"You keep your chin up. It will be all right in the end."

If the Lord gives us challenges so that we can be stronger,
at this point I should win an Iron Man competition.

Except I don't feel that way. 

In these moments of weakness, when the Lord asks you to muster up the strength to keep trying,  Satan works even harder to make you feel inadequate.

It is in these moments that you have to somehow step back and remind yourself what an incredible person you are.  You are talented, smart, beautiful, very much needed and very much loved.  If you can't see those things right now, at least remember YOU ARE A CHILD OF GOD.  He loves you with all of His being, and only wants to see you succeed and be happy. 

He wants you to come home to Him, but you must first be challenged.  You must be made perfect through trials.  He gave you a way to be made perfect again, through the Atonement, the sacrifice of his son, Jesus Christ. He will not give you a challenge you cannot overcome with his help. 

He knows YOU, better than you know yourself.  He knows your hidden strengths.  What you may think is a weakness can become a strength.

Do all that you can.  Ask for his help - HE WANTS TO.

Don't Quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow–
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor’s cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out–
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit–
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

–Lawrence J. Wilcox (1940-2010), Ottawa ON