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| After I wrote this article, I saw this picture and could not resist it! It’s PERFECT! Sometimes you just gotta hold your head high and keep marching forward! |
I know so many people who are suffering from health issues, terminal illnesses, financial troubles, broken marriages, struggles at work, temptations that haunt them, children who are straying from what they have been taught, the death of a spouse or child or parent, being a victim of abuse….you name it! These are serious and stressful situations. They are life crushing and life changing, and so hard to deal with. How do we manage and survive these things?
There’s only one answer. We need to rely on our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ and the love they have for us. It is real. They know us and love us, and we will feel their love and help when we reach out to them with our humble hearts and honest prayers. We need to trust in the Atonement of Jesus Christ and that it can heal us and make up the difference when we have done all we can. We need to understand that if we are trying and worthy, we can have the wonderful blessing of the companionship of the Holy Ghost, and we can be guided and protected and taught.
COURAGE – We need to have the courage to move forward in the right path, regardless of the consequences. We need to have the courage to just try to hang on one more day. We need to have the courage to try a little harder and do a little better. We need to have the courage to turn things over to the Lord and let go of the burdens that weigh us down or cause us so much hurt and pain. We need to have courage to believe that there are better days ahead and blessings waiting for us.
One of my favorite scriptures is Joshua 1:9:
“Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest.”
We can find many stories of courage in the scriptures – The prophet Daniel stood up for his beliefs and what he knew was right, even though he was threatened with death. The 2000 Sons of Helaman (the Stripling Warriors) were examples of faith and courage to obey God, to follow the teachings of their parents to be obedient in all things, and to trust that the Lord would protect them. I think of the courage of Esther who risked her life to save her people. The list goes on and on. And we all know of modern day examples of courage from family and friends in our own lives.
May we have the courage we personally need to pick ourselves up and move forward to happier and better days. Our attitude will make all the difference!
Here is a beautiful 3 minute video of examples of courage:
I couldn’t get the video to load here, so just click this link:
The Courage of Esther and Others