Spiritual Reassurance

How can we receive ongoing strength and spiritual reassurance when life is hard?

My life has never been that easy. I have always had to fight for what I have wanted out of life. It is hard when the natural man seems to be fighting against you. Sometimes it seems so much easier to give in to temptation and to be honest there have been times in my life that I have given in, which in reality did not make things easier but only more difficult. I have received strength through Heavenly Fathers grace and atonement. Knowing of the atonement has helped me to see beyond the boundaries and limitations of this mortal life. It has given me hope and peace. "When words cannot provide the solace we need to seek, when it is simply futile to attempt to explain that which is unexplainable, when logic and reason cannot yield adequate understanding of the injustices and inequities of life, when mortal experience and analysis are insufficient, and when it seems that perhaps we are so totally alone, then come the peace that only the Prince of Peace can give-truly, a peace that passeth all understanding." (David A. Bednar, Power to Become, 48-49) Peace can come in any circumstance, no matter how hard or difficult something may be.

Hardships

We are blessed in extra ordinary ways to learn essential lessons through affliction and hardships. (David A. Bednar)

Life is hard, it doesn't matter if you are rich or poor, single, divorced or married, whether you have children or not, we all face affliction and hardships. These afflictions and hardships help us to learn life long lessons. They are meant to humble and strengthen us so we can become the person that Heavenly Father knows us to be. "No pain that we suffer, no trail that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children on God...and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire" (Spencer W. Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle, 98).

Outcomes

Is your faith dependent of the outcomes you want?

In many cases I feel this has been true for me. There have been many times in my life that my faith and hope have wavered because things did not turn out the way I expected or in the time I wanted. I've learned timing is everything. Sometimes things don't work out the way we expected, it just means Heavenly Father has a different plan and his plan is always better than our plan.

Moving forward

It has been a long time since I have written. So much has happened, however I am not going to go into all the details of my life from the last few years. I needed some personal time to grow and become a better person. I have learned and grown in my profession, my personal life, my spiritual life and as a mother. There have been some hard times however there have been some really good times.