Relapse

My in-laws are serving a service mission in the women's prison. They shared with us that the Branch President told them that if they saw some of the women that they were teaching return and relapse, that they were there because they "needed to learn something."He counseled them to treat them the same way that we teach our children to walk, we know they will fall as part of the process.What they and all of us need is encouragement. I continue to get so much loving support:
Matt, my brother,  cheers me on when he sees me walking and is sure to point out any progress that I make. Mikey, my therapist at Neuroworx does the same. Lex is ever reassuring me to take the next step, asking me to please put the milk away, when I motion that I have to hold my hiking pole with my good hand she asks me if I am able to walk without it at therapy, and cheers me on when I reproachfully attempt to do so. I love the image of our Heavenly Father treating us with the same compassion in our individualized life's therapy. My in laws have also shared the story of Sister Rogers who was in and out of prison 24 times. She said that the turning point in her life came when she was ordered to rehab and her mother had to drive her everyday from her home to the center within the same city. Her mother always told her that she loved her. That love helped her know that she was worth something and gave her the courage to change. I know that this is a lesson learned in an extreme circumstance, but in our everyday experiences with relapses with our own weaknesses, we need the same reassurance to give us the courage to continue forward.
My assigned friend in the ward, President Myers keeps telling me that I need to believe that I can do it. We just had lunch together and chatted about the last lesson in Elder's Quorum that he gave and my feedback of shutting down and getting defensive if I am feeling like someone is trying to motivate me by guilt. He assured me that, that wasn't his intentions and after thanking me for fulfilling my calling as an instructor in the quorum. I felt that the only real way to influence others for good is to love them.