I can do hard things

After church today I decided it might be a nice way to remember and assimilate what I learned in church today if I wrote a small entry about it here each Sunday. Today, especially in Relief Society, we talked a lot about doing hard things. The lesson was, I think, on why we have trials and how we can overcome them. Well, most of what I was thinking about wasn't regarding trials so much as just things that happen in life. Cars wear out, you get injured, something doesn't go as planned. I don't really see things like that as trials, I just see them as natural consequences of the fall and living in an imperfect world. But whether it's a trial, a consequence, or an opportunity sometimes things in life are just not easy. When those times come we have 2 options: 1. Bail or avoid it, 2. Get to work and do what you gotta do to get through it. I think in general Heavenly Father would council us to go for approach #2.  I remember a member of the general Young Women's presidency, Sis. Elaine S. Dalton I think, giving a talk once where a friend had a sign that said "I can do hard things". She changed it a touch to say "With God, I can do hard things" or something. I suppose I can find the actual quote and citation since I am at a computer and using the internet already...
(http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/a-return-to-virtue?lang=eng, A Return to Virtue, CR Oct. 2008, Elaine S. Dalton)
so, “In the strength of the Lord, I can do all things.” it is. And it's true. I don't know how many of the hard things in life Heavenly Father directly prescribes for us and how many we choose or just happen, but I know that where there is a hard thing there is a way to get through it stronger and better than before with Christ and our Heavenly Father helping us. So I don't need to fear hard things, but welcome them as they will mean a stronger, better me. An example from right now, I have chosen to do grad school. It's looking like it's going to be much more of a hard thing than I anticipated (I'm not an undergrad anymore... sigh. it was so easy.) But I shouldn't let myself get scared away. I chose it, and I can do it. I think it's probably about time I did something hard. I've spent 2 years just hanging out and doing different things. Yes, seminary teaching was hard- but for entirely different reasons. That was hard emotionally and mentally. This will be hard mentally and physically. I won't have the time I'm accustomed to for fun and friends. I won't have the leisure of leaving my work at work and having the rest of the day for myself. But I'm confident that when I receive that degree it will mean more to me than just about anything else I've done because it was hard. And who knows, maybe in a few weeks this won't seem like such a hard thing, once I'm back in practice and going full throttle again. But no matter what I know I will be a better person for not running away to find another path that's easier for me to climb.