The Heavenly Virtue of Patience

If you don’t know me personally, I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormon for the term most used outside of the church.  Over the past weekend, we had General Conference and it was perfect for what I needed to hear.  It’s amazing that General Conference always comes at the exact right time!  For me, there is usually 1-2 talks that really hit me hard and strike a string to where everything the speaker says, I feel is perfect for my life whether I think I need what he’s talking about or not.  This conference session had President Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s talk during priesthood session on Patience.  Check out the full talk here on youtube:

“Patience: The ability to put our desires on hold for a time.” – President Uchtdorf

A few things I have studied this morning:

• Romans 5:3-5 – tribulation leads to patience –> experience –> hope –> not ashamed –> love of God
• 2 Cor 4:17 (BD Pauline Epistles – characteristic of Apostles) – Light afflictions of this world lead to a better reward/glory later in this life or in the next world
• James 5:10-11 – We count them happy that endure (and in President Uchtdorf’s words, not just enduring, but enduring well.)  Isn’t it interesting that even today we count them HAPPY and SUCCESSFUL that have to go through a lot of trials, tribulations, problems, but we only see the successful side of things after the fact.  They had patience to get through their trials.  I believe this principle is viewable today.
• Psalm 46:10 – “Be still, and know that I am God”

“Knowledge and understanding come at the price of patience.” – President Uchtdorf

President Uchtdorf said something like this as well, “We grow through waiting, not receiving.”  How often have you grown physically, mentally, emotionally when you receive the what you have wanted?  When he said that, I had quick flashbacks to every single time I feel like I have grown in life and realize that I grew through the waiting portion (much longer time period) than the receiving portion (a one-time event).

For those of you who had a chance to see General Conference, what was the most memorable thing for you?

Note: See General Conference talks on YouTube immediately here.