And then I stumbled across inspiration...

So, I was reading my scriptures this morning and came across a story that gave me a little hope. Helaman is recounting the story of the 2,000 young men that volunteer to fight so their parents refrain from breaking their covenant to never again take up arms. This is the part I really liked (Alma 56):

"15...and I found Antipus and his men toiling with their might to fortify the city.
16. Yea, and they were depressed in body as well as in spirit, for they had fought valiantly by day and toiled by night to maintain their cities; and thus they had suffered great afflictions of every kind.
17. And now they were determined to conquer in this place or die; therefore you may well suppose that this little force which I brought with me, yea, those sons of mine, gave them great hopes and much joy.
18. And now it came to pass that when the Lamanites saw that Antipus had recieved a greater strength to his army, they were compelled by the orders of Ammoron to not come against the city of Judea, or against us, to battle.
19. And thus were we favored of the Lord; for had they come upon us in this our weaknesss they might have perhaps destroyed our little army; but thus were we preserved."

(In case you're not familiar with the Book of Mormon, Antipus is one of the leaders of the good guy army (the Nephites), and Ammoron is one of the leaders of the bad guy army (the Lamanites))

I think it is rare to find a faithful person described as "...depressed in body as well as in spirit..." in the scriptures, but it happens very often in life. I get that way when I'm trying to overcome certain problems that I have, when it feels like I have tried over and over and over and over to never do it again, but I'm never strong enough to conquer it. I love the attitude of Antipus's men here that "...they were determined to conquer in this place or die...", and that's how it should be when you're trying to overcome a sin that is holding you back so much you feel you have no hope. Once you are willing to do whatever it takes to overcome sin, the Lord will send you the strength you need and the enemy will retreat. He's not going to just send help because you're in a bad place--he's going to send you help when you have done everything you can to sort yourself out.

Anyway. I thought this was pretty brilliant.