This week’s BYU-Idaho devotional speaker, Eileen Nuffer, taught students that through trials, they are able to strengthen their relationship with God. In her talk titled “A Once in an Eternity Experience,” she shared this message by telling the story of an accident her husband had in May of 2022.
Nuffer’s husband was riding his motorbike on the way to church when a driver didn’t see him and hit him. They didn’t know whether he would live or die, but miraculously, he has made almost a full recovery.
Nuffer said that many people around her served as angels during this time.
In her talk, Nuffer said that during this trial, her husband found peace by growing spiritually.
“Once Roger was home, and off many of the medications, the concerns of the situation came into better focus for him. He would struggle to sleep at night because of the concerns about providing for our family and worries from the day,” Nuffer said. “He initially handles this by listening to many conference talks. He thinks he listened to more talks in the past year, and learned more from them than in the previous 60 years of life. These spiritual beacons helped him find peace.”
In an interview with BYU-Idaho Radio, Nuffer said that as students do the basic gospel things everyday – read their scriptures, pray and attend the temple – then they will be spiritually prepared when they face trials.
“Although we don’t know the trials that are coming, God does. And the angels do. And they are looking ahead in time to know what we need,” Nuffer said. “But I have seen as I have gone through trials, some friends go through similar trials. And they say ‘Well if God loved me he wouldn’t put me through this trial.’ And they cut themselves off from that help from the Lord. And when we do that, we’re making a hard trial, harder.”
Nuffer ended her talk by saying God “is the answer to all our trials, heartaches, questions, and joys.” She taught the audience to take the opportunity to grow nearer to God, rather than neglect His help, when they face trials.