The Night President Nelson Almost Quit

President Russell M. Nelson, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, was a heart surgeon. Years ago, he performed surgery on a girl with a congenital heart disease, a similar condition to the one that took the life of her brother some time before. The operation was unsuccessful and the girl died. Later, the parents of these two children came to President Nelson again, asking him to perform surgery on another child of theirs who had heart problems. This child also died. Devastated by these tragedies and his failure to prevent them, President Nelson collapsed on the floor of his living room. Through his tears, he declared that he would never attempt another heart operation.

The next morning, with a strong prod from his wonderfully blunt wife, President Nelson picked himself up, went back to work, devoted himself to the study of heart surgery, and went on to perform the operation that saved the life of President Spencer W. Kimball.

We all face discouragement. There are and will be times that drive us to our knees and make us want to quit. However, if we quit during one of those moments, as we will be sorely tempted to do, then our failure will be final. If President Nelson had quit during his darkest hour, he would have ceased to be a heart surgeon, and one of the last acts of his career would have been failing to save the life of a child. Yet, thanks to some much-needed encouragement, he managed to drag himself out of his misery, commit to becoming better, and succeed at saving other lives.

Unless we pursue one or more of a few specific professions, we're not likely so save many lives during our lifetimes. However, we are likely to touch many lives, and if we follow the guidance of the Lord and never give up, we can influence others' lives for the better.

We will all have low moments, but it's important that we don't stay in them. We need to keep striving to reach our goals and to rise above our low points, so we can accomplish the work God has laid out for us. We may never save the life of a prophet, but there are other good and great things God is counting on us to do, and if we give up early, we will never accomplish them. Let us, as often as we need to, remember and follow the example of President Nelson, who failed, wept, and tried again. I am confident that this is the only way any of us will go on the reach our full potential, and we will only succeed in this if we refuse to quit.