Read: Mosiah 24-25
Mark: Mosiah 24:14-15
"We should seek to be happy and cheerful and not allow Satan to overcome us with discouragement, despair, or depression." --Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin
To ponder:
How can we submit more cheerfully to the will of the Lord?
There is so much to be learned from today's reading. The people of Alma could not pray out loud or they would be put to death. But this did not stop them (nor should it ever stop one of us if we were in a similar circumstance). The people prayed with their hearts and the Lord heard them and answered their prayers. How often have each of us felt the power of the Lord when we have prayed mightily with our hearts?
ReplyDeleteAnd then the Lord visits them in their afflictions. It is interesting that He did not take their afflictions away from them (as I so often pray for!), but He made them light so that they could bear them. And, the people of Alma learned to do this cheerfully and with patience. What great lessons can be learned from this example!!
In Chapter 25, do we learn that the first wards and stakes were formed in the Church?! :) This is just like our church organization today: "There being many churches they were all one church yea even the church of God"!!!
Okay, so my psychology-laden self wants to quickly point out from the quote today that depression is a very real medical condition and that if there's someone who feels bogged down by depression it does NOT mean you aren't living worthily!!! Many good meaning members of the church will encourage you to just pray harder to get out of depression. No one would tell someone with diabetes to pray to cure it or tell someone using an inhaler that they only have asthma because they haven't prayed enough. So PLEASE, if you suffer from depression don't despair! There are medications and therapists that can help alleviate those symptoms. And while prayer of course helps, please don't feel unworthy if it doesn't cure you because that's not what this quote is really about. Okay. Stepping off the soap box now. :)
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, how crappy is it that Amulon and the other priests got off easy from all their wrong-doing?! But Limhi's people were faithful. And I love how the Lord made them stronger so that their burdens seemed light. Attitude really makes a big difference to how we see our trials. I've found that when I try to be cheerful (or really, when I make it a goal NOT to complain) that my trials seem easier. I can look at them more objectively for what they really are instead of what they seem like. And just as God delivered his faithful people, he delivers each of us from our burdens.
Amulon and the priests were like us in someways we get by with our mistakes for a season but in all reality we all pay for our transgression. But it is great to know that if we are faithful that Heavenly Father strengthens us, so that we can carry our own special burdens with ease.
ReplyDeleteI was only able to make it through the trial with Brother Restivo by the blessings of Heavenly Father. He strengthened me and gave me the friends and family I needed to carry me through this trial.
The knowledge that Heavenly Father will help us through these trials gives us great hope!
Remember the Lord in good times - be forever grateful! I love that they regent to praise the Lord in their safety, but never grow complacent. They didn't wait for the all clear to be grateful. They wetter grateful when he responded to their cries even though they weren't free yet. They were grateful when they were strengthened SSSI they could handle their burdens though the burdens themselves did not change. They were grateful when they got out and still they kept going!
ReplyDeleteIf we consumed our minds more with what we have and what we could be grateful for we would naturally be more cheerful!