As
we go through life, there are so many choices to make. I try to weigh my
options and make a well-thought-out decision, but I have learned for myself
that the scripture in Isaiah 55:8-9, is one of the most important
principles to remember:
Isaiah 55: 8 For my a thoughts are not b your thoughts,
neither are your c ways my d ways, saith the Lord.
than your ways, and my c thoughts than
your thoughts.
So
this is what I think is one of the important related scriptural
themes: When we receive and follow promptings from the Holy Ghost
we will take a more direct course in our lives and we do not suffer so much “in
the wilderness.” It is found throughout the scriptures including
the stories of Lehi and his family and the story of the Jaredites:
Read in Alma
37:40-42 where he talks about the Liahona:
40 And it did work
for them according to their afaith in God;
therefore, if they had faith to believe that God could cause that those
spindles should point the way they should go, behold, it was done; therefore
they had this miracle, and also many other miracles wrought by the power of
God, day by day.
41 Nevertheless,
because those miracles were worked by asmall means it
did show unto them marvelous works. They were bslothful, and forgot to
exercise their faith and diligence and then those marvelous works ceased, and
they did not progress in their journey;
42 Therefore, they
tarried in the wilderness, or did not travel a
direct course, and were afflicted with hunger and thirst, because of their
transgressions.
THEME:
He points out that “they forgot to exercise their faith and diligence and
then those marvelous works ceased and they did not progress in their journey;
therefore they tarried in the wilderness or did not travel a direct
course.
·
Lehi’s family didn't have to be in the wilderness
for 8 years! (See 1 Nephi 17:4)
So again,
this is what I think is one of the important scriptural themes: When
we receive and follow promptings from the Holy Ghost we will take a more direct
course in our lives and not suffer so much “in the wilderness.”
Here
is an example from my “Journal of Spiritual Promptings” that illustrates what I have learned:
12/17/2011 I was
remembering tonight that a year ago this fall I was applying at BYU. I
had the application all filled out and called our executive secretary to set up
my appointment with the bishop for my ecclesiastical endorsement, which was the
final step in the application process. As soon as I hung up the phone I
had a very negative feeling. I called him back and canceled my
appointment and decided it must not have been the right time to start back to
BYU. I didn’t know why, but I knew it wasn’t the right time. Tonight as I
remembered the incident, I realized that if I had continued with my application
to BYU last year then I would have been starting classes two weeks after our
daughter’s accident.
[Our oldest
daughter, Tricia, and her family were traveling to Utah for our son’s wedding
when they were in a car accident. Their 3-year old daughter was killed, and our
daughter was in ICU with a broken back, punctured lung, and shattered knee.
After 10 days in the hospital, we had a hospital bed and a wheel chair brought
into our home and I took care of her and her other 2 girls while her husband
returned to work. I wouldn’t have been able to attend BYU that semester.]
Here
is an earlier example, also from my journal:
3/2/2007 Now that
all of the kids are in school, I have been working towards going back to school
at BYU to finish my bachelor’s degree. I have spent a lot of time researching
majors and careers and how much they would pay and be flexible. My
application is officially turned in at BYU and I should hear back any
time. I was really excited when I decided to do the Marriage,
Family and Human Development major because they are all classes about parenting
and families. I would be a social worker. I went down to campus
yesterday and talked with a MFHD counselor and declared that as my major.
But after I walked out of the office I felt that it wasn’t the right major for
me.
[I worked on some
general online classes, but it took more months of research and time before I
chose to major in Family History-Genealogy. I now have only 4 classes left to
graduate and I love this major; so grateful for the prompting that redirected
the direction I was taking.]
In
looking back on these two experiences, I think of how much harder things would
have been if I hadn't listened to the promptings. The Holy Ghost gives us
promptings that make our lives easier. Especially if we are in tune enough to
hear them.
A
few of the other scriptures in the Book of Mormon which I feel really fits this
theme include:
And it came to
pass that the Lord commanded them that they should go forth into the
wilderness. , yea, into that quarter where 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.
Behold, O Lord,
thou hast smitten us because of our iniquity, and hast driven us forth, and for
these many years we have been in the wilderness; nevertheless, thou hast been
merciful unto us.
[The whole story of
the Brother of Jared and his family’s journey in the wilderness is a parable of
life.]
And now, I say
unto you, my brethren, that after ye have known and have been taught all these
things, if ye should transgress and go contrary to that which has been spoken,
that ye do withdraw yourselves from the Spirit of the Lord, that it
may have no place in you to guide you in wisdom’s paths that ye may be blessed,
prospered, and preserved.
And the ball or
director, which led our fathers through the wilderness, which was prepared
by the hand of the Lord that thereby they might be led, every one according to
the heed and diligence which they gave unto him.
Therefore, as
they were unfaithful they did not prosper nor progress in their journey.
I
have pages in my journal filled with similar experiences of how the Holy Ghost
blessed me to take a better path. I can’t put into words what great blessings I
have received and how much these blessings help me feel how much my Heavenly
Father loves me.
