After reading Elder Holland's talk, However Long and Hard the Road, I thought about one of my races along the continental divide between Idaho and Montana. I remember as we neared the finish line, my body completely gave out. I laid down in the dirt because it hurt too much to stand. I felt excruciating pain in every part of my body. I was probably dehydrated and lacking even the smallest amounts of nutrition the body needs to keep going. With a quarter mile or so to the finish line, it seemed there was no possible way for me to get my body to cross that line where my wife anxiously waited for me to finish. My body and mind was ready to quit, or had already done so. I had run 62.25 miles over the last 19 hours and had nothing left for the last .25. Another runner was trying to give me a pep talk and do all that he could to get me going. Finally in desperation, I mustered all I could do to say a prayer in my mind asking Heavenly Father to help me finish. That's all I wanted at that moment was to cross the finish line. It took everything I had as well as the help from a good Samaritan runner and probably unseen angels from the other side of the veil to get me across the finish line. 

Since then, I have realized how difficult life can be and sometimes the pain is too much to handle, but, with help from others and prayer to God, we can do hard things if we just keep going. Sometimes we have to stop and rest a little along the way, but every good thing that we want in life requires a little sacrifice on our part. There is going to be struggle, pain, fear,  and fatigue along the way, but, as Elder Holland says, "When days are difficult or problems seem unending, I plead with you to stay in the harness and keep pulling. You are entitled to 'eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days,' but it will require your heart and a willing mind. It will require that you stay at your post and keep trying."