Forget Not Thine Handmaid

It's been a while and I think that God reminded me of that yesterday.  I was going through the day and working on the tasks at hand, then some news hit me that sent me straight into a wall.  Why was this happening?  What could I do so far from the situation to help?  What was being asked of me? 
Questions raced through my mind and I was at the point of desperation as I know we all get to from time to time and then I was reminded of a scripture


     "And he said unto me: Knowest thou the condescension of God?

      And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless,

      I do not know the meaning of all things."  1 Nephi 11:16-17

We don't know the will of God.  We don't understand the will of God, but we CAN come to align our will with his and then find peace through difficult times.  I know that God loves his children for I am his daughter.  He loves me and he gave me the comfort I needed as I knelt before him in humble prayer.  The comfort didn't come in the form I was hoping or in the way I would have thought it would come, but it did come in the way that He knew I needed.  It came to my mind as scriptures.  My answer was simply to keep going, to push forward and do what I knew was necessary.  These are a few of the scriptures or quotes that came to mind.

 

• This too shall pass
• Extreme pressure creates diamonds
• Onward and upward
• "I will not leave thee comfortless" John 14:18
• "Fear not I am with you" Isaiah 41:10
• "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
   In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." Proverbs 3:4-5
•  "And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage. And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions." Mosiah 24:13-14
• "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; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes."  D&C 121:7-8

The one phrase that stuck out the most was "if thou endure it well." What does it mean to endure it well?  I have found that it doesn't mean that we will magically be relieved from the task, that things will be perfect, that this sorrow or pain will suddenly vanish.  It does mean, that if we patiently wait and learn what the Lord is trying to teach us and the things that will make us stronger, we will have a better understanding of why things happen in this life.  We will be blessed with the comfort during these difficult times, we will receive the strength we are seeking in a different but better way than we could have imagined. 

Instead of looking outwardly at trials as punishments we should turn to the Lord and plead for his help, in his way, for he know the best remedy, the remedy we need.

Please feel free to comment with your own thoughts or favorite scriptures that have given you peace in times of trouble.