DIVISION LINE

**Journaling post - something I just wanted to jot down to remember.**

There is this sweet, sweet lady in my ward that I've really come to respect & love over the past year. She's the Family History Leader in our ward & has taught me A TON!! I love family history & couldn't have asked for a better teacher. She has such a strong testimony of this work & you would not believe the amount of work she has done & the stories she can tell!

We were talking today {she always has some wonderful insight to share with me} about trials. She's had a fair share of trials in her life & we were just talking about kids in general. We were also talking about loved ones we know going through difficult times. I expressed concern for someone I know going through some rather difficult times right now. Well, this dear woman always knows the right thing to say!

She told me she was just talking with one of her daughters about this same subject & that she's decided that those with difficult trials are on the balancing line, so to speak. Everyone has trials & life is hard. Some really do get handed some really hard things, though. These trials make you stronger. We all know that. But, stronger for what? She told me her theory was that they make you stronger to know which side you're on.

For some reason this made total sense to me. Something that is common sense if you think about it, but it struck me. This is something I really needed my specific loved one to hear. Trials make you stronger, yes. They challenge you to decide beyond a reasonable doubt which side you'll be on in the last days. Could you really be strong enough to stand up for what's right without gaining the strength to do so from your trials? This sister told me - she's had her trials. She's done her duty & she knows without a doubt which side she's on.

Through tough times we should all remember that we're becoming stronger. Sure it's hard & flat out sucks at times, but in the end, we'll know what side we truly stand on. If the opportunity arises to stand for the truth against something extremely difficult - will we have the strength to fight for what's right? Will we know what side of the fence we're on?