Have You Been Invited To Grow? / Thoughts From My Reading This Last Week

As I read in the July 2013 Ensign this last week a part of one of the talks (To The Tender Wives) really impressed me. I think why it did is because there was a time a few years ago when I really thought the trials I was going through was some kind of punishment. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that but I really wasn't in a good place at the time. Since then I have learned other wise about the trials in my life and see what a blessing they have been. I thought what I read in this article was a good way to look at and approach our trials.  These are a couple of quotes from the article:

"This trial was neither a punishment nor the result of my mistake

 but rather an invitation to grow. "

After reading this article I also was made aware of a talk by Richard G. Scott  in the 1995 General Conference.   He says:

"When trials are not consequences of your disobedience, they are evidence that the Lord feels you are prepared to grow more.  He therefore gives you experiences that stimulate growth, understanding, and compassion which polish you for your everlasting benefit. "

He also says:

"To exercise faith is to trust that the Lord knows what He is doing with you and that He can accomplish it for your eternal good even though you cannot understand how He can possibly do it. "

and this last on I found very deep

"The Lord's plan is to exalt you to live with Him and be greatly blessed. The rate at which you qualify is generally set by your capacity to mature, to grow, to love and to give of yourself.  He is preparing you to be a god. You cannot understand fully what that means, yet, He knows."

 So what I got out of this reading this last week and what I have always learned but sometimes forget is that unless they are caused by our disobedience the trials we have in this life have a purpose which is to help us learn those attributes our Heavenly Father and our Savior have.  They know what we need to go through to learn those things even though we don't understand them. But if we endure out trials with faith we will learn the things They want us to learn. I know when I look back on some of my trials I can see how they have changed me or the things that I learned from them and think I don't think I could have learned those things any other way or as deep as I did through those experiences. And most of all I see how they have helped my testimony grow and have brought me closer to my Heavenly Father and Savior. 

So my question is have you been invited to grow?