FAITH.. it's what you DO.

 

 The sidewalks in the town where I live are very peculiar.... Once they are wet from the rain they become very... slippery... We were walking to visit someone with sister west and sister su yesterday, when sister west slipped a little. I quietly giggled to myself when all of the sudden my feet were sliding out of control, at first I caught myself, when my right foot slipped into my left foot, before I knew it I was flat on my back lying there, LAUGHING. As I sat up I quickly shot glances around to see who was watching... at first I thought I got away with just the three other sisters... Then I noticed the porch across the street was full of young guys, laughing equally... or maybe even harder than we were. At this moment in my life I wanted to just lay there and disappear into the ground... But I couldn't... So I stood up and continued on walking, or more so running to the front porch of whom we were about to visit. Although I felt embarrassed I continued on. Throughout the rest of the day I thought to myself... Had I stepped more cautiously after seeing sister west slip, had I walked on the grass instead, I felt as though all dignity had been lost.... FOREVER... okay maybe not forever. My ego would someday repair itself. You get the point I am sure.

  Anyways.... It’s not about the fall, what I could have done to prevent the fall, or who was watching, all that mattered was GETTING BACK UP. President Uchtdorf did an amazing talk at the priesthood session this year about getting back up. (YOU CAN DO IT NOW!)

  We all have that "If I would have...." "I should have..." "If only I didn't..." "How could I???" "What was I thinking..?" "I should have gone here 10 minutes later..." "Why didn't I follow that gut feeling?'' Moment in life. STOP RIGHT THERE. Don't think another should have, could have, or would have thought. You can't change your past however; you can change your future.

  Step into the future with a new brightness of hope. Remember how it feels to think should have, could have, would have.... Remember how that moment feels and move forward doing the best you can to avoid those thoughts in the future.

  How blessed are we to have a loving Father in Heaven that knew we would step off the path, slip and fall while on the path and occasionally feel like all is lost. He knew we would come to Earth and it would become hard to stay focused on His glory, therefore, He created this perfect totally flawless plan that would make it possible for all to make return to him some day as long as we exercised our freedom to choose for righteousness.

REPENTANCE IS REAL. To repent is to CHANGE. As we repent we receive a fresh view on life, ourselves, others and Our Heavenly Father. 

Although in that moment when I slipped and fell, I didn't want to face the porch of men, I didn't want to stand back up, It hurt my pride, my backside and maybe even ego... however, I stood up. If you fall off the horse, YOU GET BACK ON before fear has a moment to step in. Fear that it isn't possible, fear that it's too late, fear of not being enough. You are enough! It is never too late! IT IS POSSIBLE!

 Through Christ it is possible to stand back up. No matter what amount of pain, no matter how humiliated we feel, it is all possible. He overcame the world so that we wouldn't have to. He suffered so that we won’t be alone. He lives and He loves us all.