 My name is Ashley, and over the past eight months, I've gone through a transformation. I lost 76 pounds, and I attribute every success that I've had to Jesus Christ and to the help that He's given me through the scriptures, through my family, and through my faith. In the Book of Mormon, in Alma, chapter 36, we read, My son, give ear to my words, for I swear unto you that in as much as ye shall keep the commandments of God, ye shall prosper in the land. I would that ye should do as I have done in remembering the captivity of our fathers, for they were in bondage, and none could deliver them, except it was the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, and he surely did deliver them in their afflictions. I feel like for me, the past eight months has been that delivery from God, that bondage of food, of lack of exercise, and just really coming to know myself as a child of God, and coming to understand how God can help me to overcome the difficult things in my life. Later on in the same chapter in Alma 36, we get to read the feelings of Alma that he's describing to his son, Helaman, after he's been relieved from that bondage. And I feel like those are similar feelings to what I feel, he says, And I have been supported under trials and troubles of every kind, ye, and in all manner of afflictions, ye, God has delivered me from prison, and from bonds, and from death. And I do put my trust in him, and he will still deliver me. And I feel like every day, the Lord still delivers me. He delivers me from the addiction that I was facing, and I know that it's not over yet, but it started that first day in the gym. When I wanted to quit, I saw those machines and I thought, I don't know how the heck to use those, there's no point, this is frustrating, and I want to quit. And the Lord blessed me with a scripture to come into my mind, and over and over I recited again and again, for the natural man is an enemy to God, for the natural man is an enemy to God, and it pushed me forward, and I was able to continue and to keep trying. I felt it on those mornings when I was trying to eat healthy food, and it was tasteless, and I thought, surely God doesn't want me to be miserable, he knows my goal, he wants to help me to accomplish it, and I didn't know what to do, and I opened the scriptures, and as I read a verse, I was fed spiritually, and then I took a bite, and I was fed physically, and I was able to make it through those first few plates of egg whites, with nothing on them that looked gross, and they were squirmy, but they made it through. And I know that, just like we read in the Bible, that we can do all things through Jesus Christ, because he is our strength, and he will help us to do those things, and I found the power to do those things as I turned to him through prayer and through the scriptures, and I know that as it says in another place in the Book of Mormon, that if we press forward feasting upon the words of Christ, that he will give us the power to do those things, and I know that we all have hard things, I'm not different or unique or special, we all have problems, and mine for me, it was food, I don't know what it will be for you, but I know that God will help you the same way if you turn to him, because he loves all of us. Just try to imagine the warmth of the Father's hug. When I read the Book of Mormon, I can feel my Heavenly Father's love for me.