Be Strong and of Good Courage

Paris is The Man...



This guy and his video inspire me... Every time I watch it, I feel like I need to do better. A wise friend of mine (ahem Salah! hah) once said, "I wont ever be a product of my environment, my environment will be a product of me!"  That struck me... Do I ever fall when life's hardships get me down? Do I crack under the weight and pressure of things out of my control? Or do I take the proverbial (sometimes seemingly rotten) lemons and make the best dang lemonade you've ever tasted?! I like to think I do the latter, but I know I am probably kidding myself and could do much much better. So I guess the question is, how can I make sure I am rising to the occasion, and lifting others while I go?


We need courage and faith to be able to rise to the occasion. We need to have the strength to be able to recognize our weaknesses, and change. We need to trust in the Lord, that as we do His will and move forward, we will help create around us positive environments. I'm going to go ahead and cite the two scriptures I did in my earlier two Blogs. I know, I know, I should find some new ones, but I really want to stress the importance and Impact of those two Scriptures.  In Joshua 1:9, the Lord tells us to "be strong and of good courage." He's telling us not to be afraid, because the Lord will always be with us. That is powerful! Anytime we have to rise to the occasion, we should never doubt or have fear, but trust in the Lord as we press forward. Nephi tells us in verse 7 of chapter 3  that as long as we are doing what the Lord has commanded, HE will prepare the way for us. He will mark the path and clear the brush, we just need to put forth the faith and do it!

We need to be like Indiana Jones in the Last Crusade... You know, right before he can get to the Grail, his last test is to take that leap of faith, and trust. So, he leaps out and although he cant see the path, he makes it to the other side... K maybe its a weak analogy, but you get the point!

The Lord has so much in store for us. He wants for us to grow and to be blessed, and the only way we can do that is by passing through tough times. I know for me and myself, I would not be who I am today, nor feel the way I feel about this gospel, if it weren't for the difficult times, and the miracles I witnessed as I put my faith and trust in the Lord and moved forward. That is the whole reason we are here on earth, so that we can learn how to be happy, and grow in those times of hardship. There are always things we can be better at, things that we can change to improve. If we have the strength to recognize those things, and the courage to exercise faith and move forward, blessings we could never have imagined will be ours.