" I didn't know I had it in me" "...Nevertheless, I have been highly favored of the Lord..."

I really liked this little story from Brother Hafen's talk "Covenant Marriage" about when his wife stayed up late helping their 4th grade son with a project.  At the end of the project, the son ran and gave her a hug. After asking how she did it, she told Brother Hafen, "I just made up my mind that I couldn't leave him no matter what.  I didn't know I had it in me."
I love how he compared it to marriage.  It is after we make a commitment and keep it that we receive strength. He said "When we observe the covenants we make at the altars of sacrifice, we receive reservoirs of strength."  We will all have challenges in our lives.  The Lord intended it to be that way.  In the introduction to the first chapter of Nephi, he talks about the many afflictions he has experiences and yet he says he has been highly favored of the Lord.  It is interesting that those two things are in the same sentence.  We can learn from him that the Lord loves us and will not take away our afflictions, rather, that is how he draws us closer to Him.  Sometimes trials are seen as punishments but rather they are opportunities to learn by experience to learn from our Father in Heaven.  It is through our experiences that we become closer to and more like Him.