This is My Battle

"No, stay your weapons. This is Peter's battle."

Peter had wielded his sword before, but never had he fought with it yet, let alone shed any blood.

The bold, majestic voice commanding all to stand back and watch, was the same voice of trust in Peter's ability to rise higher, and discover something more about himself, than he had ever discovered before.

The tip of Peter's blade pointed shakingly at the threatening wolf. He was only desirous to protect his sisters, who had climbed a tree to escape the wolves. Now with Aslan the lion by his side, the sisters were safe, and the battle was only for himself.

He was in no real potential for permanent harm.

This is a scene in C. S. Lewis' Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

Like Peter before the wolf, I have found many times in life a confronting situation, making life look worthless, and my hopes bleak.

From the fear of darkness at night, to mourning the death of a loved one, everyone can encounter moments of hopelessness and doubt.

In reality, these times would indeed be hopeless if God didn't have a plan for us. This plan involves being sent to this earth life to turn good people into better people - mediocre individuals into lions of spirituality.

Aslan could easily have taken out the two wolves who were causing such great fuss. Instead, he secured one of them, and set the perfect stage for Peter to learn for himself, what he was capable of. Peter had been empowered with the sword - he needed to learn to use it.

Indeed, this mortal life is the perfect stage for us to learn for ourselves, what we are capable of. We have been empowered with the Atonement, with a mortal body, with life, and with agency. Indeed, we have prayer, the scriptures, revelation, the Restoration, and so much to be empowered with, to face the battles of this life.

The unsurety of Peter in how to fight this wolf surely parallels our unsurety of how to tackle many of life's challenges. Yet, the Lord always gives battles He knows we can handle, and we can learn from, with His help, and with Him standing beside us.

He stands beside us as He did Peter, as a kind of reassurance that all is well.

He helps us with encouragement, vision, and the empowering of the gospel.

Our battles are not always with wolves. The fear of darkness is one my family is working on encouraging my younger brother to overcome. The mourning of a loved one's death is a battle many are crippled from. The accumulation of required tasks can pressure an individual to buckle under its weight. The struggle of loneliness can make one feel he is not in control of his fate.

This is why God asks us to place Him first in our lives, so we can have His constant companionship through His Spirit. This is the Spirit of the scripture:

"Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."
(Doctrine & Covenants 88:63.)

Whenever there is a challenge, a trial, or temptation, we can know that our imperfect, stumbling walk along our path to God merits the Savior's accompaniment. He says "this is your battle."

I have had need to return to this post, with fear that someone may falsely apply the principles here.

I think it suffices me to quote Elder Robert D Hales.

“One of the purposes of the scriptures is to show us how righteous people respond to temptation and evil. In short, they avoid it! Joseph ran from Potiphar’s wife. Lehi took his family and left Jerusalem.  Mary and Joseph fled into Egypt to escape Herod’s wicked plot. In every instance, Heavenly Father warned these believers. Similarly, He will help us know whether to fight, flee, or go with the flow of our unfolding circumstances. He will speak to us through prayer, and when we pray, we will have the Holy Ghost, who will guide us. We have the scriptures, the teachings of living prophets, patriarchal blessings, the counsel of inspired parents, priesthood and auxiliary leaders, and, above all, the still, small voice of the Spirit.

“The Lord will always keep His promise: “I will lead you along.” The only question is, will we let ourselves be led? Will we hear His voice and the voice of His servants?”

May we see all of life's negatives with the positive outlook of growth, learning, improvement, the trust the Lord has in us to face them, and the trust we can place in Him to stand beside us in our battles.

Link to movie segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLtNZgWK32A