Awake My Soul

This week was honestly kinda hard for me. I've got a lot going on in my life and a lot of really important choices to make. It seems like when we have major decisions in front of us Satan tries his best to distract us. I was feeling this this week so I went to the temple and studied 2 Nephi chapter 4. This chapter means a lot to me because when I first read The Bock of Mormon it was one of the first passages that I read that helped me feel the spirit really strongly.

In this chapter Nephi talks about how he is surrounded by sin and temptation but he knows who he has trusted in. He knows that as  long as he continues to trust the Lord he will be delivered from his temptations. He talks about all the amazing things he's seen before he mentions his temptations and then after talking about how much his sins cause him to sorrow he pleads with the Lord and shows how much he trusts him to help. One verse that has always stood out to me was verse 28 where he says "Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin." It's a turning point in what some call "The Psalm of Nephi." It helped me to realize that while we can see all the hard things around us we don't need to feel like we are "drooped in sin."

As we look to God we can have a hope that everything will work out and sometimes that is what we need to carry on and progress. We never need to feel like there is no hope because as long as we're faithful the Lord will always redeem us. He will always carry us from the darkness that we are sometimes surrounded by and bring us into the light of his love and his gospel. There is never reason to feel despair. I love this gospel and this chapter really helped me out this week where I just felt like I kept messing up.

The Better Parts

Today I was studying 2 Nephi 2. It was a really cool experience for a few reasons. I just felt like the inspiration was flowing really well as I pondered a few of the verses. I could feel my understanding deepen and I was noticing a lot of little things that I had skimmed over previously. Lehi talks a lot about The Plan of Salvation and to close he says "I have spoken these few words unto you all, my sons, in the last days of my probation; and I have chosen the good part, according to the words of the prophet. And I have none other object save it be the everlasting welfare of your souls. Amen."

He really did choose the good part. He chose the atonement of Jesus Christ and The Plan of Salvation. It made me think about what that must have meant to him for it to be the last thing he shared with his sons. The other important thing about it is that he clearly states his reasoning. He shared the gospel and The Plan of Salvation with his sons because he cared about "the  everlasting welfare of [their] souls." He knew that no matter what happened or what they knew if they understood the atonement and the plan of salvation better they had a better chance of returning to the presence of God.

I realized that as we come closer to God and have a desire to help others receive salvation we share the gospel with them. It's something that I know already but I thought more about how we share the gospel with those that are around us everyday that "already know." Those that we love need our support as much as those that we have never met and by sharing our testimonies of Jesus Christ we can help them to stay on the path and in the end we can all rejoice in the celestial kingdom together. We each simply have to choose, for ourselves, "the good part."

Let Us Be Men

This week I was studying in 2 Nephi chapter 14 and the verse that really stood out the most to me was verse 21 where Lehi speaks to his sons and says "Arise from the dust, my sons, and be men, and be determined in one mind and in one heart, united in all things, that ye may not come down into captivity;" I've always really  liked this verse and as I think about my life and my relationship with my father and all things I've learned from him I started to think about what it means to be a man. In this verse Lehi is talking about being righteous. He was talking to his sons in a very straightforward manner but you can feel the love coming from him as a father. It is really quite moving.

The biggest takeaway from this for me as I was pondering this came in two parts. The first thought I had was about  what it means to "be a man." The second impression I had was about the way that we tell others to arise from the dust and be men.

I think about all the things my father aught me to "be a man." He taught me how to fix a car, how to fix things around the house, how to troubleshoot computer issues, how to respect others, how to box. He taught me a lot of things about what it means to be man in the worldly sense and I will always be grateful to him for that. But as I thought about Lehi and what he meant to his sons it was totally different. There were some a lot of things that he could have told them but instead of teaching his sons actions he taught them to have an attitude of humility and obedience to the Lord because he knew that that would bring them the greatest blessings.

I also thought about how anytime we tell others to repent and come unto Christ we are telling them to "be men." Regardless of age and position as we invite others to come unto Christ and repent we are helping them to unlock the blessings of heaven and become better people. I realized also that there are those in my life that I want to invite to be men. I want to help others rise up and become what God wants them to be. As we do that not only will we being helping others but we will be be improving ourselves and coming closer to the Lord.

From Grace to Grace

This week while I read in 1 Nephi 17-19 I noticed something I've never noticed before. In this section Nephi is commanded to build a ship, he builds a ship, and then they travel to the promised land. Once in the promised land Nephi makes plates to make a record of his people. The thing I had never noticed is how serious Nephi takes his personal revelation. He considers all that he receives from the Lord as a commandment. He was commanded to build a boat, he was commanded to make the plates, then he was commanded to make a record. He also shows a very clear order. It doesn't seem like he prayed and the Lord told him to make a boat, go to the promise land, make plate, then make a history of your people all at once. The Lord fed him line upon line the things that he needed to do.

Heavenly father is always willing to help us but sometimes we can feel alone and without direction if we aren't doing what we're supposed to. When God tells us to do something we need to do it before we can really expect the next step to be made known unto us. God isn't just going to tell us to do something and then give up on it if it's important to our progression, he's going to help us accomplish it and once we're done, or once we're doing, what God wants us to do our next step will be made clear. I feel that that has been true in my own life when I seek direction. When I don't know what I'm going to do I ask myself if I'm keeping the commandments and fulfilling the responsibilities that the Lord has already given me and if I'm not when I fix those things it's easier for me to see what the Lord wants next of me.

I know that as we all strive to improve and keep the commandments that we have received from the Lord that we will find our purpose in life and that it will be like the Lord is going before us leading us by day giving light unto us by night. (1 Ne. 17:30)