There was something that I was listening to late one night a couple of weeks ago. I was having a hard time sleeping and was worried about some things going on with some of the children. I always seem to worry about them because I want them to be happy and "choose the right" so they can feel all that Heavenly Father wants them to feel! Each child has their own kind of trials and struggles - some personal - some work related - some relationship related. As I was listening to this guy speak about how God helps us with our trials I stopped flipping through the channels and listened for a few minutes. Most of what he said made a lot of sense. I got what he was teaching about and then shut the program off and started searching the scriptures for examples of what he was teaching. I had an "ah ha" moment. I love it when that happens. So funny though because I was the one learning for myself when I originally thought I would be using this to teach to my children. I will eventually but for now I needed the lesson for some of my own struggles I am having at this time. What is it - well Heavenly Father uses what is close by us to help us through our own situations. When David had to fight Goliath he used stones that were on the ground. Heavenly Father did not give him something to use that he was not familiar with. He fought a great battle with some simple stones. Moses is another example. There are several in the Book of Mormon - Nephi, The Brother of Jared, Mosiah to name a few. I am sure if you think about other stories in the scriptures you can see that the prayers were answered using ordinary objects that were familiar to the person receiving the answer. Maybe you all realized this before but I had never seen the simplicity in what we can use to overcome the challenges that we face. As I read further into some of these stories I realized that in all cases faith proceeded their actions. I am sure if I was facing Goliath and looked and saw a few small stones lying on the ground my first thought would not have been to pick them up and use them - those would kill the giant - no I dare say I would not have thought that. I would have been looking around for something larger, or even someone else to fight off the man. As I read again the story of the Brother of Jared I realized that whatever uncertainty he had about himself he never doubted the Lord's abilities. When these scripture heroes of mine succeeded it was by "small and simple things" The scripture in Alma 37:6 states "that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass - (and I love this line of the scripture) and small means in many instances confound the wise." Now I will be honest I have never thought of this scripture as an answer to how to solve any trials I might be going through. I seem to always look for some big answer from the Lord. And yet when I look back on how my prayers have been answered - really it was by "a small means" - a word or song from a child - a note in the mail - a friendly phone call from a friend - a verse from the scriptures that I had never seen before (don't you do that sometimes, wonder where that little gem had been hiding all this time?) - a thought in my mind as to the right words to say at the right time. As I have been reading my scriptures this past week I have been looking for these "small things", these things that are right there - close at hand. I think that is what I noticed also is that the things were close at hand. I know that even if I doubt myself I can rely completely on the the Lord's abilities and recognize those things as He places them before me. As I have been studying the Doctrine and Covenants this year again to teach in seminary I am reminded that He is "in our midst". No matter how alone or dark we feel He is there waiting to help us all we have to do is "knock". Think about it - how close are our hands to us - we just have to "knock". I know that we don't literally knock on a door but the thought of folding my arms and down on bended knee seeking for the door of my heart to be opened to His will I can see how my hands play a role in that process. Another phrase that jumps out at me a lot this time is the one to "pray always" He reminds us to do that a lot.
So I guess in short as I look for an answers to my problems I will notice how the Lord uses what is familiar to me, what is close to me , and that His abilities go beyond anything I could do on my own. A nice little lesson learned for one sleepless night:)
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