Endurance and Faith

All of us experience challenges and difficulties that we hope will either resolve themselves or at least improve in a timely manner. We exercise faith, pray, and look for a answers to prayers. However, our timeline for receiving answers and the Lord’s timeline for giving answers are not always the same. In Acts chapter 23, we read of Paul being imprisoned. In verse 11 it states, “And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.” Paul had to be of good cheer for a long time. It was more than two years, probably closer to three, before Paul made it to Rome to testify of Christ. In the Doctrine and Covenants section 121, Joseph Smith is told, “My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment, And then if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high…” For Joseph, his “small moment” was five years.

As I think about a new year and resolutions (which I typically don’t make) it seems that perhaps an increase in faith in my Savior Jesus Christ would be good thing. In Deuteronomy, chapter 4 it reads: “But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee,…if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; (For the Lord thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee….

Life Is Good!