Trials are My Biggest Blessing

I don't profess to know everything.  I am made aware on a daily basis just how much more there is for me to learn.  But one thing that I have learned for certain is that rather than asking for my trials to be removed from me, it's better to pray for strength to endure them, to pray to be able to learn the lessons that I need to from them, and to pray that I will be able to continue to be happy while I patiently wait for them to pass. My dearest friend once described it to me as "learning to ask the Lord to give me a stronger back to carry my load rather than lifting the load from me."

The prophet Joseph Smith did an excellent job illustrating the principle I speak of.  Rather than asking the Lord to remove his problems, he asked him how much longer he would need to endure them.  I feel as though the key to finding happiness in trials and in learning to endure trials well is to stop asking the Lord to remove our trials from us.  Trials are what lead us to grow, and growth is what brings us closer to our Savior.  We are brought closer to our Savior not only because we learn we can rely on him, but also because if we allow them to, we can learn Christ-like attributes from our trials: patience, love, empathy. I feel like that is the point of this life. To do a little better, to learn a little more from each trial, and to be happy through it all.

** This original post was written as a response to D&C Section 57 as a homework assignment. But in Gospel Doctrine today, we read 1 Peter 1: 7-9 which I feel like illustrate the same point :) Awesome find! So I'll throw them down here :)

7) That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

8) Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

9) Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

I've loved thinking about how trials are good for us because they teach us Christ-like attributes, and that is why they are more precious to us than gold.  I also know that mastering those Christ-like attributes is what is going to lead us to eternal salvation. And that makes me totally stoked!  Trials aren't all bad.  They really are a blessing.  Life is better than we realize. :)