Nephi
“And we did travel and wade through much affliction in the wilderness; and our women did bear children in the wilderness. And so great were the blessings of the Lord upon us, that while we did live upon raw meat in the wilderness, our women did give plenty of suck for their children, and were strong yeah, even like unto the men; and they began to bear their journeyings without murmurings (1 Nephi 17:1-2).”
“Notwithstanding we had suffered many afflictions and much difficulty, yea even so much that we cannot write them all, we were exceedingly rejoiced when we came to the seashore; and we called the place Bountiful, because of its much fruit (1 Nephi 17:6).”
Laman and Lemuel
“We have wandered in the wilderness for these many years; and our women have toiled, being big with child; and they have borne children in the wilderness and suffered all things, save it were death; and it would have been better that they had died before they came out of Jerusalem than to have suffered these afflictions.
“Behold, these many years we have suffered in the wilderness, which time we might have enjoyed our possessions and the land of our inheritance; yea, and we might have been happy (1 Nephi 17:20-21).
The Lord
“For, behold, I have refined thee, I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction (1 Nephi 20:10).”
Laman, Lemuel, and Nephi had one thing in common. They all suffered the same things. Yet each saw their afflictions with a different perspective, making life harder or easier for themselves along their journey through the wilderness.