude, and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God … and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father and Mother in heaven” (as quoted in Faith Precedes the Miracle, p. 98).

 

        "At various times in our lives, probably at repeated times in our lives, we do have to acknowledge that God knows what we do not know and sees what we do not see. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord” (Isa. 55:8).

Elder Allan Packer, BYU-Idaho Devotional, November 13, 2012

     "In God's Plan of Salvation, we are the ones who are being molded, shpaed and polished to become like Him.  It is something each of us has to do individually....

     "He has established what we must do and the standards that we must meet. Something quite remarkable is that He gives us the moral agency of deciding whether or not we choose to accept and meet those standards. However, there are consequences of our decisions. While He gave us agency, He does not give us the authority to change the standards or the consequences of our decisions.

     "As a teenager I spent my summers working on my grandfather’s ranch in Wyoming. It was a sheep and cattle ranch of more than two thousand acres plus additional rangeland. The ranch operation required a lot of equipment. Since the closest repair center was a long way away through part of the Wyoming Bad Lands my grandfather taught us to carefully maintain the equipment and inspect everything before we left the ranch house. If we had a breakdown, it was usually miles from the ranch house and that meant a long walk. It didn’t take long for me to learn the law of consequences. It was always better to avoid the problems than have a long walk. The same is true with the commandments of our Heavenly Father. He can tell the difference between someone who is striving to become like Him and an individual who is pushing the edges but trying to stay just inside the acceptable limits."

     "There are those, if they could, in the world today who are striving to dismiss or change the standards established by God. This is not a new phenomenon. We must not be deceived or give heed to those who would attempt to convince us that the standards have changed. They have no authority to change those standards. Only the designer, Heavenly Father, can change the specifications.

     "All of us easily recognize how ridiculous it would be for a Boeing supplier to listen to some unrelated individual who promoted making changes to the specifications or tolerances of a part. None of us would want to ride in an airplane manufactured with such a part. Parts that do not meet the Boeing specifications are rejected.

     "No one would accuse Boeing of being unthoughtful or intolerant when such parts are rejected. Boeing would not and could not jeopardize all of the passengers who may fly in their airplanes. They would not allow themselves to be intimidated or bullied into accepting parts that cannot be certified. To do so would jeopardize their business and the lives of their customers.

     "The same is true with God’s laws and commandments. His standards are fixed, and no one else can change them. Some individuals who think they can, will be greatly surprised in the final judgment."

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Ensign, May 2010

In stories, as in life, adversity teaches us things we cannot learn otherwise.  Adversity helps to develop a depth of character that comes in no other way.  Our loving Heavenly Father has set us in a world filled with challenges and trials so that we, through opposition, can learn wisdom, become stronger, and experience joy.

My dear young sisters, you need to know that you will experience your own adversity.  None is exempt.  You will suffer, be tempted, and make mistakes.  You will learn for yourself what every heroine has learned:  through overcoming challenges come growth and strength.

It is your reaction to adversity, not the adversity itself, that determines how your life's story will develop. 

Hearing the Holy Ghost

President James E. Faust, CES Fireside, September 5, 1993
      "I have suggested a simple solution for selecting the channel to which you will attune yourselves: Listen to and follow the voice of the Spirit. This is an ancient solution, even eternal, and may not be popular in a society that is always looking for something new.
      "This solution requires patience in a world that demands instant gratification. This solution is quiet, peaceful, and subtle in a world enamored by that which is loud, incessant, fast paced, garish, and crude.      "This solution requires you to be contemplative while your peers seek physical titillation. This solution requires the prophets to “put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth” (2 Peter 1:12). This may seem foolish in a time when it is not worth remembering much of the trivial tripe to which we are exposed.      "This solution is one unified, consistent, age-old message in a world that quickly becomes bored in the absence of intensity, variety, and novelty.        "This solution requires you to walk by faith in a world governed by sight (see 2 Corinthians 4:18, 5:7). You must see with the eye of faith eternal, unseen, spiritual verities, whereas the masses of mankind depend solely on temporal things, which can be known only through the physical senses.       "In short, this solution may not be popular, it may not get you gain, or worldly power. But “our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17).       "Learn to ponder the things of the Spirit and to respond to its promptings; filter out the static generated by Satan. As you become attuned to the Spirit, “thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it” (Isaiah 30:21).      "Hearkening to the “voice of the living God” will give you “peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come” (see D&C 50:1; 59:23). These are the greatest of all the gifts of God (see D&C 14:7). "

Michael Wesch, professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University, will present a Brigham Young University campus forum address, “The End of Wonder in the Age of Whatever,” Tuesday, Jan. 22, at 11:05 a.m. in the Marriott Center.

http://speeches.byu.edu/index.php?act=viewitem&id=2090

http://www.educatednation.com/2010/05/07/michael-wesch-ted-talk-on-media-and-teaching-students-to-become-knowledge-able/