Enduring in Faith and Hope

What it Means to Endure to the End

At the concept of this blog, we wanted to concentrate on enduring to the end. Like most everyone that has a Christian background, the phrase, “he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved,” I focus on the word “end” in that quote (Matthew 24:13). There will be an end to having to endure the negative aspects of life and I will be able to enjoy all the good things hereafter. The problem with that thinking is that the here and now is centered as being a negative experience; and, that is not true. There have been many good things that have happened in my life—I found my soul mate, I held my baby boy and saw him smile, I graduated from college, and I have had many other experiences of life that were enjoyable and happy. On the other hand, each thing that I have just listed, I had to have many trials to get those happy moments, and after each of these happy moments came other hardships and sadness. The point is, that as I have lived my life, I have had happy times and I have had sad times, and not in any order or correlation with each other. Because I had a good moment, does not mean I am due to have a bad moment; or vice versa, I had a bad moment I am due for something good to happen to me.

The other part of fixating on the word “end” is there is a belief there will be a stopping point in all of this. The question that always arises when something bad is happening, “when will this all end?” The problem with that answer is that no one alive knows that answer. Since I believe that there is life after death, then my spirit must keep a memory of what I have done during this life. I will bring different attributes with me, or in other words, attitudes, habits and other desires will stay within my soul. So, in that case, the end of my physical life on earth is not the end. So, I will continue to have happy moments and bad moments after death. Therefore, it is folly to believe that when I die, all misery will end and everything will be perfect and happy.

I am a person who likes to dream of all the wonderful things I will never accomplish. I focus so far into the future that I am not actually preparing myself for the destinies of which I am dreaming. Like many foolish people, I am waiting for this end event to occur, and not preparing for it. Since I am struggling with the loss of my child and I am hoping for the resurrection to occur so he can have his perfect body, I am neglecting what I should be doing today for me to partake in my son’s resurrection. I needed to focus on how to endure to the end. And the key word in the quote is “endure” and not “end.” How do I endure this incredible hardship and keep moving forward?

As I was studying what it means to endure to the end I found this scripture, “And all they who suffer persecution for my name, and endure in faith, though they are called to lay down their lives for my sake yet shall they partake of all this glory” (D&C 101:35). What caught my attention was “endure in faith.” That was what I was looking for, I need to endure in faith. What I think is great about this passage is that we can have many hardships even death, but if we are faithful we will partake in Heavenly Father’s glory. The key here is enduring in faith now.

The aspect of enduring to the end is the hope of life being better (doesn’t mean hardships won’t happen), being resurrected, and being with my family forever. I have hope to see that my boy will have his perfect body, and I will be able to be with him and my wife forever. That is why this blog is not just focusing on enduring in faith, but also enduring with the hope for things to get better. To me, enduring to the end, is enduring in faith and hope now.