There is nothing this world needs more

The below quote is taken from Sheri Dew's April 1999 general conference talk

"Is it possible to be happy when life is hard? To feel peace amid uncertainty and hope in the midst of cynicism? Is it possible to change, to shake off old habits and become new again? Is it possible to live with integrity and purity in a world that no longer values the virtues that distinguish the followers of Christ?

Yes. The answer is yes because of Jesus Christ, whose Atonement ensures that we need not bear the burdens of mortality alone. There is nothing this confused world needs more, nothing that inspires a greater sense of well-being, nothing that has greater power to strengthen families than the gospel of Jesus Christ. President Howard W. Hunter said, “Whatever Jesus lays his hands upon lives. If Jesus lays his hands upon a marriage, it lives. If he is allowed to lay his hands on the family, it lives.”3 The Savior will do for each of us what He has promised to do—if we will have faith in Him and receive His gift."

A study of Easter and the infinite Atonement of Jesus Christ

My Easter Sunday talk - April 2017

NOTE: Most of this was taken from BYU Professor Andrew Skinner's talks and discussions with his fellow BYU Scholars - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3mlMrFhGq6I

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3mlMrFhGq6I

PURPOSE: To further BRING TO LIFE this Easter journey and for us all to ponder how miraculous it is that Jesus Christ's love for us is greater than the agony, he suffered, in the Atonement.

INTRO

We begin on a THURSDAY NIGHT in the upper room of a house in south Jerusalem.  

Many important things take place in that room but probably one of the most important events was that CHRIST INTRODUCED AND ADMINISTERED THE sacrament there. 

After JUDAS leaves the remaining 11 DISCIPLES and Jesus walk through the quiet streets to the CITY GATES.  They DESCEND DOWN THE TEMPLE MOUNT, crossing a little brook in the narrow Kieron Valley and enter the LOWER WESTERN END OF THE Garden of Gethsemane. 

Gethsemane, part of an olive vineyard, was near the Jerusalem cemetery and opposite the Temple.  We know there was a FULL MOON that evening (owing to the Time of the Jewish Passover) and as Brother Andrew Skinner explained:

QUOTE:It is quite possible, as some have suggested (assuming no cloud cover), that the full moon cast the shadow of the Temple over the garden near the graveyard. Jesus and the apostles thus made their way to Gethsemane in the shadow of the Temple by a place of death. Such a scene could not have done other than serve as a foreboding reminder to the Savior of his impending fate and infuse the atmosphere with increasing gloom." 

We then read in MARK 14:32-34

32 And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and he saith to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray.

33 And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy;

34 And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch.

35 And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.

36 And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what my will, but what thou wilt.

I want to spend a few minutes analysing elements of this scripture to highlight the Saviours great suffering in Gethsemane.

1) SORE AMAZED 

In MARK 14:33 we read He began to be sore amazed and very heavy.

Another translation would be TERRIFIED Surprised 

WHAT WAS CAUSING HIm to feel this way?

QUOTE: "...Jesus was weighed down with he sin, sorrow and sufferings of the entire human family.  It was an experience that only a God could withstand and not succumb to death" - Brother Skinner

"Christ's agony in the Garden is unfathomable by finite mind, both as to intensity and cause... In that hour of anguish Christ met and overcame all the horrors that satan, the prince of this world, could inflict" - James Tamage - Jesus the Christ 

7 Billion people are alive today, they estimate 107 Billion people have lived, yet alone those to come and those beyond this world  ( Consider MOSES scripture  "worlds without number have I created") Imagine one of your most painful moments and multiplying it by 100 billion and yet that doesnt even begin to cover what our Saviour suffered that night! (2 Npehi 9:7  it must needs be an INFINITE atonement)

ALMA 7:11 EXPLAINS it was more than just sin - pains, afflictions, temptations of every kind, sickness, infirmities..."

2) FELL AND PRAYED 

IN MATTHEW 26 we read, that three times he "FELL ON HIS FACE AND PRAYED" the same prayer asking.  "Oh my father if it be possible, let this cup pass from me" 

QUOTE: "He fell and prayed, he fell and prayed, he fell and prayed - It is almost as though he is trying to find any restbite from this intensity and yet it will not leave, it keeps getting heavier and heavier bearing down on him and now I think we understand the parallel  BETWEEN THE SAVIOURS EXPERIENCE AND THE PLACE THAT IT OCCURS" - Brother Skinner 

3) GETHSEMANE - Literally means "Oil Press" 

When the olives are crushed the initial colour of the oil is of a blood red hew.  This is very Symbolic of the Saviours experience (who's personal testimony, of what he went though, we are so blessed to have);

DC 19:15 ...how sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, yea, how hard to bear you know not... Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink—Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men."

PRESIDENT NELSON "...Remember just as the body of the olive, which was pressed for the oil that gave light, so the Saviour was literally pressed under the weight of the sins of the world... from every pore oozed the lifeblood of our redeemer.  Throughout the joyous days of your mission, when your cup of gladness runs over, remember His cup of bitterness which made it possible.  And when sore trials come upon you, remember Gethsemane".

4)  HEMATIDROSIS (Bloody sweat) is a rare phenomenon, an American medical association journal, explained "in persons experiencing extreme distress and highly emotional states.  AS A RESULT OF EXTREME STRESS AND PRESSURE, THE small blood vessels just under the skin haemorrhage, blood mixes with perspiration" producing a bloody sweat.

5) ABBA - 

The Aramaic term for Abba (the language Jesus would have primarily spoken) which means "papa or daddy"

 "To miss the significance of the word ABBA at this point in the story of Gethsemane is to miss the TRUE RELATIONSHIP that existed between Jesus and His Father" - Brother Skinner 

It also helps us recognise his desperation and agony as He called out to His Father for relief from such unimaginable suffering!

Elder Holland has beautifully written " In that most burdensome moment of all human history, with blood appearing at every pore and an anguished cry upon His lips, Christ sought Him whom He had always sought—His Father. “Abba,” He cried, “Papa,” or from the lips of a younger child, “Daddy...This is such a personal moment it almost seems a sacrilege to cite it. A Son in unrelieved pain, a Father His only true source of strength, both of them staying the course, making it through the night—together."

......

HIS ARREST - 

MATTHEW 26:45

45 Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

46 Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.

I can't imagine how difficult it must have been for the Saviour to know that one of his closest friends, a chosen disciple (to which surely Jesus must have seen so much goodness and potential) was the one that led a mob to take Him away.  

Elder Holland said of Judas "The most difficult to understand in this group is Judas Iscariot. We know the divine plan required Jesus to be crucified, but it is wrenching to think that one of His special witnesses who sat at His feet, heard Him pray, watched Him heal, and felt His touch could betray Him and all that He was for 30 pieces of silver. Never in the history of this world has so little money purchased so much infamy. We are not the ones to judge Judas’s fate, but Jesus said of His betrayer, “Good [were it] for that man if he had not been born.”

TRIALS - 

Jesus was taken on 4 different journeys before His final walk, when He bore the cross.  The BYU Scholars mentioned how Jerusalem is a very hilly city and that each of these walks would have been around a mile - all this and Jesus has had no rest after suffering in Gethsemane! 

High Priest - Jesus was first taken to the High Priest where they accused Him of Blasphemy and declared that he is guilty of death" They then spat in his face and beat Him.  They did not have the power to crucify him, that power lay in the Romans' Hands and their representative there was Pontius Piloted.

MATTHEW 27

1 When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death:

2 And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.

2) Pilate does not believe he is guilty of anything and once he hears that he is from Galilee he sends Him onto Kind Herod as Galilee is his jurisdiction.

 3) King Herod who was the son of the Kind Herod who tired to have him killed as a child!  This King Herod was responsible for the murder of his cousin John which must have been very upsetting for Jesus.  The King was excited to see him as he had heard a lot of Him and was anticipating witnessing one of His miracles nevertheless the Saviour Said nothing to him, so He mocked him and sent him back to Pilate.

4) Pilate said - "I HAVE FOUND NO FAULT IN THIS MAN...NO, NOR YET HEROD..I WILL THEREFORE CHASTISE HIM AND RELEASE him...but they cried out all at once saying, a way with this man, and release unto us Barabbas...they cried crucify Him, crucify Him"

(A FEW SIDE NOTES: Pilate's wife had had a dream and was also certain that Jesus was innocent.  It is possible, as suggested in one of the gospels, that Pilate had Him flogged as a means of satisfying the Jews without having to put Him to death.  There was pressure on Pilate on both sides - the Jew's were trying to convince Him that He was making himself a King above Ceasar which would then put him in a lot of trouble if he did not take this opportunity to dispel this 'potential problem' now while he had the chance.  Pilate then hoped the people would choose Jesus' freedom over Barabbas. (whose name translates, ironically, as "son of the Father") but it seems the High Priests had managed to rally enough support to free Barabbas (who the scholars believe was arrested for being involved in a protest against the Romans).Matthew 27:24 When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see yet to it) 

FLOGGED - 

Jesus was then flogged with what we would call a cat of 9 tails.  Leather twangs with pieces of bone and metal within them designed to break the flesh. Jewish law permitted no more than 39 lashes but we have no record of how many lashes they inflicted upon our Saviour.  We know that many of its victims died then and there at the horrific flogging. 

CARRIED THE CROSS - 

We believe men would have only carried the cross piece of the cross as the upstanding stake would have been already in the ground.  WE estimate it would have been around 100lbs.  Consider how exhausted Jesus was from all that has happened, ridiculed and spat upon, flogged and now being forced to carry His own cross on a back that must have been bleeding, broken and raw - the thought of this is just heart breaking.  Even Jesus, who was the son of God at this point needed help to bare His cross, this is reminder of how excruciating this whole experience must have been - and still there is more to come...

CRUCIFIXION - Is a torturous method of extending death, they estimate Jesus suffered on the cross from 9am to 3pm roughly 6 hours according to the gospel of Mark. 

NATURE OF CHRIST - throughout this unbelievable suffering we see time and time again the Saviour is thinking of others -  even to the men that put him on the cross he said "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do" he reassures the dying thieves that suffer beside him, makes sure his Mother Mary has John to look after Her when He has gone and even as he carries His cross up the hilly valley on a bruised and bloodied back he offers counsel to the company of faithful women who follow Him!    What compassion and selflessness and what a great example to us all!

 I cant bear to go into the detail of how painful this must have been but then Elder Holland explains that before the end of his mortal life, there was something even more difficult to come:

"Now I speak very carefully, even reverently, of what may have been the most difficult moment in all of this solitary journey to Atonement. I speak of those final moments for which Jesus must have been prepared intellectually and physically but which He may not have fully anticipated emotionally and spiritually—that concluding descent into the paralyzing despair of divine withdrawal when He cries in ultimate loneliness, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

It was required, indeed it was central to the significance of the Atonement, that this perfect Son who had never spoken ill nor done wrong nor touched an unclean thing had to know how the rest of humankind—us, all of us—would feel when we did commit such sins. For His Atonement to be infinite and eternal, He had to feel what it was like to die not only physically but spiritually, to sense what it was like to have the divine Spirit withdraw, leaving one feeling totally, abjectly, hopelessly alone."

Jospeh of Armitha offered his tomb, Nicodemus also came to help prepare his body with enough spices (JOHN 19:39) to make His a royal burial.  They only had uNTIL SUNDOWN to prepare and place his body before Saturday which was the sabbath.

SO WHY DID HE DO ALL OF THIS???

Because He loves us!  As 1 nephi 19:9 said "And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men."

The Saviour knows each of us individually and knows what we are capable of - through the Atonement of Jesus Christ He assured all of us a way to have eternal life and to even be Like God (if we desire it). I love Alma 7:13 "Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God sufferers according to the flesh that he...  (7:12) may know according to the flesh how to succour His people according to their infirmities".  The Saviour choose to actually feel and suffer all of our sins sorrows and sicknesses (even though the spirit could have helped him understand them without feeling them) so that He would succour or 'run to us' and help us through every trail in life.

Resurrection - 

LUKE 24: 1 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.

2 And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre.

3 And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.

We believe these women came early to finish preparing His body for burial and upon seeing it empty they ran back to tell the Disciples. 

The BYU Scholars explain that because of Greek influence, and other factors, the concept of 'resurrection' was not understood.  It was widely believed "the body was a tomb" and so people couldn't understand why someone would be resurrected there had also never been a case of a man raising himself from the dead - this might help explain why his followers were so shocked!

Peter and John ran to find the tomb empty and then Mary follows behind them ...

JOHN 20

11 ¶ But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre,

12 And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

13 And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.

14 And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.

15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.

16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.

Elder Holland writes "On that first Resurrection Sunday, Mary Magdalene first thought she saw a gardener. Well, she did—the Gardener who cultivated Eden and who endured Gethsemane. The Gardener who gave us the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valley, the cedars of Lebanon, the tree of life...One, only one, person could speak her name that way. With that single word all doubt, confusion, and uncertainty was swept away. Mary, in that instant, came to the grand, sublime realization that he for whom she mourned, even Jesus that was crucified, had risen from the dead, just as the angels early that very morning had testified, “He is risen.” (See Luke 24:6.) ... As we approach this holy week—Passover Thursday with its Paschal Lamb, atoning Friday with its cross, Resurrection Sunday with its empty tomb—may we declare ourselves to be more fully disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, not in word only and not only in the flush of comfortable times but in deed and in courage and in faith, including when the path is lonely and when our cross is difficult to bear. This Easter week and always, may we stand by Jesus Christ “at all times and in all things, and in all places that [we] may be in, even until death,”21 for surely that is how He stood by us when it was unto death and when He had to stand entirely and utterly alone."

I have a testimony of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ.  I know He lives because I know Him.  I know He leads this Church and I know He did all of this because He loves us and sees within each of us the most unimaginable potential!  We are His sisters and brothers and He gave everything He had to make a fullness of Joy possible for each of us!  I know that without the Atonement we would not have this wonderful mortal opportunity yet alone an eternal life.  I can testify all of this is true because when I follow in the meekness of His Spirt I have peace, I have joy and I have a greater understanding and knowing He is always with me,and that He has suffered all of my personal trials, gives me the strength to overcome all things.  I love how DC 122:7-9 captures this: 

7 And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.

8 The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?

9 Therefore, hold on thy way, and the priesthood shall remain with thee; for their bounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever.

I testify that all of this is true and that, because of Him, everything is possible, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen

The realities of parenthood

I really enjoyed This article in January 2016's ensign.  I especially appreciated this last line "Bearing children is neither easy nor convenient, but it is a commandment that helps us realize the real blessings of mortality."  Yes, being a parent is difficult it brings the greatest joy but can also bring Distress and sorrow (especially in times of sleep deprivation accompanied by two crying babies) but being able to expand my vision of motherhood (through remembering it is a commandment which therein brings great blessings for obeying and constant help and direction from God, not to mention having the precious knowledge that it is this amazing opportunity to learn and understand the nature of Heavenly Father and develop God like qualities in doing so) makes it an amazing and humbling experience that I am SO grateful for!

Here's the article:

"Reality Number 3: Bearing and raising children helps us develop our capacity to become like God.

At the time He “blessed,” or sealed, Adam and Eve to create the first family on earth,7 God gave them a commandment: be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth (see Genesis 1:28; Moses 2:28). Marriage and children go together. The procreative powers that make mortal birth possible are to be used only between a man and a woman, legally and lawfully wedded.8

Adam and Eve understood that bearing children was an important reality of mortality. They obeyed God’s commandment, “and Adam knew his wife, and she bare unto him sons and daughters, and they began to multiply and to replenish the earth” (Moses 5:2). Prophets in our day have declared that “God’s commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force.”9

In today’s world, however, many people no longer believe that “children are an heritage of the Lord” (Psalm 127:3).

Several years ago, a couple who was about to marry came to me. They asked for my advice regarding children. I reminded them of the commandment they would receive when they were sealed, and I counseled them that they could keep this commandment in counsel with the Lord. I reminded them that it is a commandment like tithing, Sabbath observance, or other commandments. Once a covenant is made, the question is not whether to keep it but how to keep it in a way that is pleasing to and approved by the Lord.

I watched as they started their marriage. He had a year left of undergraduate studies, and she had another year in a master’s program. They felt directed to have their family immediately—despite the schooling and uncertainty over future jobs. It was not easy or convenient to have a child so soon. He had to search for a job, they had to move, and she had to finish her degree. They faced stress and sacrifice. He had to rush home each day and watch the baby while she completed her thesis and practical training. She studied and wrote between nursing and changing diapers.

The Lord has blessed and prospered them. While many others lost jobs in the economic turndown of 2008, he was retained and promoted. Because they lived frugally, they are out of debt except for a mortgage, and they have since been able to completely pay for a master’s program with no debt. All the while, they have continued to learn the valuable lessons that can come only with parenthood. Bearing children is neither easy nor convenient, but it is a commandment that helps us realize the real blessings of mortality."

Written for our day

The Book of Mormon: strengthening our faith in Christ by elder Anderson 

Why would another testament of Jesus Christ be so important for our day? Why would the Lord bring forth another witness to strengthen the powerful declarations of the Bible?

We live in a time unlike any other. Scientific achievement allows medical care, transportation, comfort, and convenience never imagined by generations who preceded us. The earth is flooded with information and technology, enhancing family history work and the sharing of the gospel but also the proliferation of pornography, virtual violence, and other “evils and designs [that] exist in the hearts of conspiring men” (D&C 89:4). In much of the world, we live in a time of strong attachment to material possessions.

These conditions can, if we are not careful, distract or entice us to move away from principles that are eternal and true for every generation.

40 weeks and 12 days later... Solace from this lovely article "the last days of pregnancy, a place in between"

....I believe that this is more than biological. It is spiritual. To give birth, whether at home in a birth tub with candles and family or in a surgical suite with machines and a neonatal team, a woman must go to the place between this world and the next, to that thin membrane between here and there. To the place where life comes from, to the mystery, in order to reach over to bring forth the child that is hers. The heroic tales of Odysseus are with us, each ordinary day. This round woman is not going into battle, but she is going to the edge of her being where every resource she has will be called on to assist in this journey. - See more at: http://www.mothering.com/articles/the-last-days-of-pregnancy-a-place-of-in-between/#sthash.dBb5hYZK.dpuf..

The will of the Father In All Things - holland

The path to a complete Christian education passes through the Garden of Gethsemane, and we will learn there if we haven’t learned it before that our Father will have no other gods before him—even (or especially) if that would-be god is our self. I assume you are all far enough along in life to be learning that great discipline already. It will be required of each of us to kneel when we may not want to kneel, to bow when we may not want to bow, to confess when we may not want to confess—perhaps a confession born of painful experience that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are his ways our ways, saith the Lord (see Isaiah 55:8).

I think that is why Jacob says to be learned—or, we would presume, to be any other worthy thing—is good if one hearkens unto the counsels of God. But education, or public service, or social responsibility, or professional accomplishment of any kind is in vain if we cannot, in those crucial moments of pivotal personal history, submit ourselves to God even when all our hopes and fears may tempt us otherwise. We must be willing to place all that we have—not just our possessions (they may be the easiest things of all to give up), but also our ambition and pride and stubbornness and vanity—we must place it all on the altar’ of God, kneel there in silent submission, and willingly walk away.

I believe what I am describing here is the scriptural definition of a saint, one who will “yield to the enticings of the Holy Spirit,” and “through the atonement of Christ . . . becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father” (Mosiah 3:19).

Cast not away therefore your confidence in regards to facing a vbac :)

We are between 5-7 weeks away from the birth of our second son.  Having had a c-section with Jake I have spent over a year reading and researching on everything that I could do to increase my chances of having a normal natural birth with baby number toe, something that is very important to me.

Most importantly I have been seeking the a lords help through constant prayer and study.  I believe my choices have all been divinely inspired, nevertheless I am fully accepting of whatever comes.  If it is another c-section I know atleast that I have done everything in my power to avoid it, so it must be truly necessary for me and for the baby.

However, I have chosen to remain hopeful that I will attain a vbac.  There is a lot of opposition and so reading elder Hollands talks, for the uptineth time, "cast not away therefore your confidence" has been incredibly powerful in keeping my thoughts optimistic.  I really believe that I can have this healing birth and feel so empowered being reminded that this path I am on has been inspired and I will not give up without a fight or in the words of Joseph smith "shall we not go on in so great a cause?  We go forward and not backward!  Courage... and on, on onto the victory!"

"

Do Not Fear

Lesson number two is closely related. It is that in the process of revelation and making important decisions, fear plays a destructive, sometimes paralyzing role. To Oliver Cowdery, who missed the opportunity of a lifetime because he didn’t seize it in the lifetime of the opportunity, the Lord said, “You did not continue as you commenced.” Does that sound familiar to those who have been illuminated and then knuckled under to second thoughts and returning doubts? “It is not expedient that you should translate now,” the Lord said in language that must have been very hard for Oliver to hear. “Behold, it was expedient when you commenced; but you feared, and the time is past, and it is not expedient now.” ⁸

Everyone runs the risk of fear. For a moment in Moses’ confrontation with the adversary, “Moses began to fear exceedingly; and as he began to fear, he saw the bitterness of hell.” ⁹ That’s when you see it—when you are afraid.

That is exactly the problem that beset the children of Israel at the edge of the Red Sea, and it has everything to do with holding fast to your earlier illumination. The record says, “And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid.” Some (just like those Paul described earlier) said words to this effect: “Let’s go back. This isn’t worth it. We must have been wrong. That probably wasn’t the right spirit telling us to leave Egypt.” What they actually said to Moses was: “Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? … It had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.” ¹⁰ And I have to say, “What about that which has already happened? What about the miracles that got you here? What about the frogs and the lice? What about the rod and the serpent, the river and the blood? What about the hail, the locusts, the fire, the firstborn sons?”

How soon we forget. It would not have been better to stay and serve the Egyptians, and it is not better to remain outside the Church, nor to put off marriage, nor to reject a mission call or other Church service, and so on and so on forever. Of course our faith will be tested as we fight through these self-doubts and second thoughts. Some days we will be miraculously led out of Egypt—seemingly free, seemingly on our way—only to come to yet another confrontation, like all that water lying before us. At those times we must resist the temptation to panic and give up. At those times fear will be the strongest of the adversary’s weapons against us.

“And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord. … The Lord shall fight for you.” In confirmation the great Jehovah said to Moses, “Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.” ¹¹

That is the second lesson of the spirit of revelation. After you have gotten the message, after you have paid the price to feel His love and hear the word of the Lord, go forward. Don’t fear, don’t vacillate, don’t quibble, don’t whine. You may, like Alma going to Ammonihah, have to find a route that leads an unusual way, but that is exactly what the Lord is doing here for the children of Israel. Nobody had ever crossed the Red Sea this way, but so what? There’s always a first time. With the spirit of revelation, dismiss your fears and wade in with both feet. In the words of Joseph Smith, “Brethren [and sisters], shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory!” ¹²

God Will Help Us

The third lesson from the Lord’s spirit of revelation in the miracle of crossing the Red Sea is that along with the illuminating revelation that points us toward a righteous purpose or duty, God will also provide the means and power to achieve that purpose. Trust in that eternal truth. If God has told you something is right, if something is indeed true for you, He will provide the way for you to accomplish it. That is true of joining the Church or raising a family, of going on a mission, or any one of a hundred other worthy tasks in life. Remember what the Savior said to the Prophet Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove. What was the problem in 1820? Why was Joseph not to join another church? It was at least in part because “they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.” ¹³ God’s grace is sufficient! The Lord would tell Joseph again and again that just as in days of old the children of Israel would be “led out of bondage by power, and with a stretched-out arm. … Therefore, let not your hearts faint. … Mine angels shall go up before you, and also my presence, and in time ye shall possess the goodly land.” ¹⁴

What goodly land? Well, your goodly land. Your promised land. Your new Jerusalem. Your own little acre flowing with milk and honey. Your future. Your dreams. Your destiny. I believe that in our own individual ways, God takes us to the grove or the mountain or the temple and there shows us the wonder of what His plan is for us. We may not see it as fully as Moses or Nephi or the brother of Jared did, but we see as much as we need to see in order to know the Lord’s will for us and to know that He loves us beyond mortal comprehension. I also believe that the adversary and his pinched, calculating little minions try to oppose such experiences and then try to darken them after they happen. But that is not the way of the gospel. That is not the way of a Latter-day Saint who claims as the fundamental fact of the Restoration the spirit of revelation. Fighting through darkness and despair and pleading for the light is what opened this dispensation. It is what keeps it going, and it is what will keep you going. With Paul, I say to all of you:

“Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.

“For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” ¹⁵

I acknowledge the reality of opposition and adversity, but I bear witness of the God of glory, of the redeeming Son of God, of light and hope and a bright future. I promise you that God lives and loves you, each one of you, and that He has set bounds and limits to the opposing powers of darkness. I testify that Jesus is the Christ, the victor over death and hell and the fallen one who schemes there. The gospel of Jesus Christ is true, and it has been restored.

“Fear ye not.” And when the second and third and fourth blows come, “fear ye not. … The Lord shall fight for you.” ¹⁶Cast not away therefore your confidence.