There is no substitute for obedience to the commands and demands of the gospel, of doing what we are supposed to do as disciples of Jesus Christ. We can never truly be happy or have great hope unless we follow Heavenly Father's plan for our happiness.

It is a great tragedy when those who are afflicted with adversity or a source of hopelessness turn their backs on prayer. To their peril, they ignore that spiritual lifeline just at the time when their attention to it most needs to be intensified. By so doing they cut themselves of from revelation and inspiration and deprive themselves of hearing the Lord's voice. They give up the prospect of gaining the very hope and comfort for which their hearts yearn.

Single parents, I testify that as you do your very best in the most difficult of human challenges, heaven will smile upon you. Truly you are not alone. Let the redemptive, loving power of Jesus Christ brighten your life now and fill you with the hope of eternal promise. Take courage. Have faith and hope. Consider the present with fortitude and look to the future with confidence.

The truth is that if we are consumed with finding ways to help others, there will be little room left in our minds or our hearts for self-pity, self-loathing or unhappiness with the world in which we live.

Admittedly, repentance is not always easy; I suppose it would not be true repentance if it were. It can also take a longer time than we think or hope. There can be missteps along the way, when we falter or lose heart, but we can reset our course and move forward again, even if it is only one small step at a time. As well as praying for forgiveness, we can also plead for courage, and it will come. If we do so, steady but surely, we will rise from the miry depths of sin and emerge into the sunny uplands of forgiveness and hope.

The gospel teaches us that though we may have lost a battle or two, the war is not yet over. With the Lord's help and the hope of the gospel, we can win out in the end. Truth ultimately triumphs over falsehood. Evil is overwhelmed by goodness. Sin, however extreme it may have been, can give way to cleansing and refreshing forgiveness. This is the great hope of the gospel, centered as it is in the life, mission and atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

It was in grasping the reality of his divine parentage as a son of God, as well as his relationship with Christ and the promise of eternal life, that Moses was able to resist the challenge presented by Satan.