40 Day Walk with Christ - Day 16

Read Alma 30-36
Mark & Ponder Alma 32:21
Scripture of the day: "Wherefore, fear not even  unto death; for in this world your joy is not full. Therefore care not for the body, neither the life of the body; but care for the soul, and for the life of the soul. And seek the face of the Lord always that in patience ye may possess your souls, and ye shall have eternal life." (D&C 101: 36-38)
Thought for the day: "The gospel of Jesus Christ is not insurance against pain. It is a resource in event of pain, and when the pain comes...rejoice that you have resource to deal with your pain." (Carlfred Broderick)

Today's reading had so much good stuff I have no idea what to focus on.  I love the thought for the day, so true.  From Korihor in chapter 30 "I always knew that there was a God. But behold, the devil hath deceived me...I taught [the devil's words] because they were pleasing unto the carnal mind."  We learned early that the natural man is an enemy to God.  Our carnal mind desires things that are not pleasing unto God.  Satan uses those things, our very natures, to deceive us and lead us away.  Many let themselves be deceived, even though they know deep down that there is a God and that He doesn't want them to live their lives this way, because it is so pleasing to our carnal minds and fallen natures.  It's like when your alarm clock goes off and you know you need to get up and that you're going to be late if you don't but it just feels so good to drift back into sleep.  We let Satan deceive us because it feels so good to give in to those carnal desires and then we try to convince ourselves that it's ok to make ourselves feel better. 

Again (one thing you will notice as you read the Book of Mormon, especially if you read it quickly, is that themes are repeated over and over and over again.  The Lord really has to drum things into us a billion times to get us to listen) we come across the idea of being compelled to be humble.  If we won't humble ourselves and turn to the Lord, He may step in and try to help us find our way back to Him.  That way may be poverty as in these chapters, or it may be cancer, or it may be any number of things.  But I would much rather humble myself so I don't have to be poor, or have cancer, or whatever (not that humbling myself will eliminate the possibility of those things.  See my list of afflictions in a previous post).  We always struggle with money and I HATE being poor.  Well, it's more that I hate being stressed about money.  I hate having to worry about whether we'll be able to pay our bills this month.  I don't handle stress well and man is it hard for me.  I really hope that I can keep myself humble and keep trying my hardest to live the commandments so that I will someday learn whatever I'm supposed to learn from financial trials and be able to prosper.  It would seriously suck if it was my fault we had financial struggles because I was too proud to humble myself and turn to the Lord.

I love the analogy of the seed.  Anyone that truly wants to know if something is true can find out for themselves.  If someone is sincere and truly wants to know if the gospel of Jesus Christ is true, they will undoubtedly find out.  Most people aren't willing to "experiment upon His words" because they like their lifestyle too much and don't want to know if it's true or not. 

I also love the story of Moses holding up the rod and all the people had to do was look and be healed and yet some would not.  Pride is a funny thing.  So many people today refuse to look and thus, refuse to be happy.  It's so obvious sitting on this side of the fence but they think the world will give them happiness and are too stubborn to admit otherwise.  They hurt themselves, they sacrifice healing and happiness, and for what?

And finally (there's actually a ton more but I really do need to move on) I LOVE Alma 34:32-34.  "This life is the time for men to prepare to meet God..."  This is what it's all about.  Now is the time to prove the kind of people we are and the kind of people we want to become.  Right now, today, is the time to prepare to meet God.  Are we doing everything we can to prepare for that day?  It's so overwhelming sometimes.  Life is hard.  Being a good person is hard.  Trying to become like the Savior is hard.  Sometimes I look back on my day and think "I definitely slid backwards today."  When I've had a trying day with the kids and there's been too much yelling and being frustrated or when I've had a "me" day where I just wanted to read my book or do some scrapbooking for a while and the boys just want to me to play with them I think "if the boys were taken from tomorrow (like in a car accident or something) would this day be what I would want for our last day together?  With the same thought process, if I died in a car accident tomorrow, would I have done enough today so I would be prepared to meet God.  I can ALWAYS do better in this area.  Sometimes my answer is a resounding NO and it helps me to do better the next day.  I hope and pray that I have the strength to do what is necessary to prepare to meet God and the strength to refuse to give in to my carnal and fallen nature.