Endurance carries great reward at the dais of Christ. But you can’t endure unless there are things to endure. Thus, God provides for temporary pains and hassles that we might endure them via the spirit of God within us­—one of the fruits of that spirit being patience.

Enduring is neither glamorous nor personally fulfilling. But that’s because we don’t now realize how valuable it is. The celestial world does, and so they are looking on with great interest. Paul says that we are a theater to angels (1 Corinthians 4:9). These celestial eyes gaze with fascination upon what we deem as “merely surviving.” But to them, surviving the end of this eon with one’s faith intact is one of the most valuable things a son or daughter of God can do.