I was reading the book Miracle of Forgiveness and towards the end of one section about thoughts I found a lot of really great passages that has helped me out a lot.

“As a man thinketh, so does he. The time to protect against the calamity is when the thought begins to shape itself.”

    I have found this to be true. It is a lot easier to fight the temptation of a thought than it is to fight the temptation of a fully formed thought. I have been applying this in my life by focusing on getting rid of bad thoughts as they develop and not let them grow inside of me. Before I would harbor them because I thought that they would just stay in my head but I have learned that thoughts never just stay in my head.

“Men alone, of all creatures of earth can change his thought and become the architect of his destiny.”

    I really really liked this because I want to be a better person - both spiritually and temporally. I can design my future and fulfill it but this is only through my thoughts. Whether I think I can or cannot I am right.

    “Sow a thought, reap an act;
    Sow an act, reap a habit;
    Sow a habit, reap a character;
    Sow a character, reap an eternal destiny.”

    There are many things that I want to do but that main goal is an eternal destiny. Working backwards I can see that first I need a strong character that allows me to live the Gospel and be worthy. In order to do that I need to have strong consistent habits that make me more disciplined. A habit starts out by one lone act repeated.    

The only way that I can preform an act is by having it start out as a thought.
I think that this can also be looked at at a different angle:
   
    “Sow a bad thought, reap a sin;
    Sow a sin, reap a bad habit;
    Sow a bad habit, reap an addiction;
    Sow an addiction, reap eternal misery.”

    All of this could be changed if I don’t first sow a bad though and instead sow a good thought instead.

    I remember a time in my life where I found it very hard to keep the commandments. I had the desire to keep them but I still found it hard to and failed occasionally. While this was happening I read this scripture in Alma 37:33 that says:
“Teach them to withstand every temptation of the devil, with their faith on the Lord Jesus Christ”
    What I liked about this is that I learned the secret of how I could keep the commandments even though I faltered - it was through my faith.
    I wrote on top of that scripture:
“Have faith that YOU can keep the commandments”
    I had never thought about faith in that way. I knew that if I had faith I should keep the commandments but I never thought that I should have faith in myself to keep the commandments. The Lord promises that we won’t ever have a temptation more than we can handle. The Lord promises us that the Atonement can work in our lives. The Lord promises that we can have a change of heart. The Lord makes all of these promises that hinge on us keeping His commandments. If that is the case and the Lord keeps His promises how is it that I can’t keep the commandments.
    I noticed that afterwards when temptation would come instead of trying my hardest to avoid it I would think about this scripture and have faith that I can keep the commandments even though it is hard. It was this faith that helped me out a lot and helped me come closer to the Savior.
    I realized that faith is action. When I had faith that I could keep my commandments what started out as a thought turned into the action of keeping the commandments.
    Next time I am ever in a situation where I feel tempted to break the commandments I will think about how I can keep the commandments and because of this faith and the power of the Atonement I will be able to keep the commandments.