Overcoming

Sometimes I get frustrated because I can't eliminate all my sins and weaknesses at once. It seems like it should be easier to be obedient and faithful. How many years will it take to get this right? And yet I still struggle. It's easy to tell my kids or others, don't give up! You just have to keep trying, keep facing the right direction, keep repenting. I tell myself that, too, but at times those words feel hollow when I'm evaluating my progress and I realize how much further I have to go.

Some things are super easy. I never have to struggle about paying my tithing, or not consuming drugs or alcohol; I love attending church and serving there. There are a few commandments I keep perfectly. Yet the scriptures say that there are so many different ways to sin that we cannot even comprehend them. I find that to be a discouraging thought. I can't even perfectly master all the ways I KNOW about.

Yesterday, I was praying and pondering about this. Quite frankly, it scares me at times how easy it would be to just give up, assume I am lost and give up the fight. Then I ran across this verse:

"He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment;

and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life,

but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels."

- Revelation 3: 5

When I heard this, I knew immediately that it was a tender mercy of the Lord, one of the many ways He keeps trying to encourage me. It was an evidence of His love. My mind and heart were filled with light as the one word "overcometh" bounced around in my head. "Overcometh" implies a battle, a struggle, an ongoing effort. I know my Father in Heaven loves me and wants me with Him. As imperfect as I am, there is hope for me as long as I remember that the atonement of my savior is infinite.