Stay Afloat

All the water in the world

no matter how hard it tried

could never sink the smallest ship

unless it got inside.

All the evil in the world

and every kind of sin

could never doom a human soul

unless we let it in.

The world can be a very rough place.  We all go through rough experiences.  Satan is a great deceiver; he tries to make us think we don't have control.  I really like the poem above; I have read it many times in the mission office.  Its wonderful message is that we have the ability to act and not just to be acted upon.  We won't be sunk by any force, unless we cut the hole ourselves!  We will go through struggles and great waves; but, unless the water enters the ship, we will never sink!

How do we keep the evil out?  We must do our best to avoid evil.  We must stay away from tempting places and situations.  A ship will never sink if it never gets into water.  We must immerse ourselves in good things.  We must fill our lives with good to the point that there is no room for evil.  

We can, and must, do our best to avoid evil, but it is impossible to eliminate all evil.  We will be tempted and be found in hard situations no matter what.  So how do overcome this?  We must be prepared!  In the Book of Mormon we read about lots of wars.  In a lot of cases, the people of Nephi were faced with war against the opposing people of the Lamanites.  The Lamanites desired to bring the Nephites into bondage.  The Nephites desired freedom of worship and protection of their families.  At one point the leader of the Nephite armies was a man named Moroni.  Captain Moroni was a great leader.  He was always preparing the people to protect themselves from danger.  He armed his armies with armor.(Alma 43: 19).  He built walls around the cities.(Alma 50: 6).  He trusted in God.  Because of this, he and his armies were successful.  The Lamanites couldn't destroy them, as long as the people were faithful.  When the people weren't faithful, they suffered.(Alma 50: 20- 21).  We must prepare ourselves.  So how do we prepare ourselves?  We must read from the scriptures, attend church, pray, and to the little things God asks of us.  When we do these things, we are made strong and we will be able to withstand temptation.

The great promise in 1 Corinthians 10: 13 rings true, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."  I know that God supports us in our trials and temptations.  We will not sink unless we allow the water in!

Images found at:
http://www.sugardoodle.net/sdclipart/?category_name=ark

http://www.sugardoodle.net/sdclipart/?category_name=armor-of-god