However Long and Hard the Road by Jeffrey R. Holland

A couple weeks ago I had dinner with a friend.  I hadn't seen this friend in a long time.  Though I knew she was facing challenges with her children, I had no idea how deep the pain went.  I listened to the concerns, struggles, and sadness.  I didn't know what to say.  I felt that I had nothing to offer her.  I couldn't help in any way, and I left that night feeling sad.  So sad.

When I got home, I couldn't fall asleep.  I got up and tried to find a talk by Elder Holland.  There was a time when I was struggling with something and a friend gave me a copy of this talk.  I read it.  I reread it.  I read it again.  Those words filled my heart and mind with peace that I was unable to find previous to reading this.  And I thought that, perhaps, these words may help my friend as well.

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But that night, I didn't get to this talk.  Instead, I bought this book -- However Long & Hard the Road -- and began reading, immediately.  Reading these words also brought peace to my heart and mind.  I felt my burdens become light.  I recognized the power and truth in what I read.  There are too many quotes that I marked...but here are a few that buoyed up my spirit and reminded me to push forward:

"IN the Church we ask for faith, not infallibility."

"In the gospel of Jesus Christ we have help from both sides of the veil.  When disappointment and discouragement strike -- and they will -- we need to remember that if our eyes could be opened, we would see horses and chariots of fire as far as the eye can see, riding at great speed to come to our protection.  They will always be there, these armies of heaven, in defense of Abraham's seed.  We have been given this promise from heaven."

"The past is to be learned from, not lived in, and the future is to be planned for, not paralyzed by."

"Light, like truth, forsakes the evil one, that prince of darkness who was cast out of heaven into the earth."

"We should cherish our spiritual burdens, because God will converse with us through them and will use us to do his work if..."


How grateful I am to be living in a time when there are living prophets who lead me and my family through word and example.  I feel lighter and happier when I fill my day with light -- and this week, part of that light came from the words of Jeffrey R. Holland.