He Will Help Us Bear Them

As he spoke about afflictions, Elder Evan A. Schmutz said the following:

Many of us have pleaded with God to remove the cause of our suffering, and when the relief we seek has not come, we have been tempted to think He is not listening. I testify that, even in those moments, He hears our prayers, has a reason for allowing our afflictions to continue, and will help us bear them.

God does not always remove our afflictions. There are essential reasons for many of them. If there weren't, He would probably have already removed them out of His intense desire to help us. But when the trials we face are unavoidable, God offers us a different form of comfort; He helps us bear them. When God, for some wise reason, can't take our burdens from us, He can still often lighten them and strengthen us. In fact, strengthening us is one of the main reasons we have trials in the first place. God won't always just take our problems away from us, but as Elder Schmutz said, He "will help us bear them."