Once Upon a Time...

...in a far away land named Dieppe, there was a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her name was Sister Lewis.

Sister Lewis loved Dieppe because it was beautiful and French.

All the people there were nice.

But she hated all the snow that kept coming in May.

She had lots of fun...

But her favourite part was serving the Lord.

One day, she was reading in the scriptures.

She was reading in the New Testament, looking for scriptures about how to strengthen herself and push herself farther, even when it's difficult.

She read about her Saviour's Atonement. She read: "And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt."

She learned a lot in that scripture.

First of all, He went a little further. He was already doing the hardest thing of His life, but He went a little further.

He fell on His face. He hit the ground because He had gone to His very limits. He couldn't bear it anymore, so much so that He fell down on His face.

Then He prayed. He pushed Himself as far as He could go, and the natural next step for Him was to pray to His Heavenly Father.

Then He said to His God, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." He realized that sometimes, when it got difficult enough, He just needed to pray that His trial would pass, that He could be relieved of it. Sometimes the opposition got too much for Him to bear.

Then He said, "Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." He wanted the trial to be removed. He didn't want to have to go through it anymore. It seemed "too hard". But He was willing to do what God thought was best, even if it was difficult for Him. In fact, it was the most difficult thing anyone in history has ever gone through.

And so Sister Lewis learned a great lesson that day. She learned that Christ had gone through all her trials--and the trials of all of Heavenly Father's children. And she learned that if she wanted to live happily ever after, she would have to go through her own trials.

And so Sister Lewis closed her scriptures and found a new determination to do more, to be faster and stronger and better, to be more like her Saviour in the face of her adversity.

And then she'll live with her Heavenly Father happily ever after.

The end.

Love, Sister Lewis