Ever a Student--Applying the Scriptures to our Lives

Long after we graduate from college, we remain students. We spend our whole lives learning.  And, we can participate in one of the greatest courses, if we but allow the lord to be our teacher and the scriptures to be our textbooks. One of the most wonderful and marvelous things about scripture is its applicability to our lives. As we read about those who have gone before, we can learn from their experiences. It is a gift for which I am most grateful. I would like to share an experience I had this morning.

We are still struggling to make ends meet while trying to sell our home. It has been one of the more difficult trials of our life at this point. Well, this morning, I was reading about the Brother of Jared and his friends and family as they crossed the great sea. I was struck with the passage that explained how the Brother of Jared praised the Lord throughout the entire journey. I found this to be really remarkable and a great lesson for me right now in my life.

The scriptures talk about the Brother of Jared praising the Lord after they first explain the mountainous waves that continually buried them deep in the sea. Here he is, going through a significantly difficult trial--perhaps one of the most difficult in his life. They are being tossed about by the sea; they are being buried completely down in the waters of the ocean. They are bearing children whilst at sea. This is no easy voyage. Yet, the Brother of Jared spends it praising the Lord. He does not spend it complaining to the Lord. He does not spend it pleading with the Lord to take it away or make it stop. In fact, before the voyage even began, the Brother of Jared did not even ask the Lord to prevent it; but rather, he asked the Lord forr help so that he might better endure it.

How many times have I cried and complained to the Lord before and during this trial in my life, asking Him first to prevent it, and then to take it away or end it?  Yet, despite my spiritual immaturity, the Lord in His mercy has given me the blessings and tools to better endure it. Just as he taught the Brother of Jared how to build those unusual vessels that would be water tight and withstand the violence of the sea, so has He given me the gospel and taught me the eternal principles that have been allowing me to withstand this difficult trial in my life. And, just as the Lord touched the stones for the Brother of Jared to give light to the vessels, so that they may not have to cross the ocean in darkness, He too has miraculously sustained us financially and otherwise throughout this difficult time in our lilves so that what could have been a very dark time has been an enlightening one. And, just as the Lord helped the vessels resurface each time they were buried in the depths of the sea, so has He brought us glimmers of hope through potential buyers, each time have felt that all hope is lost and we are about to drown. And, although these buyers have not purchased our home and ended this trial for us, just as the Lord's resurfacing of the vessels did not end that most difficult voyage for them, I know that our voyage, like that of the Jared and his brother, will one day end, and that we will be the better for having passed through it.

I am so grateful for the scriptures and the lessons they are teaching me and comfort they are giving me amidst my trials. They are such a blessing in my life.