Day 26: Have you ever thought about giving up on life? If so, when and why?

Of course I have thought about giving up on life. Maybe that's not an 'of course' kind of thing to say, but I have, so what? I didn't do it. The when and the why, well, I think that's getting kind of personal. But I will tell you why I didn't give up.

One day, I was talking to a friend, who is not a friend any longer, and they told me that we can't give up because the promises we have in store for us are too great to give up on. Heavenly Father promised us great things. He also promised us strength to draw upon when the hard times get to be too much for each of us to handle. Because of the enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can rise above anything, we can receive strength beyond our own, we can endure. I remember reading in Mere Christianity by CS Lewis something to the effect of "when you come to the point where you are ready to throw in the towel, faith in Christ is the only thing that will keep you from doing it."

So we never give up, we never surrender to that being who is set on the destruction of our happiness, and we press forward. We remember the promises we have been given, we 'cast not away our confidence' and we work and pray and sweat and cry and pray some more. And someday, sometimes sooner, sometimes later, and I'm sure sometimes in the eternities, we'll see the promises fulfilled, and we'll see who we have become, through perfect eyes.