Around the time that I was finishing high school, my parents ran into some financial difficulties. Everyone goes through something like that at one point or another. Since there were still 3 children living at home, food was something that was essential, especially since two of us were teenagers. One day, my mom asked me if I wanted to go grocery shopping with her. I was a little confused that we didn’t take the turn to the Wal-mart, but instead headed towards a western part of town. We went to a white building that didn’t really look like anything special. When we got into the building, it was like a mini grocery store. I asked my mom what this place was, to which she replied, “It’s called  the bishop’s storehouse.” She went on to explain that a bishop’s storehouse is run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes mistakenly called the Mormon Church). When families or individuals of the Church are going through hard times, they can meet with their bishop (the leader of a congregation) and put together a list of basic foods and supplies they need.

The private contributions of other members of the LDS Church make the bishop’s storehouse possible. One Sunday a month, the members of the The Church of Jesus Christ are asked to fast for two meals. The money that they would have spent on those meals is given as a fast offering to the bishop of their ward. With these finances, the bishop helps provide for those who don’t have enough money to cover their expenses at that time. The Church owns ranches for meat and large farms and orchards. Food grown on these farms is canned by volunteers. 

The welfare program of the Church is well known throughout the world. People from all walks of life travel to Church headquarters to see firsthand how the Church cares for the poor and needy without creating dependency on the part of those who receive or bitterness on the part of those who give. A president of a country, after visiting Welfare Square, canceled the remainder of his appointments for the day. “There is something here that is more important than anything else I have on my schedule,” he said. “I must stay and learn more” (“Inspired Church Welfare,” Ensign, May 1999, 76).  

Workers in the bishop’s storehouse are all unpaid volunteers. I wanted to help out when we were getting food from the Church, so I volunteered to help out at the Storehouse. It was such a wonderful experience to give back to the Church and the Lord when they were providing for me and my family. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,not only provides food for families, but it can also provide clothes and job counseling. Deseret Industries is a thrift store owned by the Church that trains people and teaches them essential skills to help them find a job. 

Knowing that the Church will always be there for me, if I am ever in need, is a feeling that I cannot express. I know that nothing comes free, though. Volunteering to help the Church can provide many blessings in your life. I love paying fast offerings and working at the Storehouse, just having the feeling that I’ve done something good for others, and that I’m a part of something that works so well to help others.

First, a little about Shannon. Then I’ll tell you one of the things I find really impressive about her.

Shannon Hale is a Mormon who lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. She was the middle child in a family of five children and she always loved making up stories. At first, she’d act them out with her sisters, but in fourth grade, she learned how to write her stories on paper for others to read and that’s when she decided to become a writer. She was pretty sensitive, so she found the social part of grade school hard and ended up crying at home a lot. Things got better, though. In junior high school she was on the staff for the school literary magazine and met her first professional author, Dean Hughes. She was also in drama class, even though she never got chosen for the school plays.

She enjoyed high school a lot more. She felt her school was pretty diverse, which was interesting to her, and unlike most schools, it was not filled with cliques. Here’s something interesting she said about high school: “In movies and books, a teen’s life often involves drinking, sex, or drugs. It sure didn’t in mine. While I think it’s important to have stories about all kinds of people, I think it’s also important to acknowledge the other side. I did not drink alcohol or take drugs or have sex with boyfriends because I chose not to. I did have a lot of fun, though.” (See The Official Site of Shannon Hale.)

In high school, still writing and acting (but getting small parts now) she met her husband. She had a big crush on him, but he didn’t have a big crush on her. She went to school right near home, because she’d been sick for a long time during her senior year, and Dean went off to Washington State.

Shannon started out majoring in both drama and English. Even though she loved acting, she eventually decided she would rather be a writer, because you can’t act unless someone hires you, but you can always write. She loved books, and decided to become a writer. However, she hadn’t finished anything she started and she wasn’t sure what kinds of books she wanted to write. But she at least had a goal now.

She took a year and a half off to be a Mormon missionary. This is something she chose to do, not something she had to do. You pay your own way and you don’t choose where you will go, so opening the envelope is pretty exciting. She was sent to Paraguay and had to learn Spanish. She was assigned native companions (partners you share your apartment with and work with) and was determined to live like a native while she was there, so she could really learn the culture. She learned to focus on other people, not herself.

While she was on her mission, Dean wrote to her regularly. When she returned home, he was living in Utah again and they started dating seriously, but they broke up after about a year. She decided to go to graduate school out of state.

Here’s another interesting thing: The best writers got chosen to be teaching assistants and they got free tuition. She wasn’t  chosen and in fact, she was the only person who never did get chosen, meaning they thought she was the worst writer in the whole program. Despite that, she is the only writer in that group with a lot of best sellers and big awards. So, if you don’t seem like the best in your field yet, don’t give up. School isn’t the final decision maker in whether or not you can make it in what you want to do.

Even though the school didn’t think she was very good at writing, she loved her time there. She got back together with Dean and ended up marrying him. She started the book that would become The Goose Girl. It took her two years to get it written, starting over a few times and doing a lot of editing. Eventually, she got an agent and the book got sent to publishers, who didn’t like it. It was rejected nine times, but in the end, the same company that first published Harry Potter bought her book. And I’ll bet the other publishers are sorry they turned it down! It’s her most popular book.

I find Shannon Hale’s writing to be very elegant. I’d love to be able to write that way. But even beyond her amazing writing, what I really admire about her is that she has high standards and sticks to them, even in her writing. At the back of The Goose Girl there is an interview with Shannon. She said she sees a lot more racy books for teens and that her book was turned down because that stuff wasn’t in her books. She says she does not like writing about sex, so her books are sometimes seen as better for younger audiences, but she does have a few adult books as well. Sometimes people think they need to compromise to make it in the “real world.” Teens think they can’t be popular unless they lower their standards. One of my daughters came home from church one week telling me her eighteen-year-old teacher, who had been homecoming queen and head cheerleader, told them she never compromised. She didn’t feel she needed to compromise her standards to be popular, so she never did. I admire that in a person. It seems like Shannon Hale is that kind of person, so she is someone I admire, not just as a writer, but as a person.

Do you have a favorite celebrity who doesn’t compromise his or her standards?

He told of a boy named Ling who, along with the other children in the kingdom, was invited to hear the emperer speak. In this meeting the emperer said  he was getting old and wanted to choose a new emperer. To help him choose, he was going to give each child a seed. They were to take their seeds home, care for them, and then, in one year, return to show what they’d grown.

Ling was really excited by this project. He carefully planted his seed and worked hard to take care of it in its little pot. After about three weeks all the other children were starting to talk about the great plants growing in their pots, but Ling’s pot was growing nothing at all. He was worried, but he kept taking care of the plant the best he could. All year he listened to the other children talking about their tall plants and even trees, but his pot stayed empty.

When the year ended, Ling was embarrassed and didn’t want to show his empty flower pot to the emperer. His mother told him he needed to go and to be honest. She advised him to tell the truth–that he worked hard to care for his plant but that nothing had grown. Ling knew his mother was right. He needed to tell the truth–to have integrity. He nervously took his flowerpot to the meeting. Everyone was instructed to place his or her flowerpot in one area. All around the room were beautiful flowers, plants, and trees. Ling placed his empty pot on the floor in the back of the room, hoping no one would notice it. He stood beside it, waiting.

Soon the emperer showed up. The emperer walked around, looking at all the plants, flowers, and trees. Then he saw Ling and his empty pot. He asked the guards to bring Ling and his flowerpot to the front of the room. Frightened, Ling approached the emperer. To his great surprise, the emperer proclaimed him the new emperer.

The room fell silent as everyone tried to figure out why the only child who hadn’t managed to grow something was going to be the emperer. The emperer explained that the seeds each child had been given had been boiled. It would be impossible for them to grow. He had known most children would, when they saw their seed wasn’t growing, would replace it with a good seed and then lie about it. When he saw Ling’s empty pot, he knew he had found a boy with integrity–someone who would follow the rules and tell the truth. That was the sort of person he wanted to run his country and that was why only Ling qualified to become the new emperer.

Ling had integrity. Even though he thought it would cost him the chance to become the emperer, even though he was embarrassed, he refused to cheat at the contest and when the time came to be judged, he told the truth. He was willing to pay for his integrity with the cost of a kingdom. What are you willing to pay for your own integrity?

Some time ago I was putting my groceries into the trunk of my car after shopping. I had only a few things and had kept them in the child seat, but as I unloaded the groceries, I saw a small item, worth about 87 cents, in the main basket. I checked my receipt and saw that I hadn’t paid for it, so I quickly returned to the store and went to the customer service desk to pay for it. The cashier commented on my honesty in returning to pay for something so inexpensive. However, I felt my integrity was worth more than 87 cents. Had I simply left without paying, the store might not have lost much, but I would have lost a lot. I’d have lost God’s respect and I’d have lost respect for myself.

My integrity was worth a lot more than 87 cents and I wasn’t willing to sell it for so little. How much is your integrity worth?

Mormon teens were able to explain to her that the purpose of life was to grow spiritually and to be tested, with the eventual ability to return to Heavenly Father if they keep the commandments. Other teens, she felt, were more vague about the purpose of life, which tended to be that they were supposed to be happy and feel good about themselves.

The difference between those things is part of the secret to why Mormon teens did better in the interviews. If the purpose of life is to be happy and have good self-esteem, it creates a very self-centered focus on life. Life turns out to be all about you, which is why some people are calling young people part of the Me generation. Mormon teens are taught it isn’t all about them and it isn’t all about this life. They have an eternal goal that requires hard work, sacrifice, and a focus on other people. Now, it just so happens that when you’re working hard, sacrificing, and focusing on other, you will be happy most of the time and you will have good self-esteem, but those are not the only focus.

Yes, God wanted us to be happy, but not in a worldly way. Happiness in a worldly way might mean you get to spend your teen years playing video games and hanging out at the mall. What Mormons are after is joy. They have a scripture that says that man is that he might have joy. Joy is different than plain old happiness. It is the feeling that comes when we make Jesus Christ the center of our world and let our love for Him determine how we will live.

Mormons believe we are saved by grace. Grace came to us because Jesus took on Himself our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane. That doesn’t mean we don’t have to pay any price for our sins; it just made it possible for us to be forgiven for them if we repent. He also died on the cross for us and then was resurrected. Because He overcame death, we can too. So grace allows us to live forever, to choose to repent of our sins, and to return to live with God if we are worthy. This gift of grace is given to everyone who has ever lived on the earth and there are no requirements and there are no actions required, not even believing in God. It is a free gift.

However, what’s free is pretty much never as amazing as what we can get when we’re willing to work for it. So, although living forever is a free gift, we can upgrade our eternal status by keeping the commandments. You can’t just work your way back into heaven, though. This is a little tricky. The truth is that when we love someone we want to make them happy and we want to be what they want us to be. Because we love God and Jesus Christ, we want to do what They’ve asked us to do and to be what they’ve asked us to be. The more we love Them, the more we want this and the easier obedience becomes. So our actions must come from love for God, not for the mere desire for rewards. If we do all the right things on the outside, but our hearts are wrong, we get nothing for it. If we love God and we’re doing what we’re supposed to do because we love Him, that’s when the rewards come.

God said that everyone who says “Lord, Lord” won’t get into Heaven (Matthew 7:21).To get into Heaven, you have to keep the commandments. This is because believing isn’t enough. Jesus also taught even the devils believe in Jesus. It does no good to believe in Him if you aren’t also willing to obey Him and if you don’t love Him.

All of this is part of a great plan of salvation God taught us and that we agreed to before we were born. Mormon teens know they lived with God before they were born. They were spirits there, but they were themselves. After living there and learning and deciding what kind of person they were going to be God taught them it was time to grow up and leave home for a while—just as you will someday. The place we’d be going was called Earth and we’d be born into families and get bodies. But we’d also be tested  here. We’d have trials and be expected to learn how to resolve them and overcome them.

This means Mormon teens don’t expect life to be always easy and fun. They know God won’t always step in to keep us from experiencing hardships because we wouldn’t  learn anything that way. They do know He is listening when they pray, and they know He will answer their prayers, but He won’t always answer them the way we ask Him to. God is in charge and knows what is best for us. He can see much further into the future than we can. Sometimes what we think we want is all wrong. Still, if He makes us suffer for a while or gives us something different than we asked for, He will be there to comfort and guide us. Mormon teens trust God.

Trusting God gives them hope. They know what He promised them—eternal happiness in His presence and the privilege of being with their families forever. They want this and they believe they are capable of getting it. It might be hard work, but Mormon teens aren’t afraid of hard work. They’ve grown up with it.

Can you see how all of this gives them hope? They are in charge of their eternal futures. That doesn’t mean everything on earth will happen just the way they want it, but if they do God’s will, serving God and serving others, they will get the very best God has to offer. It’s entirely up to them. No other person can keep them out of Heaven. God has told them exactly how to get there and they’ve confirmed it through personal prayer, not the promises of men. They’re in charge because they know God is in charge and will always keep His promises.

God makes covenants with His children. He sets the terms but if we do our part, He always does His part. This brings Mormon teens an extraordinary sense of stability, comfort, and hope for the future. It’s even more than just hope…it’s knowledge that their eternal life can be perfect.

One point made was that teenagers need to have goals. The author said many teens are confirmed around age twelve and then, having finished the last goal, they can drop out. Mormon teens are confirmed at age eight, but then they have a long list of goals they still need to finish, goals lasting an eternity.

Teen boys have Boy Scouts, so they have a lot of goals to fulfill. The girls have a special program created just for them that also has goals to complete each year. When the girls finish, they’re asked to work with younger girls to help them through the program. They check off what they accomplish and can even work with their mothers, who can also earn the award with their daughters. The daughters and mothers can sign off on each other’s accomplishments. These goals help them learn to live their religion and to prepare for adulthood.

But high school doesn’t put an end to the goals Mormon kids are expected to meet. Young men can go on two year missions at age nineteen and women can go on eighteen month missions when they are twenty-one if they aren’t married. They go at their own expense as volunteers and spend the time teaching others about their religion and serving as needed in the communities where they are sent. For the length of their missions, they don’t date and they stick to a strict schedule, and yet they usually find it is a highlight of their life, a time when they really grow up and gain a testimony. They begin preparing for this long before they go, and most teens are working hard to become someone who is morally clean and hard-working enough to be allowed to go on a mission.

And there is more. Mormon teens are asked to begin preparing for marriage. To do this, they agree to stay morally clean in their personal lives and their relationships. They learn the skills they need to take care of a home and children. They learn how to be a good husband or wife. It’s hard work to get ready for adulthood, and it takes most of your life to do it well. Since you cannot marry in the temple unless you are morally clean and marry someone else who is Mormon and morally clean, they must gain their testimonies early and make choices that are different from those their friends might be making.

All of this requires them to decide how much their religion means to me and how much they are willing to give God. Are they going to treat Him like an elderly relative you have to visit every Sunday and forget about, or are they going to put Him into the center of their lives? Mormon teenagers have a lot asked of them—they are considered mature and responsible enough to gain a testimony and to act on it. It is so much easier to do all those things when you have a testimony and know, really know, that what God has promised you in exchange is worth it.

Some goals Mormon teens are asked to set and carry out are meant to help them succeed during their lifetime. Others are meant to help them make it back to God and to have a great eternity. Eternity is a long time and most Mormon teens want it to be as wonderful as possible.

If you want to learn to set your own eternal goals, first think about who you want to be when you stand in front of God. Do you want to be a shallow, self-centered person who spent her mortality having fun and “feeling good” about yourself, or do you want to be someone who spent her life developing her talents, serving others, and learning to have self-control? Those things can be fun and can make you feel good about yourself, but they are focused on God and on other people, not on yourself.

Once you know who you want to present to God, decide what needs to change in your life to make that happen. If you spend a lot of time having fun in ways that don’t matter in the long run, add one new meaningful activity to your life. If you don’t treat your family well, set a goal to spend more time with your parents and playing with your younger siblings. If you find you aren’t doing well in school, set a goal to study harder and to get help as needed. Pick one goal, the most important one for becoming more Christ-like and then set smaller goals.

If your big goal is to get along better with your family, you’ll need more specific goals in order to get it done and to get it done right. You might set these three goals:

1. Every day I’ll spend at least fifteen minutes telling my parents about my day and every week, I’ll ask them for advice on something that matters to me.
2. I will play with my little sister every evening before she goes to bed.
3. I will take over making dinner every Tuesday so my mother can have a break.

These are very specific goals that outline how often you’ll do something, when it will be done, and what it will accomplish. The more specific the goal is, the more likely you’ll be to carry it out.

Don’t forget to plan goals that help you be an active around-the-clock Christian, such as praying or reading the Bible. Take time to get to know God. The better you know Him, the more you’ll long to make Him proud of you.

Mortality isn’t just about you.

Sometimes it’s fun to read those stories and wonder how we’d react in the same situation. Would we stay true to what we believe even when our lives were threatened? Would we continue to live the way God has taught us to live no matter how much pressure there was to stop living that way? Would we be cheerful in the face of adversity?

We may not be asked to walk across country or flee our home while murderers chase after us. Some of us won’t face open prejudice and hatred. And yet, there will always be people who think our standards are old-fashioned and stupid, and who will pressure us to give them up. The pressure might be less noticeable, less violent, but it is there. In many ways, it’s harder to fight the less fierce forms of prejudice and pressure than it is a mob with guns. It’s sometimes said that it’s not nearly as hard to die for our religion as it is to live for it.

What does that mean? It means that if someone says, “Deny your religion or I’ll kill you,” you are likely to find that moment of courage to say, “I won’t deny it.” You’ll die, but it only takes a moment of courage and then you’re with God. However, when someone pressures you day after day to smoke or drink or dress immodestly, when people all around you are swearing or cheating or gossiping, when everyone but you gets to go play on Sunday…that can be hard. The little day to day pressures can wear you down faster than a gun pointed at you for a few minutes.

Today’s pioneer is asked to blaze a new trail, not a physical one leading west, but a trail of faith and morality. There used to be one, but it’s become overgrown with weeds and brush and so-called civilization. It’s up to those of us who still care what God teaches to clear that path, get on it, and stay on it. We can set an example that will encourage our friends to join us. If enough people do that, there can be more people on the trail than off it.

There is a story in the book of Mormon about a man named Lehi. He saw a vision in which there was a beautiful tree that represented God’s love. Anyone who made his way to the tree and ate the fruit that grew on it would enjoy more happiness than anyone could imagine. There was a path and many people got on it. However, a deep fog came up and many got lost, wandering off the path. There was an iron rod, representing God’s word, that the walkers could grab onto. If they held on they couldn’t get lost. Not everyone did, but those who did got to the tree and ate the fruit.

But then something interesting happened. There was a large and fancy building on a hill nearby. At the windows of the building were people in fancy clothes and elegant hairstyles. They stood there making fun of all the people who ate the fruit. Some people wisely ignored them, but others got embarrassed at being made fun of. They rushed off the path and ran to the building to join the people in it. They became mockers, too, wanting to be part of the rich “popular” crowd more than they wanted to be part of God’s inner-circle. They were willing to give up all the eternal blessings of Heaven to get a few years of popularity.

How about you? If you were on that path, would you give in to the mocking or would you stay on that path and do what you knew was right? Would you settle for a lifetime of pretend happiness or hold out for an eternity of real joy, even if it meant being made fun of today? Are you willing to be lonely if necessary for a while, remembering that someday you’ll never be lonely again? Are you willing to put up with the teasing or a less popular crowd if that’s required? Most importantly, are you willing to hang on to a good attitude even when your trials aren’t your fault?

All those things can set an example for others. You’ll be the one leading the way and you may be surprised to discover others find themselves anxious to join you when they see how happy and fulfilled you are on your special path. You never know who is watching, so be brave and be a pioneer.

We are in the decision-making portion of our existence. The teenage years can be somewhat of a fall from the innocence of childhood, just like we came down to Earth from living in innocence with God. We need the knowledge we gain in life, as in teenage years, to grow up to our full potential. Though some of us would probably like to skip being teenagers, it’s a crucial learning stage. Even in awkward, emotional, challenging times, you learn important lessons to guide your life. Similarly, in the fallen state of mortality, we learn from experience the lessons necessary for our eternal destiny.

The lessons we learn in life and the decisions we make will determine whether we meet our full potential—whether we can become like our Father in Heaven. President Thomas S. Monson shared a story in the last General Conference, in which an elders quorum president was asked about the worth of souls:

The stunned quorum president hesitated as he formulated his reply. I had a prayer in my heart that he would be able to answer the question. He finally responded, “The worth of a soul is its capacity to become as God.” (Thomas S. Monson, “Our Sacred Priesthood Trust,” Ensign, May 2006, 56)

Being a teenager seems like everything when it’s happening, but when it’s over, it seems like a very short time—a time when we either prepared for the blessings and responsibilities of adulthood or we wasted time, thinking that just being a teenager was all that mattered. This life is the same way. We can either choose to prepare for the eternal adulthood—being like God—or we can be absorbed in mortality, thinking that this life is what matters.

So what does matter? Remembering the worth of your immortal soul, and preparing for the life to come. In this life, there are many ways we can prepare. We can take advantage of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He paid the price for your otherwise-impossible destiny—will you do what it takes to reach it? We can learn to know personally our Heavenly Father and our Savior. We can repent, pray, read scriptures, listen to our leaders, and control ourselves.

While the hope and destiny of every human being is great, the things that will bring that destiny into view are usually simple, sometimes tedious, and never glamorous. They are the little things we do every day, like praying meaningfully, repenting of smaller or larger sins, and going to Mormon Church meetings. But these small things are what bring about the miracles necessary to grow to be closer to and more like Heavenly Father. Daily devotion to doing the right is what brings a powerful testimony and witness from the Holy Ghost. Worthiness brings the blessings of eternity promised when we keep our covenants. Repentance allows the miraculous atonement really work in us, to clean us from sin and let God forget our wrongs.

In this time of making choices, as in mortal life, we choose what we will be. We choose whether to be morally clean adults, blessed by covenants and service. We choose whether we will become like God after this mortal life. At this time, remember what you are worth. Remember not to throw yourself away in the darkness of a tough decision. There is light in keeping an eternal perspective.

Sisters, don’t be afraid to be different in our century! Sometimes we have to be different in order to maintain Church standards. So I repeat, don’t be afraid to be different, but be as good as you can be (”Your Light-a Standard to All Nations,” Ensign, May 2006, 112).

It’s okay to be different when our differences bring us closer to the Lord. In Deuteronomy 26:18, it says, “And the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments.” Sometimes we can all feel “peculiar” when compared to the rest of the world. Fortunately, we’re not judged by the world’s standard; we are judged by the Lord.

If we keep his commandments, we are “peculiar,” which literally means that we are a precious possession. We can be precious to the Lord when we obey his commandments. Being Mormon brings blessings, and they’re worth being different. Avoiding alcohol and coffee (as commanded by the Word of Wisdom) gives us health and strength; staying in families helps us to be emotionally healthy and stable; the temple brings us the blessings of salvation. The Lord means to set us apart as Mormons. He knows we’re going to be different, much like he was during his life.

When we are different, or when we are persecuted for being different and following the Lord, we join with the Disciples of Christ throughout time. In places where the Mormon Church is small, we can feel alone, but our differences make us unique and interesting. Don’t be afraid to be set apart from the rest of the world. Don’t be afraid to wear modest clothes, keep the Sabbath holy, and attend youth activities. You gain strength and blessings from these things worth any persecution.

Our differences as Mormons need not cut us off from the rest of the world. We can have good friends that don’t share our differences. Mormons believe in charity, the pure love of Christ which we need to have for everyone on Earth. We can think differently and act differently but still love one another.

You, as the youth of Zion, have a great work to do and have been given all the talents and opportunities, regardless of where you live, to do just exactly what your Father in Heaven expects of you.

Heavenly Father has prepared you with the tools you need to keep the commandments, prepare for the blessings of the temple, and become the men and women you are meant to become. Beyond that, Father wants you to do many other good things that you can do best. With your individual talents and abilities, you can bless the lives of others in ways nobody else can. You have special opportunities within your families to help your family members and bless them with your gifts.

It may sometimes feel as though you do not have what it takes to meet the Lord’s expectations. You do. The Young Men General President focused on two pieces of advice in his talk: “never forget who you are” and “learn to control your thoughts.” As you remember your divine heritage as a child of the Almighty God, and as you control your thoughts, you can protect yourself from the discouragement of the adversary and the temptations with which he would try to ensnare you.

Part of learning to control your thoughts is knowing where thoughts come from. If the thought enters your mind “I can’t do this; I’m not good enough,” that is the adversary, tempting you to give up the fight, trying to give you the excuse that you’re not up to the task. But you are a child of God! No task the Lord sets before you is too hard, and you have his help and guidance when you ask for it. No commandment is too hard for you to keep: you are the very child of him who made them, and he has blessed you with every strength necessary to succeed. These strengths sometimes come from family, sometimes from scriptures, and other times from the mouths of teachers or priesthood leaders. Sometimes the strength you need is in prayer and in listening to the Holy Ghost. Whatever it is you need to keep the commandments and do the will of God, you have it.