Stumbling Blocks or Stepping Stones?

There are two ways to deal with trials...
Find out how to use them to your benefit.

By Megan Elliott
It was a glorious morning when Janie stepped out of her tent dressed and ready for the day. The sun was shining brightly, and leaves of golden yellow, red, and orange covered the campsite. The air was fresh and cool. She had looked forward to this year's campus campout for months. She stretched and smiled at her surroundings. Her classmates were packing the last of their gear in anticipation of today's journey. They would hike 16 miles to a beautiful campsite in the mountains of Colorado. Finally all the preparations were finished and they began their trek.

In the middle of the day the group stopped to eat lunch and take an hour break. Janie walked away from the rest site to admire the river that they had been following that day. She sat down for a few minutes to contemplate life. Closing her eyes, she realized how tired she was... just before falling asleep.

A little while later she opened her eyes and listened carefully. Something wasn't right. She heard no campfires, no backpack zippers, and no voices of the group. Swiftly she walked back to the rest site to discover she had been left behind. Thinking they couldn't be far, she decided to cut through the next bend in the trail and walk through the river instead of taking the time to go around and across the bridge. Having hiked this path a few times before, Janie knew that this part of the river was shallow. But what she didn't think about was that although the water was shallow, it was also very swift and cold, making it dangerous. She had every confidence that it would be easy for her to get across quickly and safely.

The cold water came up to her knees, insisting that she always keep a very firm footing. She made it about halfway across the river when her foot collided with a rock, causing her to lose that footing. She began to stumble, fumbling into rock after rock until she could no longer keep her balance. She cursed the rocks that had made her stumble as she went down hard.

The cold water was like icy knives to her skin, and the strong current began to carry her downstream.

"Help!" she cried frantically as the gushing river continued to throw her into the harsh blocks that were the cause of her stumble.

Luckily one of the stragglers in her class was close enough to hear her panic, and retrieved her out of the river.

Janie made it out of the river unharmed that day but had someone not been there to help her, you may have been reading a different story today.

Janie's story teaches us a valuable lesson about stumbling blocks, for had she taken the time to step back and look at the rocks that caused her fall, she would have realized that they formed a bridge of stepping-stones that would have taken her safely to the other side.

Let's take a moment to look at our lives and ask ourselves a very consequential question: Are the obstacles in my life stumbling blocks or stepping-stones?Many times we do not see, or simply don't understand the lessons we are to learn from our trials. But all trials have a purpose great or small. This is why it is so important to look at and evaluate the hardships that come our way. There are two ways to deal with trials: with pride, or with humility.

Often in life people receive a trial and they become angry or bitter, and harden their hearts to other people, themselves, and worst of all, to Heavenly Father. And so their trials become Stumbling Blocks causing them to lose their footing in the gospel or just life in general. Once they begin to stumble, they will continue doing so until they reestablish their footing or fall. Pride is the most prominent thing that makes us stumble in life.

"And the Gentiles are lifted up in the pride of their eyes and have stumbled, because of the greatness of their stumbling block..." (2 Nephi 26:20)

When we are prideful we cannot hear God's counsel and we cannot see what good may come from our trials.

On the other hand, there are also people who when obstacles stand in their way, instead of cowering away from them or ignoring them, they face them and use them to learn. In the heat of the trial things may get ugly for them, but they still try to find the good. And even if during the trial they don't know the purpose for it, they can look back when it's over and tell you what they learned from it.

Elder John B. Dickson of the Seventy enlightens us: "Our challenges may be physical, spiritual, economic, or emotional, but if we will treat them as opportunities and stepping stones in our progress, rather than barriers and stumbling blocks, our lives and growth will be wonderful."

It's not easy to keep pride at bay and come out of trials a better person, because trials do cause harm. They do hurt. But in the end if we look for the good in our lives, and keep in touch with our Heavenly Father, then we will be scarred maybe, but stronger and wiser. And if we keep our feet standing in holy places, then we won't lose our footing, and we won't fall. So when a trial arises in your life remember that you can decide if the obstacle is a stumbling block or a stepping-stone.