One time I did a study on what it means to "be spiritual," or to be better at having the Spirit with you. I found a talk from Elder Oaks that really opened my eyes. In his Oct 1985 Conference talk, he defined spirituality as "being able to keep an eternal perspective." After I read that talk I tried to go through the scriptures and find good examples of people who were good at keeping an eternal perspective.
Other than Jesus Himself, Joseph in Egypt is one of my favorite examples. First, his brothers tried to kill him, then instead sold him to spice traders. He was passed on to Egypt and then sold again to Potiphar. After working hard as a slave, he was tempted by Potiphar's wife, then tricked into going to prison. While in prison, he was forgotten about by someone he helped, and had to spend even more time as a prisoner. All of that without "deserving" any of it.
When he finally revealed himself to his brothers, rather than holding a grudge or punishing them for all that had happened, he instead kept an eternal perspective: "But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive" (Genesis 50:20).
After all of his hard trials, he realized that he might not have been able to save his family and the Egyptians without spending those hard years in servitude and in prison. Sometimes it is almost impossible for me to keep an eternal perspective during difficult trials, but I like to think of Joseph during those times. Even if he wasn't able to stay positive DURING his trials, but in those experiences time can be a great teacher. From Joseph (and Elder Oaks) I have learned that I can stay positive and keep the Spirit with me when I try to have an eternal perspective and see what things I can learn after it is all over.
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