Dear Blog Friends,
Oh, I've been away a long time and how I've missed you. In another post I might tell you where I've been, maybe not, we'll see. But I'm back today and I'm thinking deeply. I want your opinion on my thoughts, so please share.
Oh, I've been away a long time and how I've missed you. In another post I might tell you where I've been, maybe not, we'll see. But I'm back today and I'm thinking deeply. I want your opinion on my thoughts, so please share. 
It's been an emotional time.
So many changes.
So many swirling thoughts.
So many HUGE decisions.
So much stress.
And yet...
Lots of smiles!
Lots of GREAT joy!
Lots of "Miserable-Joy"!
Lots of JOY, none the less.
But beyond the JOY...
The STRESS has been a little over-powering.
The STRESS has been a little over-powering.
I was angry the other day.It was anger I usually don't engage in.
I found myself BLASTING emails out...
Getting others on my "Anger Bandwagon".
It wasn't a good idea.
Later I felt bad.
I told my best friend because he knew it was a rare occurrence. He told me it was going to be okay. I'm sorry if I wanted YOU to be a
"Bandwagon Jumper".
Through all of this I've found myself ticked at...
Nephi
"I will go, I will do, the things the Lord commands"
Seriously Nephi?
Did you really never question?
Did you really have such
Nephi
"I will go, I will do, the things the Lord commands"
Seriously Nephi?Did you really never question?
Did you really have such
unquestionable FAITH?
This morning I caught ya!
I found out NO,
This morning I caught ya!
I found out NO,
you weren't unquestionable!
I smiled.
I smiled.
The Lord commanded you to kill Laban
YOU hedged
YOU questioned
It took YOU time to decide if you would
"Go and do as the Lord commanded"
I smiled.
So this my question to you, my Blogger Friends, is ... Why did the Lord command NEPHI to kill Laban? Why did He not command Laman? It would have been an easy task for Laman, he would have smiled at the opportunity to do it. Yet, it was a commandment to Nephi.
Why?
How does this all fit together?
You tell me.
And...
Why does the Lord command me
to do things that would be easier for
YOU?
If you have no idea what I'm talking about you can CLICK HERE to the to get an idea or click to the right for the full story.
12 comments:
The first thing that came to my mind was that Nephi was the only one that WOULD go. Maybe the Lord WOULD command Laman to kill Laban but Laman wouldn't even try to be in the right place to be an instrument in the Lords hands. I don't know what you're actually going through or anything but I do know that you are like Nephi in that you are willing to "GO" in the first place. You are also strong enough for the "DO" part of "I will go and do". I don't know, but maybe that's why the Lord would command you to do things that would be easier for someone else. Also, I've been learning that the Lord asks us to do hard things so that we can be stronger for future things. You know that... but Nephi had a lot of other really hard things ahead of him like frankly forgiving his brothers after they tied him up... (again), or leading his family to the promised land. He had to be strong enough for that so maybe Nephi was being trained when he was asked to Kill Laban.
LIke I said, I don't know what you're dealing with, but I see lots of things really are changing for you. What I've learned while I have been in similar situations is that Heavenly Father really will give personal revelation and when I've trusted and followed him even when It didn't make complete sense it turned out better than I could ever have made it on my own. I know you know that, but for me hearing that other people know it too helps. :)
I love you, Krista!
ugh, that was Emily, by the way.
I have found myself asking the same questions many times throughout my life. When you figure out the answer, beyond what we ALREADY KNOW, pass it along.
Just remember that you are being polished in to just exactly what Heavenly Father needs you to be! I know that, it is just really hard to focus on sometimes.
As I sit here today following my last therapy session because of my knee surgery, I actually said to myself that I was feeling pretty good. I have finally been sleeping good at night and I find that I can get the kitchen cleaned up if I have the whole day! Progress!!
Last week I couldn't have been so positive.
As I have looked at the last 8 months I have endured a great deal of physical pain especially before my surgery, often asking myself if I would ever be pain free, begging Heavenly Father for it. Finally the pain became so much less following surgery, but yet the recovery, would I be able to make it?
Hard as it was I did! Did I ever think I would get there? NO!!!
I compare this to our life and the things we are handed and expected to live through and endure. Do we think we can? NO!!! Will it get better? Probably, maybe a little! Do we want to give up? YES!!!! But then one day something happens with the help of a supreme being, we wake up and WOW, to our surprise we are OK, we feel good, we are going to make it after all, and why? Cause like Nephi of old, we never gave up! We may of questioned, but we kept doing as we were asked, plugging along the best we could day after day, and as Nephi accomplished his many hard tasks, so can we, and we did and we will. We might not be asked to do something as hard as Nephi, but in our hearts and minds it seems just as trying as were the demands made on him.
You are so loved and are in our prayers daily! Days like these will come and go but I testify to you that the sun will always come up and you will thank the Lord for another great opportunity to learn and grow while preparing to return to your Father In Heaven again and be wrapped in his love forever. Remember, these trails are only part of our test on earth. I have no doubt you will receive an A+.
I love you, MOM
As I read your blog, I was struck with the realization that if we never questioned, if we never hesitated, if things were always easy we would never be strong. It takes strength to move forward when it isn't easy. To build up muscles by lifting weights, we must tear them down first...then let them heal and grow larger. And then we repeat the process over and over again. God wants us to create our own convictions and strength so we can stand tall in those moments when we must do so alone. You are an inspiration and I'm thankful for you!!
What ever you undertake to do, be sure it is done well with plenty of thought and reasoning. If you ever get down, don't forget to mingle with other people and enjoy their spirit of sociability.
If that doesn't work, go to your looking glass and laugh, laugh and laugh until the feeling leaves you.
If I ever get the blues, I sit down and count my many blessings and the many things I should be thankful for.
So, be cheerful, because there is not better feeling in this mortal life that is a feeling of contentment and this feeling is attained through righteousness, truthfulness, temperance and fortitude.
Great Grandfather Wallace Johnson
Nov 3, 1935
Krista, my "all-weather soul" friend, hmmm...a missionary in our ward liked to quote, "Two people can do anything, as long as one of them is the Lord." So I think the point is not WHY Nephi, but rather HOW? He was in it with the Savior.
2ndly, I love what Dory from Finding Neemo said...or sang, "Just keep swimming. Just keeping swimming." It's a catchy tune and there is wisom in the idea. Endure. It makes me think of 2 Nephi 31:20.
Lastly, my favorite deep-thinking-apostle shared this: http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=7dc1605ff590c010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD
It is titled The Pathway of Discipleship, from sept, 1998. I think you will enjoy, and maybe even love, it.
http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=7dc1605ff590c010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD
oops. it's worth another comment
Some times we all question WHY? WHY ME? WHY NOT SOMEONE ELSE? Why did I have to experience this or that. I totally understand where you are coming from. I question my self all the time. The Lord just tests the ones he loves the most. I have come to decide. If he did not life would be so easy. For some life seems so easy for them and all they do. If you want to talk about it I am here. Shirley_69_@hotmail.com. Just remember that God loves you so very much. I have questioned that my self. So many times. Why Nephi? I feel like a Nephi in my family.
I've missed your posts...SO good to 'see' you again. I think about this a lot. For me, personally, I've found that some of the things the Lord asks me to do are things that I'm AFRAID to do. I fear the failure, I fear the rejection, I fear the discomfort, I fear the outcome...and FEAR and FAITH cannot co-exist. So sometimes I wonder if the Lord is trying to weed out some of my fears and replace them with faith. I don't know...that's just me. :)
I recall now what seems like a life time ago the meeting held in the Durfee Street chapel in which the first of many to come “ward splits” was to take place. Now having had an in with some of the muckady mucks I knew just where my house would fall in that split and I had no need to fear.
I remember my father leaning over to me and asking me what I was going to do if I didn’t like the change. And the words of Nephi rang clear “Dad I will go, I will do the things the Lord commands.” The opening song was sung, “I’ll Go Where You Want Me To Go” -- … But if, by a still, small voice he calls To paths that I do not know, I’ll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in thine: I’ll go where you want me to go. I’ll go where you want me to go, dear Lord, over mountain or plain or sea; I’ll say what you want me to say, dear Lord; I’ll be what you want me to be.”
The story of the events that would take place of the course of the next 4 years and our 6 wards (yes 6 not The 6th) will have a chapter in my book but for now I will say, the muckady mucks that I thought I had and in with knew nothing and my world was now in a strange ward. But I had said it out loud “I will go and do the thing the Lord commands”.
The Lord has a plan for us and does not always seem like the clear and easy way, but it the Lords way. Like a baby chick we sometimes have to peck our way out of the shell we’re in today in order to have the strength to wear the feathers we need for tomorrow.
Those changes in my life have given me strength; they have given me friends to lean on, and service to give. It does not always look to us like the clear and easy path, but it is the best way the Lord knows how to give us the strength we need- strength to stand up for what is right, strength to lift others, and the strength to put it all in the Lords hands when we know we cannot do it on our own.
The Lord knew there was an easier way,- Laban could have had a heart attack, but that would not have made Nephi stronger. You and I could have been rich but in may have made us foolish. I Lord knows us as he knew Nephi and he is blessing us with trials everyday.
Comments from Facebook...
Suzanne Fisher: "I didn't say it would be easy... I just said it would be worth it" IDK but thanks for the DEEP thinking!!! It made me look at some of my trials different!! Thank you and love ya tons!!
Allison Castagno Smith: It is amazing to me we said we would come and deal with the things we have at hand!! Thank HEAVANS for a bigger picture a FOREVER picture! That is what keeps me sain lots of days! You are and amazing person KRISTA! Thanks tons for letting be see that I am not the only one that gets where you are!! We are NEVER alone!! Love ya tons
Beth Anderson Marshall: Krista, you are a Nephi in your own rights. He doesn't talk about the things that were easy for him because, well they were easy. You don't either, it was his hardships he talks about and teaches us through them. You do the same in your blogs. You teach us. You inspire us. It is what we all came down here to do, help lift one another. Think deep my friend and remember always to trust God, He is trusting you! All things have His hand in them. You know I love you just the way you are!!!!
Jenny Syndergaard Hatch Great blog post. I left an unfinished comment...my best part doesn't come through...(and it's not mine, it's ELder Maxwell). So here it is again, the third times the charm.
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