Our loving Heavenly Father helps us with tasks we are given.  The Lord does this through His grace.  Grace is defined as, "The grace of God helps us every day.  It strengthens us to do good works we could not do on our own.  The Lord promised that if we humble ourselves before Him and have faith in Him, His grace will help us overcome all our personal weaknesses".  The Lord doesn't do our tasks for us, or always tell us how to do it, but once we do our part He is willing to help us with the rest.  In the Book of Mormon we read about the Brother of Jared what he should do.  Instead of the Lord giving the Brother of Jared a candle, or a light bulb, He gave him an opportunity to grow and solve problems by himself.  In Ether 3:4, the Brother of Jared presents his solution to the Lord, "And I know, O Lord, that thou hast all power, and can do whatsoever thou wilt for the benefit of man; therefore touch these stones, O Lord, with thy finger, and prepare them that they may shine forth in darkness; and they shall shine forth unto us in the vessels which we have prepared, that we may have light while we shall cross the sea." The Brother of Jared was able to call upon the the Lord for help and he was able to receive that since he did his part, he asked the Lord for guidance not for an answer.  

Nephi was asked by the Lord to build a ship, In 1Nephi 17 we read, "And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto me, saying: Thou shalt construct a ship, after the manner which I shall show thee, that I may carry thy people across these waters.  And I said: Lord, whither shall I go that I may find ore to molten, that I may make tools to construct the ship after the manner which thou hast show
n unto me? Ad it came to pass that the Lord told me whither I should go to find ore, that I might make tools.  And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did make a bellows wherewith to blow the fire, of the skins of beasts; and after I had made a bellows, that I might have wherewith to blow the fire, I did smite two stones together that I might make fire." Nephi was given a job, not a very easy job, but the Lord provided him with a way to accomplish it.  He wasn't given all he needed, but he used his skills and brains to first do his part, then receive help from the Lord.  

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
all the king's horses and all the king's men
couldn't put Humpty together again
but, the Kind full of grace appeared at the spot
and put back the egg like the fall there'd been not.
On the shell not a crack and the egg looked like new.
But insides still scrambled Humpty asked what to do.
"Oh Master!" he said, "On the outside I'm well, but insides an omelet-i'm sorry i fell!"
"Is there something to do that could restore my yolk? 'cause I don't feel quite whole if my insides are broke."
"My child," said the King. "That's just what I do.  But not by myself-I also need you.
You must be sincere.  Your heart be contrite, just don't fall again, please, try with all your might."
"I won't," said the egg, "I'll try not to fall."

Then Humpty was whole-insides and all.

Living amongst single adults I learned the importance of not judging one another.  Everyone has their demons to fight.  After learning about my friends’ demons, it really struck me that we all go through hard trials.  Some might have little to no self-worth, others suffer from health issues, others have addictive behavior, and others have past demons that they need to overcome. 

There is a way that we can all overcome them.  There is someone out there to help.  That is our Savior Jesus Christ.  He felt everything for us.  He is the only one that can help us. 

While praying in the Garden of Gethsemane Christ knew what he was going to go through was going to be hard.  He didn’t fully understand how hard it would be.  He asked Peter, James, and John to sit with Him because He wanted the support, but they fell asleep.  Then Christ slowly walked into the Garden and He fell to His face.  Everything he was carrying on His shoulders was too much.  Starting the prayer Christ said slowly, “Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.”  Christ didn’t want this weight on Him, and saying nevertheless he turned the focus back to God.  He felt the weight of everything and He knew it was hard, but He wanted to do it for us.  He wanted us to succeed. 

Christ felt everything.  He felt, pains, guilt, shame, anxiety, depression, and so much more.  He felt sickness, temptations – Satan turned his full force on Christ this night – infirmities.  The last part of the Atonement was what truly was hardest for Christ to bear.  DC 88:106, “The Lamb of God hath overcome and trodden the wine-press alone, even the wine-press of the fierceness of the wrath of the Almighty God.”  Christ went to Hell and faced the isolation and wrath of God, for us.  He did this so that if we repent we can overcome it and we don’t have to face the pain that Christ felt. 

So even though we all have our afflictions and pains and guilt and sadness we can overcome it and be free, if we only repent and put our faith in God. 

We all have our demons and fears deep down inside, and we ALL have them.  We only need to repent and have faith in Christs so we can overcome them all.  He did this for us, so why not use it?   

When hearing the word repentance what are some of the first words that come to mind?  One can think, hope, love, care, and clean.  Pain, sadness, and sorrow also come to mind.  Repentance is something beautiful, but to get there one must go through sorrow.  It is possible to get to that beauty though and feel that hope, but we must go through the hard times first.

    

I love the story of Alma the Younger.  He was an unkind and faithless person, but through repentance he became one of the greatest prophets in the Book of Mormon.  Of his experience he says, “And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!”  The pain was transformed to great joy.  Pain can only become joy if we repent and do so with our hearts. 

Repentance is how we become more like God.  We are putting the natural man off and taking steps to become more like Him.  He knows that it isn’t always easy for us, so we are given the gift of repentance to continually better ourselves and become more like Him.  We must use the gift and use it as He instructs us. 

Claudio D. Zivic wrote about the importance of godly sorrow, as part of the repentance process, in October 2007 conference, “There is only one way to rid ourselves of this suffering.  It is by means of sincere repentance.  I learned that if I could present myself unto the Lord a broken heart and a contrite spirit, feeling godly sorrow for my sins, humbling myself, being repentant of my faults, He, through his miraculous atoning sacrifice, could erase those sins and remember them no more.  If we don’t experience the godly sorrow that results from our sins or unrighteous actions, it will be impossible for us to remain on the way of outstanding people” (After All We Can Do).

For the longest time, I knew that God loves me, I still know that, but feeling it is harder.  We all feel God’s love differently.  Some feel it through other people, some by noticing blessings, and others by getting answers to their prayers. 

A scripture found in 1Nephi proclaims God’s love for us, “I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things” (1Nephi 11:17).   We don’t have to understand everything, but we must remember that God does love us. How could watching your perfect son not be a manifestation of love for his other children.  When we know that God loves us we practice more faith in Him and we have Hope for the future and his plan for us. 

While sitting in the temple one day, I was searching for a scripture, and I accidentally came across a different one, Isaiah 49:15-16, “Can a woman forget her suckling child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet I will not forget thee.  Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; they walls are continually before me.”  After coming across this, I felt for a moment, Gods love for me.  Christ’s love for me. 

They can’t forget us, and they do love us.  Satan makes us forget that.  He died for us and God sent Him to do so.  To constantly remind us we should be grateful for all the blessings we do have.  We also should pray constantly to not forget.      

Matthew 14 tells an interesting story.  John the Baptist has died.  Apart from him being his cousin, Christ was upset because He then knew that His death was coming.  John prepared the way for Christ, so his death meant that Christ’s was upon him.  Christ, after finding out, only desired to be alone and pray to God.  On his way to the desert the people thronged him.  They were praying to be healed, Christ only wanted to be alone, but he healed their sick and helped them.  This is such a great example of service.  Christ helping others when his problems were so much bigger.  There are people that do this in the world today, Bishops, moms, dads, and some very service-oriented people. 

Christ is the perfect example in all things.  He was baptized, though He was perfect.  He knew that we needed an example to follow.  He was patient and caring to everyone who sought Him out, even those who wanted to harm Him. 

Since being here on the earth we are charged with a commandment, to be like Christ.  Heavenly Father knows that that feat is near impossible.  We are imperfect humans who make mistakes and are tempted almost every second of the day.  We strive to be like Christ, day by day.  Christ charged us, “Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am.”

This is a day by day process, and one that will be completed in the next life.  That is why we have the Atonement though, it helps us, it gives us the opportunity to be perfected.

Patience with others, while they are trying to be more like Christ is also hard, but important.  Christ teaches us in 2 Nephi, “Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men.”  We must endure with faith in Christ, and be like Him, but we must also love all men, in their troubles and sadness.