Physical and Spiritual Injuries

     When I was 14 years old, going into 9th grade, I was playing summer baseball with some other high school players. One afternoon, we were playing a game at Skyline High School and I was batting leadoff. In the top of the first inning, I led off the game by hitting a double. After a few pitches, I realized that I had the pitcher timed and I could steal 3rd base. Without a signal from our 3rd base coach, I attempted a steal. I slid headfirst into 3rd base, beating the throw, but when I stood up something was wrong with my hand. My coach pointed it out to me, and I saw a big gash in my right hand with a lot of blood coming out. I rushed to the dugout and began pouring water over it in an attempt to slow down the bleeding and see how bad the cut was. I walked out to my parents in the stands and they immediately packed up their things and drove us out of there. We drove straight to our doctor's office, where he stitched up my hand. My dad saw my tendon before it was sown up. Growing up, I was lucky to avoid serious injuries. On that day I had my hand stitched up, and the only other thing that happened to me was when I broke my right ring finger, when I was 9, while ironically sliding into 3rd base.

     The moral of the story is this. When my injury occurred, I didn't wait until the end of the game to take care of it. We rushed to the doctor's office and fixed it right away to avoid any further injury.

     Nobody in this life is perfect. In each and every day, we will have a battle with sin. No matter how great or small, I believe that each of us sin every day. Nobody in our church claims to be perfect because only one man has accomplished that feat in the history of the earth, and he died on the cross after suffering for all the sins of mankind. At the end of each day, when we kneel down and talk with God, we're instructed to give a recap of our day. We can talk about the things that happened, what we did well, what we'd like to do tomorrow, and repent of the wrongdoings that we did. However, we don't need to wait until the end of the day to repent of what we've done. As soon as we notice that we've lost our temper, gossiped, or left the straight and narrow in anyway, we can say a prayer in our minds and hearts asking for forgiveness and for the Holy Ghost's presence again. Sometimes it's necessary to go to your Bishop. Again, don't delay. He is called to help in those situations, and he will be nothing but loving. Don't let Satan lie to you and convince yourself that, "well I've already sinned pretty bad today, so I guess that's just how today's going to be." Remember, we must endure to the end of each day. Even if you're having a bad day, it doesn't mean that it has to finish poorly.

     One trap that Satan uses is defining us as our weaknesses. We each have commandments on this earth that we sometimes struggle to keep. We are instructed to not label ourselves as those things. It's dangerous to think of ourselves as drug addicts, hot heads, gay, porn addicts, etc. Instead, think of who you really are. You are a child of God. You have divine potential, because you were saved for the last dispensation. Don't label yourself according to your sins, because God doesn't.

     Some days, it'll seem impossible to press on and endure to the end. We can all take encouragement by remembering that our trials are consecrated for our benefit. In other words, you were divinely called to pass through these earthly weaknesses and trials. God gave them to you because He knew that you could handle them. Let us not forget what President Nelson said just under 2 months ago, "In the coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost." We have God on our side, and this means that if we put our trust in Him, we cannot fall.