"Adversity Makes Us Stronger"

Here’s a verse from Isaiah that Nephi includes in his record.  (And it’s one that is easy to understand … you see, not all of Isaiah’s writings are confusing.)

“I have refined thee, I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.”  (I Nephi 20:10)

When we came to this life from the pre-existence we knew it was going to be a test.  We knew there were going to be challenges and struggles.  We knew it was going to be hard and it was going to be difficult.  But we also knew it would be worth it.  Because at the end of the test is the opportunity to not only live with God, the Eternal Father, but to live like Him.  That is the greatest gift possible. 

So, what I believe Nephi wants us to learn from this verse is that as we go through the hard times in our lives we need to be aware that God hasn’t forgotten us.  In fact, he allows us to face these difficulties in order to “refine” us.  The word “refine” means to purify.  Isn’t that interesting that this life is meant to purify us.  That’s not always easy to remember when we’re being tossed around by the storms of life. 

I love the story President Hinckley shared about challenges.  He said this:

“I know something of the frustrations of life in general. I have had my head bumped and my shins barked. On some of these occasions when I have needed a laugh I have turned to a letter which . . . was first published in the Manchester, England, Guardian and later reprinted in the Deseret News.

A hurricane had hit the West Indies, and a bricklayer was sent to repair the damage. He wrote to the home office as follows, and I hope you can get this delightful picture:

"Respected Sirs:

"When I got to the building I found that the hurricane had knocked some bricks off the top. So I rigged up a beam with a pulley at the top of the building and hoisted up a couple of barrels full of bricks.

When I had fixed the building, there was a lot of bricks left over. I hoisted the barrel back up again and secured the line at the bottom, and then went up and filled the barrel with the extra bricks.

Then I went to the bottom and cast off the line. Unfortunately the barrel of bricks was heavier than I was, and before I knew what was happening the barrel started down, jerking me off the ground. I decided to hang on, and halfway up I met the barrel coming down and received a severe blow on the shoulder.

I then continued to the top, banging my head against the beam and getting my finger jammed in the pulley. When the barrel hit the ground it bursted its bottom, allowing all the bricks to spill out.

I was now heavier than the barrel and so started down again at high speed. Halfway down, I met the barrel coming up and received severe injuries to my shins. When I hit the ground I landed on the bricks, getting several painful cuts from the sharp edges.

At this point I must have lost my presence of mind because I let go of the line. The barrel then came down, giving me another heavy blow on the head and putting me in hospital.

I respectfully request sick leave."

I don’t know whether that experience would “purify” a person, but it would surely teach the lesson of patience.

Isaiah isn’t the only prophet in the Old Testament to use the example of being “refined in the furnace.”  Malachi also uses this analogy when he says this:

"And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."  (Malachi 3:3)

I read a story a few years ago of a woman who wanted to know more about the refining of silver.  So she went to visit a silversmith to learn more about the process of refining silver.  The Silversmith explained the process to her as he sat in front of his fire.  The woman had many questions.

"Sir" the woman said, "do you sit while the work of refining is going on?"

"Oh, yes," replied the silversmith; "I must sit with my eye steadily fixed on the furnace, for if the time necessary for refining be exceeded in the slightest degree, the silver will be injured."

The woman began to understand the meaning of the expression, "He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." 

Christ sees it needful to put us into a furnace (this life is the furnace); But His eye is steadily intent on the work of purifying, and His wisdom and love are both engaged in the best manner for us.  Our trials do not come at random; for as the Savior taught "But the very hairs of your head are all numbered." (Matt. 10:30) 

As the woman was leaving the shop, the silversmith called her back, and said he had forgotten to mention that he only when he sees his own image in the silver does he know the purifying is complete.

What a great truth this teaches us about the furnace and the refining process.  This means for us that the work of purifying will only be accomplished when Christ sees his image reflected in each of us.  And for that to happen we must go through the refiner’s fire.

I don’t know of many who have gone through that refiner’s fire more than the Martin Willie Handcart Company.  I would like to share with you a remarkable story about how this terrible experience refined the lives of those involved until they had the Savior reflected in their images.  This was shared by (then) Elder James E. Faust in the April General Conference in 1979.

Some years ago President David O. McKay told from this pulpit of the experience of some of those in the Martin handcart company. Many of these early converts had emigrated from Europe and were too poor to buy oxen or horses and a wagon. They were forced by their poverty to pull handcarts containing all of their belongings across the plains by their own brute strength. President McKay relates an occurrence which took place some years after the heroic exodus: “A teacher, conducting a class, said it was unwise ever to attempt, even to permit them [the Martin handcart company] to come across the plains under such conditions.

“[According to a class member,] some sharp criticism of the Church and its leaders was being indulged in for permitting any company of converts to venture across the plains with no more supplies or protection than a handcart caravan afforded.

“An old man in the corner … sat silent and listened as long as he could stand it, then he arose and said things that no person who heard him will ever forget. His face was white with emotion, yet he spoke calmly, deliberately, but with great earnestness and sincerity.

“In substance [he] said, ‘I ask you to stop this criticism. You are discussing a matter you know nothing about. Cold historic facts mean nothing here, for they give no proper interpretation of the questions involved. Mistake to send the Handcart Company out so late in the season? Yes. But I was in that company and my wife was in it and Sister Nellie Unthank whom you have cited was there, too. We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and starvation, but did you ever hear a survivor of that company utter a word of criticism? Not one of that company ever apostatized or left the Church, because everyone of us came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with him in our extremities.

“ ‘I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness and lack of food that I could hardly put one foot ahead of the other. I have looked ahead and seen a patch of sand or a hill slope and I have said, I can go only that far and there I must give up, for I cannot pull the load through it.’ ” He continues: “‘I have gone on to that sand and when I reached it, the cart began pushing me. I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the angels of God were there.

“‘Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart? No. Neither then nor any minute of my life since. The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay, and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the Martin Handcart Company.’ ” (Relief Society Magazine, Jan. 1948, p. 8.)

Here then is a great truth. In the pain, the agony, and the heroic endeavors of life, we pass through a refiner’s fire, and the insignificant and the unimportant in our lives can melt away like dross and make our faith bright, intact, and strong. In this way the divine image can be mirrored from the soul. It is part of the purging toll exacted of some to become acquainted with God. In the agonies of life, we seem to listen better to the faint, godly whisperings of the Divine Shepherd.  (The Refiners Fire; President James E. Faust - General Conference - April 1979)

I hope that every time you read about the refiner’s fire, or if there is a time you feel the intense heat of adversity in your life, that you will consider the blessing that comes to those who are refined through this process if they but put their hand in the Lord’s and allow his image to shine in their faces.