CFM Chastening Growth

 It was a hard week.  It was parent teacher conferences which was good but tiring. But all 3 of my girls are struggling right now.  It's just a hard time.  The high school is shutting down for two weeks again due to Covid.  Covid cases are through the roof and so the governor has mandated masks throughout the whole state and no one is to have any gatherings outside of immediate household members for 2 weeks (though thankfully schools can stay open if they aren't above 15 cases and churches are exempt and can have up to 99 people attend...but all extra curricular activities have been cancelled for now--including dance at Shellie's). It looks very likely that prom and Senior Ball will be cancelled and the high school is already planning graduation and it sounds like they are leaning heavily toward a drive through graduation.  Michelle is heartbroken that so much of her senior year is being lost.   Anyway, I was feeling so disheartened.  Why does everything have to be so hard?

Then I read two Instagram posts that are helping me see things a bit differently.  Things are still hard and I still don't like it, but they gave me things to consider.

Come Follow Me with Bee wrote this:  

The Brother of Jared brings his offering of stones before the Lord. He had thought about what to do, he did his part and put in the work, and he’s now asking the Lord to bless and magnify His efforts—to do for him what he can’t do for himself.

What I find so interesting to ponder on, though, is this:
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If the Brother of Jared 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 have the faith he had, if he 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 have the faith to pierce through the veil and physically see the finger of Christ touching the stones that he offered up, would that mean that Christ’s finger wasn’t still there, touching and magnifying his efforts?

Would it just have looked like God sending down His power and the stones miraculously lighting up before his eyes?

Reading Ether 3:6 really makes it seem this way.

And it got me thinking about my own life and about all of the times where I’m trying my best and can’t quite make it there, where I feel like I’m coming up short.

And then how, in God’s mercy and grace, I receive a little more “strength beyond mine own” or something else happens/falls into place that allows me to take another step forward. I think about the times I witnessed miracles or heard of miraculous stories.

If I had the faith to pierce the veil and the eyes to see the literal hand of God in my life, what sorts of miracles would I be seeing behind the curtain? How much is Christ (or His angels) 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 and 𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 involved in my life?
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I truly believe His hand is there, touching our stones, whether we have eyes to see it or not.

And as I think about the Brother of Jared seeing Christ thereafter, I can’t help but think about how much more is in store for us as we choose to have faith in Him and ask to see Him in our lives.
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“And never has man come before me with such exceeding faith as thou hast; for were it not so ye could not have seen my finger. Sawest thou more than this?

And he answered: Nay; Lord, 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦.”
(Ether 3:9-10)

(SOOO good, right?   Am I seeing Him touching the stones?  Am I even noticing that the stones are now lit?)

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Come Follow Me Daily wrote this...which was a bit of a rebuke for me:

Furious winds.
Buried in the depths of the sea.
Tossed upon the waves.
Mountain waves broke upon them.
Terrible tempests.
Buried in the deep.
For 344 days.

So many descriptions—like they were trying to paint a picture of exactly how bad it was.

My heart goes out to those Jaredite moms trying to calm babies in the middle of the night so they don’t wake up the rest of the family. Those kids with no place to run for a year. Those fathers opening the hatch, wondering if this would finally be the day their family would stop suffering, only to see blue water...again.

It reminds me of a quote I love by Kimberly Henderson:
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“I would have pulled Joseph out. Out of that pit. Out of that prison. Out of that pain. And I would have cheated nations out of the one God would use to deliver them from famine.

“I would have pulled David out. Out of Saul’s spear-throwing presence. Out of the caves he hid away in. Out of the pain of rejection. And I would have cheated Israel out of a God-hearted king.

“I would have pulled Esther out. Out of being snatched from her only family. Out of being placed in a position she never asked for. Out of the path of a vicious, power-hungry foe. And I would have cheated a people out of the woman God would use to save their very lives.”
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Following Kimberly Henderson’s line of logic, I would have pulled the Jaredites out. Out of the darkness. Out of the tempests. Out of the winds. But I would have cheated them of the force that “did never cease to blow them towards the promised land.” (Ether 6:8)
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And I would pull you out. Out of coronavirus. Out of worry. Out of heartbreak. Out of pain. But what would it cheat you of?

“Mountains do not rise without earthquakes.” (Katherine MacKenett)
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Trust in the Lord.
Trust in His plan.
“No pain we suffer or trial we experience is wasted.” (Elder Whitney)

So never cease to praise God (Ether 6:9), knowing that the wind will drive you towards your Promised Land.

LESSONS LEARNED:  Trials and adversity tend to our education.  They drive us toward our promised land.

Have eyes to see.  

Trust.  You have a good, good Father.  Trust Him.