How can we do and endure hard things? Read and learn from the scriptures. They contain all kinds of hard things. Examples of faithfully enduring to the end are taught by prophets of all ages as they demonstrate courage while enduring trials and tribulations to carry forth the will of God. Jesus Christ Our greatest example comes from the life of our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. When suffering upon the cross at Calvary, Jesus felt the loneliness of agency when He pled to His Father in Heaven, Why has though forsaken me? (Matt. 27:46). The Savior of the world was left alone by His Father to experience, of His own free will and choice, an act of agency which allowed Him to complete His mission of the Atonement. Jesus knew who He was The Son of God. He knew His purpose to carry out the will of the Father through the Atonement. His vision was eternal to bring to pass the immortality and eternal of man (Moses 1:39). The Lord could have called on legions of angels to take Him down from the cross, but He faithfully endured to the end and completed the very purpose for which He had been sent to earth, thus granting eternal blessings to all who will ever experience mortality. Joseph Smith In our dispensation, the Prophet Joseph Smith endured all manner of opposition and hardship to bring to pass the desire of our Heavenly Father the restoration of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Joseph was harassed and hunted by angry mobs. He patiently endured poverty, humiliating charges, and unkind acts. His people were forcibly driven from town to town, from state to state. He was tarred and feathered. He was falsely charged and jailed. Imprisoned at Liberty, Missouri, and experiencing deep, emotional temporal feelings that his own hardships and tests and trials of the Saints would never cease, Joseph prayed: O God, where art thou?... Yea, O Lord how long shall they suffer these wrongs and unlawful oppressions, before thine heart shall be softened toward them, and be moved with compassion toward them? (D&C 121:1,3).
Joseph was told, My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment (D&C 121:7). Joseph knew that if he were to stop going forward with this great work, his earthly trials would probably ease. But he could not stop, because he knew who he was, he knew for what purpose he was placed on the earth, and he had the desire to do God s will. Esther (Elder Robert D. Hales, Behold, We Count Them Happy Which Endure General Conference 1998) The book of Esther has all the elements of a good story. A beautiful Jewish girl is chosen by the king to become his queen; fellow Jews are condemned to death by a wicked prince; the Jewish queen saves her people by exposing the wickedness of the prince; the people are saved. But Esther s story is not quite that simple. She is a beautiful young woman, but she is encouraged by her cousin and guardian, Mordecai, to enter what amounts to a beauty pageant in which the winner gets to be the queen. The reader of the story is left wondering about the motives of these characters: is Esther merely an obedient, naive young woman who does what she is told? Or does she, along with Mordecai, understand that her beauty offers her a chance to play an important role for her people? It is interesting that neither she nor Mordecai discloses to anyone at the time that she is Jewish. Would that knowledge have eliminated her from the contest? King Ahasuerus, as we know, selects Esther to be his new queen, but when Haman, one of the princes of the kingdom, plots to have the Jews in all 127 provinces killed, we see a new Esther her choice and courage to defend her people create a stronger, more spiritually minded woman. When Mordecai, through Esther s servant, tells her of the decree against the Jews and requests that she go into the king to plead for her people, she is reluctant. She reminds him that she can go into the king s presence only when called. Mordecai s response is direct: Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king s house, more than all the Jews. For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, thou and thy father s house shall be destroyed (Esther 4:13-14).
Now is decision time for Esther: does she risk not only her place as queen but her very life by going to the king and pleading for her people? If she chooses to approach the king, she must make know her background and religion knowledge she has kept from him. How will King Ahasuerus view her deception? But if she does nothing, all of her people, and perhaps she too, could die. After considering the options, she consents to the request. She asks Mordecai and all the Jews in city of Shushan, as well as her handmaids, to fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day ; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish (Esther 4:16) At the moment of truth, Esther not only makes a choice that will benefit her people but also demonstrates, through her actions and her request, that she knows who she is and what she can do when hard things come. She knows God, she knows the power of fasting and prayer, and she uses that understanding when she needs courage and strength. (Sister Kathleen H. Hughes, Lessons from the Old Testament: Coming of Age, Ensign, Dec. 2006) The Pioneers The pioneers who left their homes in Nauvoo, Illinois, and elsewhere, traversed the great plains, and settled in the Salt Lake Valley knew who they were. They were members of the Lord s Church newly restored to the earth. They knew their purpose or goal to not only find Zion but to establish it. Because they knew that, they were willing to endure all manner of hardships to bring it about. We learn to endure to the end by learning to finish our current responsibilities, and we simply continue doing it all of our lives. We cannot expect to learn endurance in our later years if we have developed the habit of quitting when things get difficult now.
We can also read and learn from the experiences of modern day apostles and people who have done or are doing hard things. Elder David A. Bednar In 2004, with complete humility, Elder David Bednar, during his first Conference talk In the Strength of the Lord, expressed how overwhelmed and inadequate he was feeling about being called to be one of the Lord s chosen leaders, an Apostle of the Lord. He began his talk by saying, Brothers and sisters, my heart is filled to overflowing, my mind is spinning, my knees are weak and wobbly, and I find that words are totally inadequate to communicate effectively the feelings and thoughts I desire to share with you. I pray for and invite the companionship of the Holy Ghost for me and for you as I speak with you briefly this Sabbath morning. In the hours since President Hinckley extended this new call to serve, I have heeded the admonition of Nephi to liken all scriptures unto us (1 Nephi 19:23) with a greater sense of purpose and intensity than I have ever done before. I have reflected on the teaching of Paul that God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty (1 Corinthians 1:27). This morning I take great comfort in knowing that I am one of the truly weak things of the world... Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things. (Jacob 4:6-7)..I will go where the Lord and the leaders of His Church want me to go, I will do what they want me to do, I will teach what they want me to teach, and I will strive to become what I should and must become. In the strength of the Lord and through His grace, I know that you and I can be blessed to accomplish all things. (Elder David A. Bednar, In the Strength of the Lord General Conference 2004) Elder Bednar knows who he is. He knows that he has a great responsibility to help lead and guide this church in these latter days. He knows that in the strength of the Lord, he can accomplish all things.
John Stephen Akhwari from Tanzania In 1968 a marathon runner by the name of John Stephen Akhwari represented Tanzania in an international competition. A little over an hour after the winner had crossed the finish line, John Stephen Akhwari.approached the stadium, the last man to complete the journey. Though suffering from fatigue, leg cramps, dehydration, and disorientation, a voice called from within to go on, and so he went on. Afterwards, it was written, Today we have seen a young African runner who symbolizes the finest in human spirit, a performance that gives meaning to the word courage. For some, the only reward is a personal one. There are no medals, only the knowledge that they finished what they set out to do (The Last African Runner, Olympiad Series, written, directed and produced by Bud Greenspan, Cappy Productions, 1976, videocassette). When asked why he would complete a race he could never win, Akhwari replied, My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race; my country sent me to finish the race. He knew who he was an athlete representing the country of Tanzania. He knew his purpose to finish the race. He knew that he had to endure to the finish, so that he could honorably return home to Tanzania. Our mission in life is much the same. We were not sent by Father in Heaven just to be born. We were sent to endure and return to Him with honor. (Elder Robert D. Hales, Behold We Count Them Happy Which Endure General Conference 1998)