Today’s Reading: Mosiah 7:16-33
33 But if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will, according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage.
I don’t know if you have noticed, but there seems to be a lot of instances in the Book of Mormon where people are in bondage. If the Book of Mormon was written for people in our day, then what signals does that send to us? What do those stories tell us about what we can do when we are in bondage; when we are wrapped up in the chains of sin or anguish?
This section of Mosiah gives us some amazing advice and I firmly believe that what Limhi was telling his people to do is exactly what we can and should do today. Two times Limhi uses the phrase “lift up your heads.”
Verse 18: “Lift up your heads and be comforted.”
Verse 19: “Lift up your heads, and rejoice, and put your trust in God.”
Two times in consecutive verses. Hmm. Seems like that is an important piece of advice; one that he really wants us to wrap our brains around.
I also noticed that Limhi is fully aware that just because you put your faith and trust in God, does not mean that everything is going to be sunshine and lollipops all the time.
Verse 18: “Yet I trust there remaineth an effectual struggle to be made.”
Verse 23: “And now, is not this grievous to be borne? Now behold, how great reason we have to mourn.”
An effectual struggle. Boy, have I had some effectual struggles in my life.
*Daily temptations
*A chronic digestive disorder since Junior High
*Friend issues
*Death of loved ones
*Daily mommy struggles
*Battling breast cancer
The list could literally go on and on. However, the advice that Limhi gives in verse 33 is something that has been key in helping me through these struggles and the many others that I have faced in my time here on earth. He basically gives us the perfect formula for breaking free of the chains of sin and anguish in our lives.
Step 1: Turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart.
Step 2: Put your trust in Him.
Step 3: Serve Him will all diligence of mind.
If we follow these three steps, if we give our everything to the Savior, then He will support us in our trials and “according to his will & pleasure” will deliver us out of bondage. That could be today, tomorrow, years from now, or sometime in the eternities. The Lord can see things that we can’t see. We have to trust in His eternal timetable and not our transient one. This quote from Sister Nancy Maynes sums it all up perfectly.
I grew up the oldest of 5 children in the blazing heat of Southern Utah. After high school and some college experience I met and married Mark Ogden and we are the parents of four children. I have owned and operated my own home-based preschool for more than a dozen years, and I consider myself an accidental author as well. When I am not in my minivan transporting children from one activity to the next, I enjoy playing the piano, blogging, speaking about my life’s experiences, and feeding my insatiable crafting disease.