If, on the other hand, they weren’t necessarily caused by other people–they were self-inflicted or just “stuff” happening–then yeah, God can allow that to happen to try our Faith and see if we will keep enduring to the end, a la Abraham and Isaac.

There are some great scriptures out there that deal with this too. We should take comfort that God “will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (1 CORINTHIANS 10:13). Also, there is a great passage in the book of Mormon where Lehi tells his son Jacob that there must be an opposition in all things. Where it not so, “righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad” (2 Nephi 2:11). Without bad times, the good times wouldn’t feel so good! It is all about perspective. Bad times will always come. But as you say, “what do you do about it?”