Not another fall!!!

I remember when I was in the lovely town of Herndon. My companion and I were diligently knocking on doors. As we knocked on yet another "empty" house, we turned around to step down the stairs and down I went!! The ground was slippery as it had rained all day and I fell hard! I attempted to jump right back up and my companion immediately pushed me back down. "I can see your ankle swelling. Sit down" She yelled quite loudly. I was so mad that I had fallen and as a result we had to stop working for the rest of the night. I had sprained my ankle quite badly and it needed time to heal. It was so irritating! Isn't it always frustrating when we fall? Whether it be physically or spiritually we fall all the time! We can not seem to stay on our own two feet! Over and over again we go down. Sometimes down curbs, sometimes down cliffs. Something I read today gave me the comfort I needed.

 "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand" (Psalms 37: 23-24). 

The Lord will uphold us as we fall. It is an absolute promise that we will fall in this life, even the first people on earth did! It is also an absolute promise that the Lord will uphold us with His hand. We can not fall too far or to long for the Lord to not be able to reach us. He is always always there.
President Uchtdorf gave a wonderful talk where he discussed this very idea.

We have all seen a toddler learn to walk. He takes a small step and totters. He falls. Do we scold such an attempt? Of course not. What father would punish a toddler for stumbling? We encourage, we applaud, and we praise because with every small step, the child is becoming more like his parents. Now, compared to the perfection of God, we mortals are scarcely more than awkward, faltering toddlers. But our loving Heavenly Father wants us to become more like Him, and, dear brethren, that should be our eternal goal too. God understands that we get there not in an instant but by taking one step at a time.I do not believe in a God who would set up rules and commandments only to wait for us to fail so He could punish us. I believe in a Heavenly Father who is loving and caring and who rejoices in our every effort to stand tall and walk toward Him. Even when we stumble, He urges us not to be discouraged—never to give up or flee our allotted field of service—but to take courage, find our faith, and keep trying.

What a beautiful thought. We can all relate to a toddler trying to walk and that is exactly how Heavenly Father sees us. We can keep trying. We can keep standing up and walking. Let us try not to fall, but when we do we can know that God is outstretched to help us up and cheer us on.