2 Nephi 4-- Becoming a Miracle

2 Nephi 4 is one of my favorite chapters about Nephi. Because in that chapter, it really seems like Nephi just opens up his soul and pours his heart out on the "paper" (it was plates of metal back then).
In chapter 3, his father Lehi dies. Soon after that his brothers and brothers-in-law plan to kill Nephi, his family, and his other supporters. His brothers are planning this!!
That is Nephi's life when chapter 4 begins. He just lost his dad, they're in a strange land, and his own brothers want him dead.
When the chapter starts Nephi cries unto God. But not about his trials. He begs God to take away his sins and his weaknesses. That's one thing I love about Nephi; when he is in a tough situation he's not afraid to tough it out.

One of my favorite quotes is this... "Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your power. Pray for power equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle." (~Phillips Brooks)

Then Nephi says "19 And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins; nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted.
20 My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep.
21 He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh."

After he's asked for forgiveness, God gives it to him. The rest of the chapter is a beautiful prayer of praise to God.
Nephi spends three verses lamenting his sins very sincerely, but then he spends fifteen verses praising the source of his redemption.

Then comes chapter 5, verse 2: But behold, (my brothers') anger did increase against me, insomuch that they did seek to take away my life.

Nothing changed! His dad was still dead, he was still in a new country, and his brothers were still trying to kill him!

But now he had peace. He had God on his side, and he knew it. He'd received forgiveness and felt God's love. And God had given him the strength to continue on.

Nick Vujicic is another inspirational man. Here is one of his messages:

How do I find REAL Peace?

I've been pondering the question this morning, and haven't found an answer yet.

You know that feeling when everything around you is loud and crazy and energetic? And you just want to escape? It may not be a stressful energy, but there's more than you can handle?
The way I've coped with that in the past is to close my eyes and imagine a bubble of quiet surrounding me and blocking out the noise. But that bubble doesn't bring me peace. It just disconnects me from everything and everyone around me.

If you have any thoughts or scriptures that you think could help me, please post them below. I could really use this help.

Principles of Prayer

As I was scrolling through the Church's Google Plus page, I saw a bunch of posts about Prayer. I thought I'd join in, and share my own thoughts.

 One of the most spiritual experiences of my life happened during a prayer.
I was thirteen-- super insecure and still learning about how special I was. There was this girl I knew who was almost exactly the same age as I was but seemed to have everything. She was beautiful, liked, had a gorgeous singing voice, and seemed to have great spiritual strength. I thought to myself. "How can I ever be important to anyone when they have her?" I was constantly comparing myself to her.

One night, I broke down into tears. Laying in bed, I folded my arms and asked Heavenly Father if I was loved, if I was important to Him.             I didn't hear a voice. I didn't see an angel. What happened was my entire being was filled with light and love. It felt like I was recieving a huge hug from my Heavenly Father. Even now, five years later, just remembering that night and that prayer brings back that feeling. 

I know that Heavenly Father communicates with us through prayer. We are able to feel connected to Him on a very personal level. 

It is through prayer that I was able to discover my self-worth and feel of the love Heavenly Father has for me. I know He has it for you, too. 

He is only a prayer away.

12 Days of Easter: Day 3, He is Here

What a beautiful Easter Video!!
He is Here. In this little hotel room, when I'm far away from home and taking care of a rambunctious 4 year old at 11 pm He is still Here.
I can feel the Spirit as I watch this video, and I hope you can, too.

(The next day...) I was thinking about this post during sacrament meeting and put together these thoughts.
He is Here.
Here in this Church. With the small babies, elderly couples, and the families. With the boys and girls, gentlemen and ladies.
He is in this Room. He sees the sunflowers and hibiscus, the beautiful brown tiles, the dark blue seats.
He is in the Music. As we sing His praises He joins our song. He comes closer to us than ever before.
He comes through the Spirit. Comes to our hearts, to our minds. And we are able to feel His presence-- His Love.
The Love that took Him to the garden. The Love that brought Him up the hill. The Love that carried Him to the Cross.
His friends mourned Him and buried Him. They saw His body, but He was not there.
Three days passed. "He is not here." No, He was no longer in the tomb. No longer in death

HE IS RISEN

He is Here.

He is with you. He is with me.

Willingly, He sacrificed everything for us.

Freely, He now shares His love and peace.

Always Remember... 

He is Here.

General Conference!

Sorry. I'm bad at keeping up with my blogs :S.
But at least I'm here now, right?

I just finished listening to the first session of General Conference. I'd been advised by leaders to write down questions that I had, but I couldn't think of any questions. Finally, as this session was starting, a big question that I've been pondering came to mind, and I wrote it down. I havn't recieved any direct answers to it, but I've been feeling more at peace about it.

If anyone wants to listen/watch the remaining sessions, they're on the radio at FM 102.5, or somewhere around there :S. (my radio doesn't show exactly where I'm at) Or you can watch it from the church website
Watch https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch?lang=eng&cid=HPTU040114644
Listen http://www.mormonchannel.org/radio

My Mom's Recent Post

This is a beautiful post that my Mom wrote for her blog. 
Please read it, it's wonderful!

An Amazing Story about Love and Including Others

One Young Women group in Oklahoma sought Heavenly Father in prayer to determine how to best include a new Beehive who was deaf. They worked hard to be His instruments and His hands (quite literally) in helping this young woman. A miracle swept over their entire ward as they became the angels that would bear up Alexis, the new Beehive.

Alexis said: “I was nervous and excited to start Young Women. Mom always comes with me to sign for me because I am deaf. After the opening prayer and song, Sister Hoskin, my Young Women president, said, ‘Alexis, we have a gift for you.’ Then all the girls stood up and started signing something. I knew it was special. Later I learned it was the Young Women theme. All the girls in our ward had learned it to surprise me.

“I know Heavenly Father loves me because of wonderful people here on earth that show me love, especially the girls in my Young Women [class] and my Young Women leaders who sign for me and help me learn the gospel” (letter to Young Women general presidency).

Sister Hoskin, the Young Women president, had prayed diligently to know how to help Alexis. She wrote:

“I had been the Young Women president in my ward for only one week when I began to worry about one of my upcoming Beehives. Alexis is hearing impaired, and I worried about how I could help her fit in and show her that she was one of us. After being troubled for many days and after many prayers, I woke in the middle of the night from a dream where I saw my group of young women standing together, doing the Young Women theme in sign language. I knew the answer to my prayers.

“It was a big challenge. It took hours—one entire night of Mutual, then weekly practices before we were ready. When Alexis’s birthday came, everyone was excited and nervous about our surprise. I pulled Alexis and her mom in front of the girls and said (signing to Alexis), ‘We have a gift for you. Now you are one of us.’ Then we stood and repeated the theme and did it in sign language. The Spirit was so strong, and there weren’t many voices because we were all crying, but the girls did a beautiful job. Alexis was beaming. She knew she was one of us.

“We learned that Heavenly Father loves all of us and that there are times we will be His voice and His hands to help others feel that love. We learned that serving brings the greatest joy. I learned the importance of following promptings, even when it involves a lot of work and seems improbable” (letter to Young Women general presidency).

Imagine how through the years Alexis’s mother has prayed for her daughter, having all the same hopes and dreams for her that each mother has for her daughter. She said:

“As the mother of a handicapped daughter, I am used to doing a little extra to help things work out for her. Because she is deaf, I am often at her side interpreting for her. You can imagine the feelings that flooded through me as the young women all began to sign the Young Women theme for her. As I stood there watching with tears in my eyes, the verse that ran through my mind was from Matthew 25:40 [Matt. 25:40]: ‘Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.’

“The remarkable love and service these young women have shown just began on that day. Many of them have given of their time and effort to learn sign language and now help with interpreting at church for Alexis. My prayers for Alexis have always been that she would be happy, be progressing, and know that she is loved.

“As a parent, my testimony of the Savior has been strengthened as I have seen the service and love of these girls and their leaders. At times, our concern for our daughter has been a heavy burden, but it has been made lighter by the actions of these faithful young women and their wise leaders.”

This mother had prayed for the Lord’s help, and now through the help of others, angels on earth, she saw all things working together for the good of her daughter.

Other young women in this ward told how they grew in giving this service. The Laurel class president related that learning the theme in sign language was hard work, but they felt the Spirit helping them in this effort. She said, “We did not rush through the theme just to say it like usual. We thought about the words and signed it for someone else so that [she] could know the words too, and that made me happy to know that she could understand our theme and know that she was a daughter of God too.”

Even the young men got involved. They learned how to sign “Will you dance with me?” in preparation for an upcoming dance at a ward Mutual activity. Consequently, Alexis danced every dance. The priests learned to sign the sacrament prayers for her. The spirit of love enveloped the entire ward

(-Susan B Tanner, "All Things shall Work Together for Your Good", April 2004)

Good Prayers

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, we believe in the power of prayer. But we pray a little differently than most other churches, as shown in this story:

Watoy paused under the colorful Filipino flag outside his school before heading inside.

“Good morning, class,” his teacher said. “It’s time for our morning prayer.”

All around, Watoy’s friends each touched their foreheads, chests, and shoulders to form the shape of a cross. Then they recited the prayer they always said at the beginning of class. As usual, Watoy didn’t join them. Instead, he closed his eyes, bowed his head, and said his own silent prayer. He prayed about different things each time, the way he was taught to pray at home and in Primary.

When he finished and looked up, he saw that his teacher was watching him with a confused expression on her face.

“May I talk to you after school?” she said.

Watoy swallowed and nodded. Was he in trouble?

When classes had ended for the day, Watoy’s teacher walked over to him.

“I see that you never cross yourself or recite our morning prayer,” she said. “Will you please tell me why?”

Watoy breathed a sigh of relief. His teacher wasn’t upset, just curious! He thought about how to answer.

“Well,” he began, “in my church, when we pray, we talk to Heavenly Father about many different things. And the cross reminds us of when Jesus died. But Jesus is not dead. He lives!”

His teacher thought about this for a moment and then nodded slowly.

“Thank you for sharing this with me,” she said.

As Watoy walked to football practice, he felt warm and good inside. He liked teaching others about Jesus Christ. (Friend Mar. 2013)

There is a short webpage about prayer published by the church. Here are some excerpts:

You have a Heavenly Father who loves you and knows your needs. As His child, you have the opportunity to communicate with Him through prayer. He does hear and answer prayers.
Through prayer, you can receive divine guidance, strength, and blessings from Him daily. Prayer can help you draw closer to God, receive comfort in troubling times, and know right from wrong.
While on earth, Jesus Christ taught that we should pray to the Father in His name (see John 16:23-24) Prayer should begin by addressing Heavenly Father and end with the statement "in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."
When praying, speak openly and honestly with God. Express gratitude and thanksgiving for your blessings, acknowledge your love for Him, and ask for help, protection, and direction according to your needs. Prayer is not complicated. You can pray anytime, anywhere—out loud or silently—with perfect confidence that God will hear you
My mom had a thought the other day about expressing gratitude at the beginning of the day. She's read this book called the "Jackrabbit Factor", and it talks about expressing gratitude for what we want to get as if we have it now. She'd always thought of gratitude as a finishing thing, like "I'm gratiful I did that, now I'm done." But now she feels as if it's a motivation.
 
Someone else learned a lesson in prayer from their mother:

One of the important lessons my mother taught me by her example was about praying with a plan. She said it was important to pray that Heavenly Father would guide me. But I should also do my part by having a plan to help my prayer be answered.

One day when I was about six years old, I learned what that meant. I had earned a nickel, so I decided to buy some candy. On my way to the store, I started flipping my shiny nickel in the air. On its way down, I missed catching it, and it fell into some tall grass. My nickel completely disappeared.

I felt very bad, and I decided to pray. I knew Heavenly Father would help me find the nickel. As I finished my prayer, I thought about what my mother had taught me. What plan could I make to help with my prayer?

Suddenly I had a great idea. I would go home and get another nickel. Then I would come back to the exact spot where I had lost my nickel. If I flipped the second nickel in the same way, I thought Heavenly Father could help me find my lost nickel.

I ran home and borrowed another nickel. Then I went back to the spot where I had been before. I flipped the second nickel, this time watching carefully to see where it landed. When I looked down, I saw both nickels lying side by side. I knew that Heavenly Father had helped me.

Heavenly Father loves me, and He loves you. When you have problems in your life, remember to pray and also to think about what plan you will have after your prayer. Heavenly Father will always guide you (-Carl B Cook, Friend Apr. 2013)

I know that prayer can change people's lives. Prayer can help us through trials, and can also help us communicate with Heavenly Father to show our gratitude and happiness.