Adversity and Humility

...adversity is a necessary part of Heavenly Father's plan for the happiness of His children. If our hearts are right before God, adversity will school us, help us overcome our carnal nature, and nurture the divine spark within us. Adversity helps us see where we need to repent, to bring into subjection baser instincts, to embrace righteousness
and enjoy 'peace of conscience' (Mosiah 4:3)." -Elder Keith B. McMullin

I have been saving this quote all week, waiting to blog on it (and not having time), but thinking about it a lot. I think it really applies to those of us with this issue. I can't help but wonder if we (or at least some of us) are so strong willed that we need a bigger trial to humble us. Still some fight being humbled and demand answers from God and the church, others of us see ourselves as victims and say "poor, pitiful me" rather than being schooled, or worse yet, blame God for punishing or slighting us. We think that the Church asks too much of us (rather than seeing it as what the Lord is asking of us).

After mulling this all week, we went to see "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration" at the Legacy theater next to Temple Square. The Lord's answer to Joseph in Liberty Jail really seemed to apply to this issue:

My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment...Thou art not yet as Job

He continues in the next section to say And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good. The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?

I find it very easy to think I have been given to much too deal with (especially with this issue), and use that as an excuse to give up, but I know I need to remember that all these things shall give me experience and will be for my good. I need to trust in the Lord and what He has in mind for me.