Winter Semester

To be honest, Winter semester scares me. The most difficult times in my life have started at the beginning of the new year; however, these soul-bending experiences have also yielded the greatest blessings. I learned something about myself this week. Whenever the trials and tests of life bombard me, I find refuge not only in my faith and testimony, but also with those I love. Their mere existence and love for me buoy me up and bring much-needed comfort.

One undergrad semester was exceptionally trying. The blessing of a plane ticket allowed me to fly to California for the weekend where I found the escape and perspective I needed by playing with my nieces and nephews and talking with my sister and brother. I came back having renewed energy and strength to tackle the difficult tasks before me.

Most of you have heard the Parable of Thursday Night Class, an experience that happened while I attended ASU. Though I didn't understand what was happening, I knew that God loved me and guided me in that direction. Little by little, I recognized what I needed to learn and how this "mistake" allowed me to serve others. My parents were my anchor and support as I navigated this difficulty. Never once did they let me give up. They encouraged and pushed me onward, for which I am forever grateful.

Which leads me to now. With the bombardments of life, I have felt myself faltering in adversity. Realizing I needed the love of family, I visited Melissa and Adam who live nearby. There, I was able to ponder and find peace in the Lord. Because I do not know the end of the story, I would like to close this post with thoughts from Elder Maxell. In a fireside on December 2, 1984, Elder Maxwell spoke about D&C 121:8, If Thou Endure It Well. This talk is one I referred to many times in the above experiences and it has become a frequent read the past few weeks. May you also find peace in the words of an apostle of the Lord.

There have been, and will be times in each of your lives when such faith must be the bottom line. You don't know what is happening to you or around you, but you know that God loves you, and knowing that, for the moment, is enough.

The gospel is not a religion of repose. There is an inherent activism in which God will not be content with us as we now are because he knows what we have the possibilities to become.

For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so . . . righteousness could not be brought to pass. (2 Nephi 2:11)

The Lord will measure our bearing capacity. (See D&C 50:40) He knows we are children and what we cannot handle, but He will give us almost all that we can handle, at times.

So it is that enduring well to the end--or to the very beginning--becomes a prime quality. It calls for shoulder squaring and not shoulder shrugging. It calls for realizing the wisdom of that wise man who said to each of us, the "cross comes before the crown, and tomorrow is a Monday morning." So is the structure of life.

May God bless you as a generation of destiny to whom so many challenges and opportunities will be given, to develop within you, along with all the other qualities, that added sense of reverence and respect for the spiritual submissiveness which permits us to endure well to the very beginning. To take one more step when we think we cannot, to make it to the next ridge when we are sure it is too far to go, to endure injustice, misrepresentation and abuse because we are the servants of Him upon whom they spat, and He suffered it. We should do it in the same way--with kindness and long suffering.