Victory

So I had a thought & well it's easier to type it (editing wise, I can read it, & I'm faster) then writing it in a journal.  So why not type it & share with those who maybe could benefit as I have?

I've been toying with the idea of quitting & becoming rebellious in regards to my religion.  I get really discouraged when I motivate myself to do everything I'm supposed to be doing & then I fail & have to start the process all over again.  Why pick up?  Why keep trying?  Why not just give into failure?  I decided to read The Miracle of Forgiveness by Pres Kimball to see if that wouldn't give me some hope/reasons to keep going.  Here's what I've discovered in the first 4 pages.

"Throughout the entire journey there is opportunity for learning and growth and development toward the final goal.  We see some people who merely travel, having no aim, direction, destination or purpose.  Without road maps to guide them, they just travel along the way and in varying degrees pick up such things as will please the eye, tickle the vanities, satisfy hungers, quench thirsts, satisfy passions.  And when the end of life draws nigh they have traveled but are little if any closer to their proper destination than when they started.  Regrettably, some have totally lost their way."

We pick ourselves back up & keep trying so that we are closer to our goal of eternal life than when we started!  We are not perfect & will never be in this life.  We shouldn't expect perfection the first 490 times we try, we just need to be closer to perfection than when we started out.  Pres Kimball also said "to do evil is usually easier than to do right."  See I was right all along it is EASIER to give into my weaknesses & quit!

Pres. Kimball then talks about how life has "three segments or estates: pre-mortal, mortal, and immortal."  We all kept our first estate because we came to earth & received a body.  We PROGRESSED onto the second segment mortality.  In the pre-mortal world there was a decision to be made either come to earth & get a body, or follow Satan & not receive a body.  Thinking about it in that way makes it seem like a no brainer!  However, Satan convinced a third of the hosts of Heaven A THIRD!!  That's a lot of people who were deceived and choose to do evil because it was easier.  If Satan could convince a third of the hosts of Heaven to follow him do you think it was more than a no brainer?  Was it kind of like this life praying & pondering & being confused as to what we wanted/should do?

"Our spirit bodies went through a LONG period of growth and development and training and, having PASSED THE TEST SUCCESSFULLY, were finally admitted to this earth and to mortality."  We ALL PASSED the first test!!  Now we're in the middle of the second test are we going to quit & give into Satan like the third of the hosts of Heaven or are we going to continue to pick ourselves up & progress through this life so that at the end we can look back & be satisfied that we continued to choose the right even though it was harder?! 

We have been victorious over Satan once we can be victorious over him again!  Doesn't that give you HOPE knowing that you defeated him once so that when this life gets difficult you know you CAN pick up and try again because progress is better than no progress?!

Makes you wonder if eternal life is going to be more difficult than this one...  Or will we finally be perfect & not be deceived by Satan's cunning power?