Like Unto The Prophets

Ether 2.

     "And it came to pass that Jared and his brother, and their families, and also the friends of Jared and his brother and their families, went down into the valley which was northward, (and the name of the valley was Nimrod, being called after the mighty hunter) with their flocks which they had gathered together, male and female, of every kind.

     And they did also lay snares and catch fowls of the air; and they did also prepare a vessel, in which they did carry with them the fish of the waters.

    And they did also carry with them deseret, which, by interpretation, is a honey bee; and thus they did carry with them swarms of bees, and all manner of that which was upon the face of the land, seeds of every kind.

...And it came to pass that the Lord commanded them that they should go forth into the wilderness, yea, into that quarter where there never had man been.  And it came to pass that the Lord did go before them, and did talk with them as he stood in a cloud, and gave directions whither they should travel.

     And it came to pass that they did travel in the wilderness, and did build barges, in which they did cross many waters, being directed continually by the hand of the Lord.

     And the Lord would not suffer that they should stop beyond the sea in the wilderness, but he would that they should come forth even unto the land of promise, which was choice above all other lands, which the Lord God had preserved for a righteous people.

...And now, we can behold the decrees of God concerning this land, that it is a land of promise; and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall serve God ,or they shall be swept off when the fulness of his wrath shall come upon them...

...Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ, who hath been manifested by the things which we have written.  And now I proceed with my record; for behold it came to pass that the Lord did bring Jared and his brethren forth even to that great sea which divideth the lands.  And as they came to the sea they pitched their tents; and they called the name of the place Moriancumer; and they dwelt in tents, and dwelt in tents upon the seashore for the space of four years..."

The Brother of Jared and his family and friends are preparing to cross the sea.  The Lord promises, and prepares them for the trip to the land.  It is a great test, greater than the Brother of Jared anticipated.  He is worried, and stressed.  He goes to the Lord with questions, his mind filled with worry, and probably doubt.  He asks several questions.

"How will they see, how will they know where to go, how will they breathe?"

"And behold, O Lord, in them there is no light; whither shall we steer? And also we shall perish, for in them we cannot breathe, save it is the air which is in them; therefore we shall perish."

Answers come to some, and others later after there had been time, work and faith.  Still some do not come, or seem to until much later.  After some time and work, some of the same questions again.  "O Lord, behold I have done even as thou hast commanded me; and I have prepared the vessels...and behold there is no light in them".  Christ restates the problem- He knows.  He understands.  Then He asks the Brother of Jared the same thing, with a heavenly promise of comfort to the other questions and a question of His own- will he be strong, and trust? What will he do, that the Lord will be able to help him?

"Behold, O Lord, wilt thou suffer that we shall cross this great water in darkness?"
"And the Lord said unto the brother of Jared:
'What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels? For behold, ye cannot have windows, for they will be dashed in pieces; neither shall ye take fire with you, for ye shall not go by the light of fire.  For behold, ye shall be as a whale in the midst of the sea; for the mountain waves shall dash upon you.  Nevertheless, I will bring you up again out of the depths of the sea; for the winds have gone forth out of my mouth, and also the rains and the floods have I sent forth.  And behold, I prepare you against these things; for ye cannot cross this great deep save I prepare you against the waves of the sea, and the winds which have gone forth, and the floods which shall come.
Therefore, what will ye that I should prepare for you that ye may have light when ye are swallowed up in the depths of the sea?'"

Though your lives may span a few thousand years, you are not that different from the Brother of Jared.  Your faith and trials are like unto his.  Your potential and ability are there, greater than you know.  I doubt he knew when he was young that he would build boats and cross the great sea.  You're on your own sea now, and like him, you are not alone.  Though for a moment you may not be able to see or understand, know where to go, what to do, how to breathe; the answers will come.  Help is there.  You are loved, and promised help and support.  I know because God knows, and we can trust Him.  I love you, as does He.

The Brother of Jared's final solution came with the 16 stones he presented to the Lord in chapter 3.  These along with the power of Christ gave light, and the Brother of Jared was able to experience one of the most precious and sacred experiences on earth.  Ours is a God of mercy.  He is the God of Love.  We have the witness of a prophet in the his words when he answered the Lord's inquiry of belief: "And he answered: Yea, Lord, I know that thou speakest the truth, for thou art a God of truth, and canst not lie" (Ether 3:12).

All of life's troubles and trials and tribulations can not be explained at once.  All the reasons for why can not be known now, nor should they, for this is how faith is built.  I know this.  This is real. 

You can make it, I promise. :)

Love, Me.

Dear World,

Hi. It's 2012. Add the single digits up and you get 5, which is today. Cool, huh? Now add 20 and 12, and you get 32, which happens to be the day I last posted.

Okay, that was a joke. But that would be weird-cool if it were true.

I am officially 19 and a half. And a day.  It's amazing to think of how much has happened in such a short time. PLUS!! Tomorrow is Maestro's birthday!! Happy birthday shout out to one of the best friends EVER!!! :D

School started yesterday, making today the second day, but first of the Thursday classes.  Funny enough, it doesn't feel like the start of a semester, but rather...like the middle of one.  I suppose that's a good thing. Yesterday I had a six hour wait in between my morning and my last class.  Because we just went over the syllabus in Biology, we got out 20 minutes early at 10:40.  And so, it was 11:15am and I learned something very important.

I was extremelly bored.  This wasn't good.  I had six more hours of this, then two more of class!  By 1:30 I'd already read half of a book from the Bookstore, had lunch, written two letters, changed my classes, renewed my registration on my laptop and ecclesiastical endorsement, bought more books (which I found out later I didn't need), and stared out the window.  It was then that I decided that I would rather have class at 8am than wait that long again, even if I did have homework in the future.

Lesson 1 of the start of the semester: Check your classes to make sure you've taken the prereqs. Preferrably before the day before classes starts.
Lesson 2: Days can seem more like 36 hours long if you're not careful
Lesson 3: If you're buying books, make sure it's the right edition and volume.
Lesson 4: If you're jumping over a stool to get somewhere quickly, make sure you've cleared it completely.

With the start of the new year, people often make "resolutions", or "This is something I should work on and maybe want to do, and since everyone else is doing it, I'll do it too. We'll see if it gets past the first week".  I honestly have never had much desire or luck with these, other than the one I made halfway through February my Freshman year of High school to see if I could go all year without chewing gum.  Weird, I know.  But, it's five years later, and I still haven't.  Anyway.  I guess if I did make New Years Resolutions, here's what they'd be:

~Be nicer to everyone
~Watch cool movies
~Do awesome things

Hmm.  I guess I can do that.  I think I'd also like to get to the temple a few times a month...if that's once weekly that's great.

Some people think the world's going to be ending sometime this year.  Course, they predicted that it would end sometime last year, too.  And in years before that.  In my opinion, it's not gonna end this year.  And if it did "end"....it's not going to be what people think. 

Reasoning?

I'm not ready to graduate yet, and that's gonna happen in 2014.  If we were to use a mathematical equation (+ my logic),  2014 > 2012, and it's gonna happen, therefore, it's not going to come to a halt this year.  That and How to Train Your Dragon 2 is scheduled to come out in January of 2013, and we need to see how that is.

So, Welcome to 2012. It's gonna be a great year, and see you next year. :)

Love, Me.