There were guardian angels whispering, "You can do it"

Believe In Yourself

By Hilary Weeks

Have you ever felt inadequate?  Have you ever wondered how you would complete something difficult you have been asked to do?  Boy, if I had a nickel for every time I have felt that way…

We have all read about or heard about people who have faced great challenges and in spite of their limitations and fears, have overcome and risen triumphant.  Somehow, knowing that other people have felt inadequate and unsure and still gone on to do great things makes me feel a little better.  I like knowing that amazing things have been accomplished even by people who weren’t sure if success was in their future.

Anne Sullivan, Helen Keller’s teacher, was one of those people.  She wasn’t entirely sure how to accomplish what was before her.  She had no idea how to teach Helen.  There were no text books to guide her.  She was a pioneer in this field of exploration.

This is an excerpt from her journal in May of 1887.

“If only I were better fitted for the great task!  I feel every day more and more inadequate.  My mind is full of ideas; but I cannot get them into working shape.  You see, my mind is undisciplined, full of skips and jumps, and here and there a lot of things huddled together in dark corners.  How I long to put it in order!  Oh, if only there were some one to help me!  I need a teacher quite as much as Helen.  I know that the education of this child will be the distinguishing event of my life, if I have the brains and perseverance to accomplish it.”

I wonder if, while she wrote that journal entry, there were guardian angels whispering, “You can do it Anne!  Don’t give up.  You’ll figure it out and you’re right…this will be ‘the distinguishing event’ of your life.”

She mustered strength and courage from somewhere because this is her journal entry one month later, in June of 1887.

“Something within me tells me that I shall succeed beyond my dreams.  I cannot tell how I know these things.  I had no idea a short time ago how to go to work; I was feeling about in the dark; but somehow I know now, and I know that I know. I cannot explain it; but when difficulties arise, I am not perplexed or doubtful.  I know how to meet them; I seem to divine Helen’s peculiar needs.  It is wonderful.”

President Hinckley had this ever-positive advice to offer, “Believe in yourself, my brothers and sisters. You are a child of God. You do have something of divinity within you.

Believe in your capacity to do great and good things.”

Sometimes we have to step into the dark, as Anne Sullivan experienced.  We have to take the step we might not even know how to take.  And what's more important, we have to be willing to hear that 'somthing within' us telling us we will succeed.  I believe we will do great things.  I believe that we did great things even before we entered this journey of mortality.  I believe we faced challenges and overcame fears in the pre-mortal life.  This isn’t the first time we have been asked to do difficult things.  We’ve done it before. 

And we will do great things again, here and now.

Believe in yourself.  Believe in who you are.  Believe that He believes in you.