Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. - Isa. 48:10
"[Heavenly Father's plan] was presented to us in our preexistent state, and each of us gladly accepted it," Elder ElRay L. Christiansen, Assistant to the Twelve, said during the April 1969 general conference.
"As part of it, we understood that in mortality we would most likely experience sorrow as well as joy, pain as well as comfort, disappointment along with success, sickness as well as health. Because it is necessary for our development, the Lord permits the bitter to be mixed with the sweet. He knows that our individual faith must be tested in adversity as well as in serenity. Otherwise, that faith may not be sufficiently developed when a condition arises that can be met through faith alone."