A Lucky Hit

The quote I used in yesterday's blog post came from President Thomas S. Monson's Priesthood Session talk, Guided Safely Home. In that talk, President Monson shared the story of a great battleship, Bismarck, which was virtually indestructible until its rudder was disabled. Then, it became an easy target for its enemies. I blogged about this in my October 8, 2014 blog post, In Case Anyone Asks, but something that I had only just skimmed over is what might have happened if the rudder had been repaired.

President Monson related the battleship to us. Each of us are strong, valiant spirit sons and daughters of God. We are unstoppable - as long as we're on the right course. In the story, "shell after shell inflicted only superficial damage on the Bismarck," until "a torpedo scored a lucky hit, which jammed the Bismarck’s rudder." In our case, we're able to resist most of Satan's influences without much of a struggle. Have you ever felt like saying something mean, but held your tongue anyway? If you have, you resisted the influence of Satan, and it probably wasn't even very hard. That's because many of us are stronger than we think we are. We probably face, and successfully resist, more temptations than we realize, because, like the Bismarck we are virtually indestructible.

But every once in a while, our adversary lands a lucky hit. No matter how strong we are, each of us slip up at least once in our lives. It's usually not anything instantly critical, like a major hull breach or a complete destruction of the engine, but it's enough to get us spinning in circles, making us an easier target for our foe. In the story of the Bismarck, the damaged rudder could not be repaired, but that's not true in our case. Through the power of the Atonement, even serious damage can be repaired. So when our rudders do take damage, we don't need to let it stop us. We just need to get it fixed and keep sailing.

Satan can't stop us unless we let him. He may attack us again and again, but we can withstand him. And when, occasionally, he does manage to successfully tempt us, we don't have to let the story end there. One sin is enough to keep us out of the Celestial Kingdom, but only if we don't repent of it. So if and when you do take a little damage, if you ever give in and sin, don't let that stop you. Confess the sin to God, ask Him to remove it from you, and keep going. Like I said a few months ago, as long as we strive to follow the Savior, and repent whenever we fall short, Satan won't be able to stop us, not even with a lucky hit to our rudders.