"Beyond the Bubblegum Machine"

Ensign
April 2014

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2014/04/beyond-the-bubblegum-machine?lang=eng

I loved this talk because it applies to my husband and I.  About four years ago we were going to church, paying our tithing and just started to attend the temple regularly.  A few months later the trials started.  They lasted for a couple of years and it did not bode well for our spirituality.  Our mindset was we were doing what was right.  We started to attend the temple regularly so why are all these bad things happening?  Like the article said we expected a blessing for every righteous action we did.  We became angry and bitter and stopped attending the temple and eventually church for at least a year.  Now that those trials our over I realize our biggest mistake was not attending the temple anymore.  I now know that the temple could of helped us greatly through our trials.  My mother and father had a son who was born with problems and was mentally handicapped and had many medical needs.  My mom said that they could not have done it without attending the temple.  They were blessed to have neighbors who understood and knew what this son needed.  They would watch this son and the other two sons so that my parents could attend the temple.  It is easy to get caught up in thinking we earn or deserve blessings.  That is not so.  A blessing is a blessing.  You always wonder how can a trial bless you.  I feel like the trials I went through did bless me.  My testimony and spirituality was strengthened when I stopped being bitter and started going to church again.  I wish that my testimony had been stronger through those trials.  I hope that in future trials I will do better because of gaining a stronger testimony.  I also got out of my trials that bad things happen in life.  It's not because you are being punished or life is just so unfair.  Things break, things go wrong that's life.  I used to just get so upset and angry that things would break and go wrong.  I think I roll along a little better in life now.  I still get angry and upset sometimes but then I try to talk myself back down.