Made Strong

My professor shared a quote in my religion class yesterday that seemed to speak right to me. After her lecture, I walked down hill from campus and found an isolated spot.  Still pondering upon the words Sister Platt shared, I sat in the pouring rain under my umbrella. With my face hidden by the cover of its canopy, I offered up a tearful prayer that the Lord would please hold together my weak heart.  I just don't feel very strong at this moment in my life.  I know God is good.  I know my weakness will be turned into strength. And I know that through this humbling trial, I will learn lessons I couldn't learn in any other way.  I have faith in God.  He is the Gardener and cuts me back because it's what is best. It just hurts sometimes.
- Alicia

"Where do you suppose we get these weaknesses?... The Lord tells us the answer to this question very plainly in the Book of Mormon. He says:

'And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.' (Ether 12:27)

So where do we get our weaknesses? We get them from the Lord; the Lord gives us weaknesses so we will be humble. This makes us teachable....  It seems that all men have weaknesses in one form or another, character traits that make one more subject to a particular temptation than another. Lehi states that God 'hath created all things, both the heaven and the earth, and all things that in them are, both things to act and things to be acted upon... Giving us weakness, however, is one of the Lord's ways of getting our attention. He says this is the means he uses to make us humble, but he also says that if we will come unto him and have faith in him, he will make us strong wherein we were weak. I know this is the truth. There are numerous examples in the scriptures that vividly illustrate this principle—Alma and the sons of Mosiah...Peter and Paul in the Bible, to name just a few... Paul became one of the greatest missionaries we have record of in the Bible. (Acts 9:1-3) In his own words, he declared: "I can do all things through Christ which strengthened me." (Philip. 4:13)" - Hartman Rector Jr.