I delight in the strength to do hard things.

Life has a way of bringing hard things our way. We can fight it all we want but the hard things will always be there. But they don't have to be quite so hard. In fact, the Savior said:

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." — Matthew 11:28-30.

and some snippits from one of my FAVORITE chapters in the Book of Mormon, from Alma 37:

6Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.

7And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord dothconfound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls.

13O remember, remember, my son Helaman, how strict are the commandments of God. And he said: If ye will keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land—but if ye keep not his commandments ye shall be cut off from his presence.

17For he will fulfil all his promises which he shall make unto you, for he has fulfilled his promises which he has made unto our fathers.

35O, remember, my son, and learn wisdom in thy youth; yea, learn in thy youth to keep the commandments of God.

36Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thydoings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.

37Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.

38And now, my son, I have somewhat to say concerning the thing which our fathers call a ball, or director—or our fathers called it Liahona, which is, being interpreted, a compass; and the Lord prepared it.

39And behold, there cannot any man work after the manner of so curious a workmanship. And behold, it was prepared to show unto our fathers the course which they should travel in the wilderness.

40And it did work for them according to their faith in God; therefore, if they had faith to believe that God could cause that those spindles should point the way they should go, behold, it was done; therefore they had this miracle, and also many other miracles wrought by the power of God, day by day.

41Nevertheless, because those miracles were worked by small means it did show unto them marvelous works. They were slothful, and forgot to exercise their faith and diligence and then those marvelous works ceased, and they did not progress in their journey;

42Therefore, they tarried in the wilderness, or did not travel a direct course, and were afflicted with hunger and thirst, because of their transgressions.

43And now, my son, I would that ye should understand that these things are not without a shadow; for as our fathers were slothful to give heed to this compass (now these things were temporal) they did not prosper; even so it is with things which are spiritual.

44For behold, it is as easy to give heed to the word of Christ, which will point to you a straight course to eternal bliss, as it was for our fathers to give heed to this compass, which would point unto them a straight course to the promised land.

So maybe, its not as hard as we think it is. The theme in all these scriptures is that we can't do hard things by our own strength but by the strength of the Lord and the power provided through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I believe God wants a powerful people. He does not give us trials to weigh us down but to lift us up. But that 'lifting' part can't come until we let it, until we actively invite it and let it become a part of us. Its easy to be slothful. As one of my favorite hymns puts it, sometimes "I'm prone to wander." Never too far, but far enough that I can feel the weight of the hard things and think...what's wrong? Well, I'm grateful for the 'heart' check happens and for the 'return' that is always possible.

I truly delight in the strength to do hard things. I delight to have people in my life who live in their lives an example of delighting in the hard things. To be something we've never before been, we must do things we've never before done.