It was intended that life be a challenge, not so that you would fail, but that you might succeed through overcoming.

You faces overwhelming challenges. Sometimes they are so concentrated, so unrelenting, that you may feel they are beyond your capacity to control.

Don’t face the world alone. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” (Prov. 3:5.)....

It was intended that life be a challenge, not so that you would fail, but that you might succeed through overcoming.

Trust in the Lord, Richard G. Scott, April 1989 

Our goal should be to live optimistically on the sunny side of the street

 We all should strive to exhibit joy and happiness even as we face the challenges of life. Our goal should be to live optimistically on the sunny side of the street. I have observed my precious companion, Mary, do this her entire life. I have appreciated her sparkling, uplifting approach even as we have faced problems throughout the years.

The Atonement of Jesus Christ Provides the Ultimate Rescue

April 2025

General Conference

Quentin L. Cook

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2025/04/16cook?lang=eng&verse=#p

Wilford Woodruff Receiving the Lord's Guidance In a Time of Trial

 In November 1835, when Wilford Woodruff was serving a mission in the southern part of the United States, he and his traveling companions received the Lord’s guidance in a time of trial. He wrote: “While travelling in the night, … a tremendous storm of wind and rain overtook us. We came to a creek which had swollen to such an extent by the rain, that we could not cross without swimming our horses. … We undertook to head the stream, to ford it; but in the attempt, in the midst of the darkness and the raging of the wind and rain, we were lost in the thick woods, amidst the rain, wind, creeks and fallen treetops. We crossed streams nearly twenty times. … But the Lord was merciful unto us in the midst of our troubles, for while we were groping in the dark, running the risk of killing both ourselves and [our] animals, by riding off precipitous bluffs, a bright light suddenly shone round about us, and revealed our perilous situation, as we were upon the edge of a deep gulf. The light continued with us until we found a house, and learned the right road.”

Commenting on this experience, President Woodruff said, “We then went on our way rejoicing, though the darkness returned and the rain continued.” This statement exemplifies his approach to the difficulties of life. He always went on his way, rejoicing in the Lord’s blessings even when some trials persisted.

Chapter 21: Faithfully Enduring Trials and Opposition

Wilford Woodruff

Teachings of Presidents

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-wilford-woodruff/chapter-21?lang=eng&verse=#p

Striving always to be of good cheer helps avoid being cast down in spirit.

 In addition to providing other advice to live righteously, the Lord emphasized two principles that continue to be applicable today.

First, He encouraged them to “praise the Lord with singing, with music, with dancing, and with a prayer of praise and thanksgiving.”

Second, the Lord counseled if they were “sorrowful, call on the Lord thy God with supplication, that your souls may be joyful.”

These two admonitions are great counsel for our own day. Lives full of praise, music, and thanksgiving are uniquely blessed. Being joyful and relying on heavenly help through prayer is a powerful way to be peaceable followers of Christ. Striving always to be of good cheer helps avoid being cast down in spirit.

Be Peaceable Followers of Christ

October 2023

General Conference

Quentin L. Cook

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2023/10/44cook?lang=eng&verse=#p