We are often asked to do hard things....
- ....to say no to a marriage proposal because it doesn't feel right
- ....to say goodbye to friends who aren't really being good friends
- ....to walk away from a job that has blessed you and/or your family because...
- ....to struggle with a disease or injury that will be with us, maybe forever
- ....to lose a spouse or a child because of sickness or injury
These are just a few examples - so many more can be added to this list. We've all struggled through them. And usually, we come out with blessings that we couldn't even imagine would have come from the struggle.
President Thomas S. Monson once said this:
"I wonder how we would have felt if we lived in Nauvoo with our beautiful brick home with all of the comforts of life - and then heard the call to move westward, to leave our homes, to leave our families in some cases, to leave behind the beautiful greenery and put our vision westward to the valleys of the great Salt Lake, where one tree greeted us upon our arrival as pioneers. Yet, where would we have been today were it not for the courage of the Latter-day Saints to expand the frontiers of the Church?"
Consider the hard things that you have had the opportunity to struggle through. In the middle of the struggle, it's hard to see the blessings, but as you look back on the experience, what gifts were you given because of it? Do you have more compassion and empathy for others going through something similar? Do you more immediately recognize the hand of the Lord in your life or in the lives of your family members? Have you come to cherish relationships more?
"...know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good. The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?" D&C 122:7-8
Photo courtesy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
