"As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten"

We had transfers not too long ago. I was nervous as I usually am on transfer day and even that night I was still getting used to the many changes that had suddenly occurred. I was praying and felt very down and lost. I simply asked for peace and for the Spirit to be with me. Immediately, the words of a song that I had sung just that afternoon at transfer meeting came into my head: "He is hope when a journey begins. He is strength in the wind. He is faith when my courage wears thin. He is rest when I'm wearied and worn. He's the place where I'm loved and I'm known. When I come unto Christ, I feel like I'm coming home." As these words whispered through my mind, calm gently fell over me and I felt at peace, just as I had asked.
One of the elders who was going home said, "Coming unto Christ IS like coming home. It's wonderful but it's really hard; it hurts. This whole week I've just had to keep thinking, 'Let it burn.'"

A favorite quote of mine (let's be honest: I have TONS of favorite quotes) says,"If you are on the right path, it will always be uphill."
Amen to that!
The times when I think and feel like I'm trying my hardest and the times when I feel like I should be the happiest because I'm being obedient are often the times that are the most trying and frustrating!
What happens?
Well, this is what happens: "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten..." (Revelations 3:19)
Also: "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth...Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." (Hebrews 12:6,11) Isn't that a glorious promise??

'Chasten' as defined by the New Oxford American Dictionary is to, "have a restraining or moderating effect on..." So the Lord, when He chastens us and calls us to repentance, is simply "reining us in," so to speak. He is catching the "natural man" in us by the collar and inviting him to leave. (Mosiah 3:19) We can either focus on the pain that this causes or we can focus on the fact that our Heavenly Father loves us and is only doing this because He knows that what He has in store for us is better than what we have going on right now. ("The Will of God," https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2012-01-014-the-will-of-god?lang=eng)

As we accept the changes that our Father in Heaven is seeking to help us make, we will be happier. It's hard! It hurts! But you know what? "...afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness..." I don't know about you but I know that I want that result: "the peaceable fruit of righteousness" - all of the blessings that our Father in Heaven can and will give to those of His children who are obedient to the commandments and who "...seek...first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness..." (Matthew 6:33)

What'll it take to get us to that point?
Sanctification. Consecration. Holiness. A desire to turn to and rely on the Lord in all things.
In Doctrine and Covenants 101:5 it says, "For all those who will not endure chastening, but deny me, cannot be sanctified."

We cannot be sanctified, or made holy, without chastening. We cannot become consecrated missionaries, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or disciples of Jesus Christ without chastening, rebukes, true and sincere repentance, and changing our behavior, indeed, our very nature in order to bring our will and our being in line and in accordance with that of our Heavenly Father's. ("Becoming a Consecrated Missionary," Tad R. Callister, 2008)
There is always a higher purpose behind the things that the Lord does and behind the things which He allows us to go through. In the case of our chastening, the Lord is seeking to break us down that He may then build us up even higher and stronger and with a deeper and more abiding testimony and conviction of the love of our Father in Heaven and the Savior, for us.
As we become sanctified, made holy, consecrated and dedicated to the Lord and His work of salvation, we will find that we truly are coming home.