Planning a Bike Ride & Discouraging Discouragement

This morning, I felt discouraged. So I went on LDS.org and typed "discouragement" in the search bar, hoping to be lead to a talk or article that would tell me how to counter it. The first one just made me want to cry. Not too helpful, except for the part where the speaker quoted D&C 136:29 "If thou art sorrowful, call on the Lord thy God with supplication, that your souls may be joyful." That's the part that really got me, so I tried it. It worked, sorta.

God asked me what I really wanted to do. I knew He wasn't talking about life or the future, or even Eternal Life. He was talking about today or tomorrow, in the foreseeable future, sometime soon. I told Him that I wanted to go for a run, or a bike ride; that I wanted to go far away (and come back the same day, of course). I wanted to go out farther than I had gone before, to see things I hadn't seen before. And I got to thinking: The American River Bike trail goes all the way to Folsom Lake.

I thought that was an incredible distance for a bike ride, but that it was possible. I looked it up on Google Maps, and sure enough, biking from my house to Folsom Lake would take nearly six hours. I almost gave up on the idea right then. Six hours to get there? More than six hours to get back (since I'll be tired)? That's more than 12 hours. Do I really want to spend the ENTIRE day riding my bike? I don't think I have the stamina for that!

But then I saw that, on the map, the path to Folsom Lake seemed to loop around itself. I zoomed in on that and saw that Google Maps was giving me directions to the tip of a peninsula on the far side of the lake. I took that part out of the trip and told Google Maps that I wanted directions to the point where the American River comes out of Folsom Lake. Three hours. That couldn't be right. You remember I'm biking, right? Yep. And it's only going to take me three hours? Yep. But, wait! I rode my bike to the Nimbus Fish Hatchery, along that same river, but closer, and it took me nearly three hours! Give me directions to the hatchery. Two and a half hours. The map showed it being just shy of Folsom Lake. No kidding. Maybe I actually can make that trip in one day.

"It's still going to take you a lot of time, though," God reminded me. "If you want to make that trip tomorrow, and feel good about it, you'd better do a lot of good work today, first."

So, I started a load of laundry, mowed the lawn, and had a wonderful plate of eggs for breakfast. Not surprisingly, now I feel great. But I still need to blog, so I went back to that discouragement page and found an article with the tag line, "If you want to be happy most of the time, do the things that bring happiness."

That sounds good to me! I read the article, and it is good. Here's a link, and my highlights:

How to Discourage Discouragement - Elder Gene R. Cook of the Seventy

I hope you are not really down on yourself or think you are not worth very much. That is the devil speaking. He is the one who keeps pounding away to make you feel that you are not worth much. That is not the Lord speaking.

Discouragement is a pretty common ailment. We all struggle with that to some degree, but I want to tell you how to remove discouragement.

1. Prayer

You need to pray. If you really want to not be discouraged, one of the best solutions I know of is to pray. Have a prayer in your heart always. To the degree you will learn to pray your way through a day, you will find that Satan and his evil influence will leave, the Spirit of the Lord will come, and you will be on top and be able to go through the trials that come your way.

2. Scriptures

Read in the scriptures prayerfully every day. Do not set aside your scripture study or you will be inviting in the devil, who will try to discourage you.

3. Cleanliness

Be especially careful to keep yourself clean. One thing that can surely discourage you very quickly is to get involved in some kind of sin.

Moroni 10:22: And if ye have no hope ye must needs be in despiar; and despair cometh because of iniquity.

In Helaman chapter five, Nephi and Lehi are in a prison. There is a dark cloud hanging over the Lamanites and they are asking, “How do we get rid of this dark cloud?” Discouragement is like a dark cloud when it is hanging over you. How do you get rid of it?

The simple answer in Helaman 5:41 is, “You must repent, and cry unto the voice [meaning unto the Lord, to pray], even until ye shall have faith in Christ, … and when ye shall do this, the cloud of darkness shall be removed from overshadowing you.”

The Lord is teaching here that the reason we are down is that we have sinned. And if we will repent and humbly ask the Lord to forgive us, in faith, His sweet Spirit will come back.

4. Testify

Look for opportunities to bear your testimony. If you want to chase discouragement away, find some nonmembers and bear your testimony to them, or maybe just to a friend who’s a little disheartened today.

5. Hymns (My personal favorite)

Use the hymns of the Church. This is a great way to stay above discouragement. I used to think when I was younger that I would sing when I got discouraged. To me, that is a good way to get free of discouragement, but it’s a little late. A better way is to sing all the time. And if you will do that, you won’t go down into one of those troughs. Get in the habit of singing hymns every day.

6. Love and Gratitude

Express love and gratitude to God and men. You can truly express your love to someone and have the Spirit of the Lord come right now, and discouragement will leave. If you are feeling down, go find someone to cheer up. If you are down, go and tell someone how much you love them. I’m thinking of some of your dads and moms who need that from you. Go throw your arms around them.

Remember, too, that if you don’t like the way you are feeling, you need to correct the way you are thinking. When you first have a bad thought come, or a discouraging thought such as, “I’m not worth much,” or “I’m going to flunk this test,” or “People won’t like me,” cast it out immediately.

7. Share spiritual experiences

If you are down, go tell someone about something positive that happened to you yesterday. Share a spiritual experience, and the Spirit will come right away.

The Lord is in all of His creations, and especially in you.

8. Priesthood Blessings

If you are really struggling with discouragement of some depth, seek a priesthood blessing now.

A priesthood blessing has great power in keeping Satan away and gives you strength to turn him away when he does come.

Conclusion

I bear witness to you that if you will adopt a pattern similar to this, it will take the dips out of your lives. I testify that a man can be happy most of his days, most every hour of every day. The key to it is to have the Spirit of the Lord with you, to love people, to give your heart to others, to seek to build them up, to lift and strengthen them. This will bring true happiness and true peace. I testify that there is no other way to receive that happiness and peace except by keeping the commandments of the Lord.