Captain Moroni

As I was reading my scripture assignment this week, I had several thoughts.

The first thing that I thought about was the way that I choose to react to those around me.  Pahoran did not let the actions of others affect the way he felt.  How often do we say "but she made me so angry!" or "I am so offended by that!"?  We cannot allow the actions of others MAKE us ANYTHING! We choose how to react to the situations that are put in front of us.

I was so angry at my husband last week for losing his job. I cannot even tell you how many jobs he has been through in the last few years.  It is so frustrating trying to hold it all together when he can't.  But then I realized through my reading and the words of Elder Bednar, I cannot change what happens to me.  I can only change how I react to what happens to me.  That concept has never been easy for me.  I admit that sometimes I can be a little bit dramatic and so I tend to overreact to things at first.  I start blaming other people for the way I feel about certain situations and get angry at them for something that I cannot control.

I need to remember the words of Pahoran "It mattereth not!"

The second thing that I thought about this week is how going to war for your beliefs relates to me.  I am not one of those people that would go out guns blazing to fight for what I believe in.  As a matter of fact, I find my beliefs and opinions to be quite personal and often unshared.  Maybe that is the wrong way to go about things but my relationship with my Heavenly Father is really close to my heart.  I don't feel like anyone can truly understand that relationship but me and him.  So how can i explain and fight for that belief when it is so individualized and personal to me?

Having said that, I feel like I need to teach my children how to defend their beliefs.  We live in a world where my children are constantly being bombarded by people and media who want to distort the truth and their beliefs.  How do I teach them to fight like Captain Moroni? I'm not entirely sure but I know that I can keep trying.  I need to be more able to share my thoughts about the gospel with them in a way that gives them knowledge and power to choose their beliefs over the ways of men.  It is a scary place, this world that we live in.  I can only hope that I can find a way to help them discern truth in it all.

Alma 30-35

This week in our reading for my Book of Mormon class, we read about quite a few things.

First we learned about Korihor. It was interesting to me that he was not only trying to convince Alma, but in a way I think he was also trying to convince himself that what he was saying is true.  This becomes more apparent when he admits after being struck dumb that he knew all along that there was a God.  How many times do we do that in our own lives?  How many times do we try and convince ourselves that even though we aren’t following all of the commandments, that it is ok because we are following some of them?  How many times do we rationalize our sins?

The next thing that was pointed out by my instructor was the companionship of Amulek and Zeezrom. If you remember, a few chapters ago, we saw that Zeezrom was on the opposite side of Amulek and basically was the one that facilitated the death of Amulek’s family.  And chapters later we read that they are now companions serving in Melek.  Several thoughts came to mind.  First, the idea that Amulek had to completely forgive Zeezrom for his actions.  Not just forgive in his heart and then never see him again.  They worked side by side every day teaching people the gospel.  Second, I can only imagine what an amazing experience it is to share the gospel and have those spiritual experiences as a companionship.  I never served a mission so I don’t have that experience, but I can imagine from spiritual experiences that I have had, that the people you share them with have a special bond with you over that moment.  They must have become not only companions but friends in their efforts.  What an example that was to me.

The final thing I wanted to touch on was prayer.  I have a strong testimony of prayer.  I know that it works.  I was saddened to think what it must have been like to think that you couldn’t just pray anywhere.  I am so grateful to know that I can pray to my Heavenly Father anytime, anywhere and He can hear me.