The Strength to Endure

The Strength to Endure

Elder Richard J. Maynes

What stood out to me:

1. As we temporarily endure the challenges we can solve and as we continue to endure the challenges we cannot solve, it is important to remember that the spiritual strength we develop will help us successfully endure all the challenges we face in life.

2. Brothers and sisters, we have a loving Heavenly Father who has designed our earthly existence so that we can individually learn the lessons we need to learn to qualify for eternal life in His presence.

3. If we honestly and sincerely repent, the Atonement can help us become clean, change our nature, and successfully endure our challenges.

4. Endurance is an important principle found within the doctrine of Jesus Christ. It is important because the quality of our eternal future is proportional to our ability to endure in righteousness.

5.  Our ability to endure to the end in righteousness will be in direct proportion to the strength of our testimony and the depth of our conversion.

6.  We need to study and learn the fundamental principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and then we must do our very best to live them. That is how we can become disciples of Jesus Christ, and that is how we build an enduring testimony.

7. As an anonymous author once said, "You must become the rock the river cannot wash away."

8. Because we face challenges everyday, it is important that we work on our spiritual stamina everyday. When we develop spiritual stamina the false traditions of the world, as well as our personal daily challenges, will have little negative impact on our ability to endure in righteousness.

9. The race that is set before us on this earth is an endurance race filled with obstacles. The obstacles in this race are the challenges we wake up to each morning. We are here on earth to run the race, to exercise our moral agency, and to choose between right and wrong. In order to honorably and successfully finish the race and return to our Heavenly Father, we will need to pay the price of dedication, perseverance, and self-discipline. We need to get into spiritual shape. We need to develop spiritual stamina. We need strong testimonies that will lead to true conversion, and as a result we will find within ourselves the inner peace and strength needed to endure whatever challenges we may face.