So it's been a long while since I've put anything up here, but yesterday in Relief Society we discussed Elder Richard
J. Maynes’ talk, The
Strength to Endure. The question was asked by a sister during the lesson, “How do we
know we’re enduring well?” This question has been on my mind
ever since. In an effort to find an answer for myself I came up with this...
In Elder Maynes' talk he says this, “Our ability to endure to the end in righteousness will be in
direct proportion to the strength of our testimony and the depth of our
conversion. When our testimonies are strong and
we are truly converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ, our choices will be
inspired by the Holy Ghost, they will be Christ-centered, and they will support
our desire to endure in righteousness. If our testimonies are weak and our
conversion superficial, the risk is much greater that we will be enticed by the
false traditions of the world to make poor choices.”
Elder Neal A. Maxwell in his talk, Enduring Well, said this, “Part of enduring well consists of being meek enough, amid our
suffering, to learn from our relevant experiences. Rather than simply passing
through these things, they must pass through us and do so in ways which
sanctify these experiences for our good (see D&C 122:7). Thereby, our
empathy, too, is enriched and everlasting.”
What do you see when you read these
quotes in regards to enduring well? Personally, I am reminded the importance to
continually improve my testimony through scripture study and other
Christ-centered studying, through daily prayer that discusses all the good
things along with the bad, through service both at home, in our ward, and in
our community, and one thing that I think we often overlook in our ever so busy
lives is through self-reflection.
Elder Maxwell’s comment about instead of going
through a trial and making it to the end we need to allow the trial to go
through us and improve us made me think.. When was the last time I sat down and honestly
analyzed a situation going on in my life to see the areas that the Lord was
allowing me to grow and how he was teaching me? Do I understand how that experience
can be used to help another? Have you ever gone through a “growth
opportunity” (I like this phrase better than trial. Trial just sounds so foreboding.) for what seems like months, years, decades and feel like you
aren’t making any progress, or perhaps feel like you keep being faced
with the same heart break, the same stresses, the same weaknesses over and over
again? I do! All the time I feel like that. BUT- what if we took the time to
seek out what the Lord is trying to teach us? I wonder how much that one simple
thing could change our perspective of the situation. So my challenge to you (and me) is
this: get out a piece of paper and at the top write down the challenge you are
facing. Identify all of the struggles that you see that are coming with it.
Then look at those struggles and see if you can find lessons that the Lord is
providing you with, tools to move beyond the initial obstacle. It may look something like this:
Or maybe you want to use different titles, like instead of struggle you say "frustration", or "thing that really makes me mad". You might also add some scriptures or quotes that help you identify the lesson aspect. Your action items may be simple items like, "be nicer to my self" or "send a note to my neighbor who is having a hard time with _________". They may be more difficult like, "forgive my friend for saying/doing __________" or "sacrifice me time to help my child study". There aren't any right or wrong answers but maybe you’ll see
something that you hadn’t yet realized and maybe, by doing something about it, it will
change your situation.
Don't just get through a trial, take that trial by the horns, look deep into it's eyes and learn something so that next time you see someone wrestling the same issue you can help them, just like Christ would have done.
