Progress

There is nothing in this life that will come our way that we can't handle as long as we have faith in a loving Heavenly Father. Last week I spent a few days down in Escalante backpacking with some young men from my church ward. It was an amazing experience and I was able to relate many of the experiences I had there to the trials and hardships of life. I was impressed with the quality of these young men and I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for this trip with them.

As we hiked through the narrow slot canyons, down a river, and up the sides of mountains I thought a lot about our journey through life. Our last hike was probably the most memorable. It was the end of a long day and the last 2.5 miles were up a mountain. It was 98 degrees and we were running low on water. From the bottom of the mountain, the trek back seemed daunting. As we began the hike I even found myself having the thought "I can do hard things, I can do hard things." Sometimes as we are struggling through the uphill battles of life we have to reassure ourselves that we can do hard things. We need to constantly be moving forward with faith, with a determination to make it to our destination. Typically I would say it's never good to look back but when we made it to the top of the mountain it was an amazing feeling to look back at where we started. As I look back at the uphill battle I have faced, I am amazed to see where I started. It is a good feeling to see progress! We need to allow ourselves to see our improvements and where we have grown! But the feeling I remember most as I looked back from the top of the mountain is how much a loving Heavenly Father has helped me along the way. He has given me strength and courage. He has lifted me up. I would be stuck at the bottom somewhere if it wasn't for Him. I love my Heavenly Father.

My particular uphill battle is not finished. I still have other mountains to climb. Life seems to be a continuous uphill battle. But we can progress! We can push forward with faith. We can give ourselves a pat on the back everyone once and a while and then keep moving. Our Heavenly Father knows how difficult life can be. He KNOWS. He also knows how to help us! We are not alone in our struggles. I know without a doubt that God loves us, and he knows we can't be perfect so he wants to see PROGRESS. He wants to see us climbing life's mountains with courage and faith in Him. And he will be there every step of the way. We can all feel the joy of progress in our lives. We also can all feel the gentle guidance from a loving Heavenly Father, especially when our mountains seem overwhelming.

I want anyone who reads this to know that they have a Heavenly Father who lives and loves them. His love is eternal and pure. He knows you and your struggles. He is real and he desires for you to return to Him. He will help you PROGRESS. Do not fear your mountains. Climb them!

Do Good

I was reading in the scriptures recently and it spoke about "doing good continually" and that if we did so we would receive many spiritual rewards. As I look back over the past months I will say that choosing to do good was not the easy choice. At the time my mistakes completely destroyed my life and hurt many others. I will never try to justify my actions or make excuses. But there was a moment, a very distinct moment, where I had to choose what path I would take. Taking the worldly path and giving up would have been EASIER at the time. Thankfully I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and put things in place to help me make the right choice. And that choice was to DO GOOD.

Doing good continually is not easy but I do believe that it becomes easier as we experience failure and success. The more good we do the easier it becomes and the more we recognize the Savior in our lives. The road to change is not an easy one. When you are going down the wrong path it is as if you are running down a steep hill and as you continue down it you pick up speed. Many times our lives come to a screeching halt at the bottom of the hill. This can be referred to as "rock bottom". If we allow ourselves to get to this point, our lives and our souls are in serious jeopardy. But we still can make a choice, even when we hit rock bottom. We can either stay at the bottom and bury ourselves or we can choose to do good and begin the long journey back up the hill. I will tell you, that even though the journey back is difficult, it is the RIGHT choice. It is the choice that we all must make. Whether we have fallen down a little hill or a huge mountain, we need to choose to do good continually. The Lord will provide the necessary assistance and we are never alone.

I know that life is hard at times. I know that many people struggle with many different things. I know that many of us have fallen and fallen hard. But I also know that we can turn around, face our demons, and choose to do GOOD. We can make it back from anything. It takes strong determination and a sincere effort but it can be done. Satan will be relentless in his attempts to destroy us. We will be fighting a battle. A difficult battle. A never ending battle. But we can win the battle every day by doing good and doing it sincerely. We will find peace and we fill find strength. We will find truth and we will find love. We will inevitably trip up or fall down on our journey back, but we will get right back up and continue forward to our destination.

I hope and pray that my experiences can help people on their individual journeys. I hope that my mistakes can be used for good, to help people to choose good. I hope that my experiences may help others avoid the same mistakes. I hope and pray those that I have hurt may come to know that I am sorry and that I have chosen to do good.

Although there are consequences, and at times severe consequences for our mistakes, it is never to late and it is always better to make the right choice. You can be healed, you can overcome, and you can DO GOOD.

You Can Do Hard Things

Stop beating yourself up. You are a good person. Don't let negativity and doubt control your thoughts. The only way you can learn to love again is if you learn to love yourself. You can do hard things and come out on top. Don't beat yourself up anymore. Look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself you can do it and that you are a child of God who can do anything with His help. He loves you and cares about you and believes in you. Believe in yourself. Be confident. Be strong. Don't beat yourself up.