Being Succored

I wanted to share today one of my favorite quotes from C. S. Lewis: 

“No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. . . . You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness — they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means — the only complete realist.”

On days when I’m feeling overwhelmed, I remember this quote and it reminds me not only that I am not alone, but that my Savior, who walks with me through life, knows exactly what I am feeling not because He has studied it or learned about it but because He has experienced it. AND that means He knows how to help me. He has conquered whatever I am battling against and He knows how to withstand it! 

As Paul says, “For in that [Jesus Christ] himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted” (Hebrews 2:18). Succor mean to “run under” which gives me the mental image of my Savior holding me aloft in order to help me through my trials, temptations, and battles.

Oh, how grateful I am for a Savior!

No Temptation Here!

During one of my Book of Mormon classes on Monday a student asked a question that more of us should ask. She wanted to know how she could make herself do what was right when she really didn’t want to do it. There are times when doing what is wrong seems easier or more fun or much more enjoyable. Her honesty in asking delighted me and I opened the question up to the class for their answers and was delighted all over again.

First I was surprised at the number of hands that went up immediately. But it was their answers that astounded me. They had some wonderful things to say and two of them especially I want to share. One young man said that when he feels tempted to do something wrong and can feel himself wanting to give in to the temptation, he imagines his mother lecturing him and that convinces him to do what is right. No one said this, but I’m not the only one that would be influenced to do what is right just by thinking about the disappointment it would cause my parents if I did what was wrong. That is another motivator.

One of the young women in my class said that when she’s tempted she immediately opens up her scriptures and begins to read. She said she thinks the adversary is tempting her less and less because he’s beginning to realize that if he tempts her she’s going to read scripture and he doesn’t want her to do that.

These young people are amazing! I think they teach me more than I teach them!

(Check back later. I couldn't find a picture I liked for this post and so I'm going to take a picture of that class later today to add to this.)