"Endure It Well"

I read a talk today that I really needed. It's called "Endure It Well" by Elder Neal A. Maxwell. I don't really have a hard time with the "why me?" attitude, but rather I feel frustrated if I can't understand the purpose/lesson behind challenges that I face. I know that every challenge or trial has a purpose and is for my overall growth and progression. I think I just have a hard time letting it go on as long as it needs to. Sometimes I just want God to tell me the purpose behind trials right when I recognize them. So this talk was really helpful for me to understand the need for patience during trials and the purpose behind their longevity. I need to stop asking to understand the lesson at the beginning of the trial and instead, endure it well, and realize that I'll understand more in retrospect than if He tells me the lesson for a trial that I haven't yet fully endured. I hope that makes sense. Here are a few favorite quotes. Spiritual deliciousness.

In any case, brothers and sisters, how could there be refining fires without enduring some heat? Or greater patience without enduring some instructive waiting? Or more empathy without bearing one another’s burdens—not only that others’ burdens may be lightened, but that we may be enlightened through greater empathy? How can there be later magnification without enduring some present deprivation?

Moreover, we find that sorrow can actually enlarge the mind and heart in order to “give place,” expanded space for later joy.

Otherwise, if certain mortal experiences were cut short, it would be like pulling up a flower to see how the roots are doing. Put another way, too many anxious openings of the oven door, and the cake falls instead of rising. Moreover, enforced change usually does not last, while productive enduring can ingrain permanent change. (See Alma 32:13–16.)