Winds of Trials

We discussed some wonderful things in class this week. Our block was Ether 3-15, and they are some incredible chapters!

Our main discussion in chapter 3 came from verse 14, where it says "Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people. Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son."We talked about how that could be potentially confusing, since we are always taught that Jesus is our older brother. Brother Griffin explained that in order to be deemed "father," one has to engender new life in something. Our ultimate Father is Heavenly Father, who created our spirit. Our second father is our earthly father, or the person we call "dad." Then finally, Jesus Christ is our third Father, for He is the everlasting Father of the creation--He is the Father of eternal life and engenders life into our resurrected bodies. He is the Father of our spiritually begotten rebirth. Brother Griffin taught us that as we let Jesus Christ become our Father--the Father who will save us from our sins and redeem us--it will strengthen our relationships with our other two fathers. That's kind of an interesting promise.

Chapter 5 we labeled "Dear Joseph, Love Moroni." It's pretty cool because there are several references to Joseph Smith in this chapter, and you can only imagine what a comfort that would've been to him to be translating this book. In verse 4 it says "And in the mouth of three witnesses shall these things be established; [through] the testimony of three and this work[.]" At this point in time Joseph hadn't shown the plates to anyone by commandment, so to read a verse that said he would have three other witnesses of the record must have brought him pure joy. However, later in the verse, we are reminded of who the true three witnesses are, for "the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost bear record" of it. They are the true three witnesses who say it's true, and that's the only witness we should need.

A principle I loved in chapter 6 was in verse 5. It says "And it came to pass that the Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters, towards the promised land; and thus they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind." We read again that the Lord God caused those winds. Why? To get them to the Promised Land. It's interesting to think that the most furious, strongest winds are the ones that brought them the greatest distance. Likewise, it's the most difficult, challenging trials that bring us the most growth as a person. It's during the hardest times that we make the greatest distance. In verses 11 and 12, we read that they went through this difficult, furious winds for almost a year. But still, "when they had set their feet upon the shores of the promised land, they bowed themselves down upon the face of the land, and did humble themselves before the Lord, and did shed tears of joy before the Lord, because of the multitude of his tender mercies over them."This is a great reminder to us to maintain perspective throughout our storms and to praise him with gratitude when we reach the end of them. They never lost sight of where these storms were taking them (to the Promised Land) and we must always remember that our trials, if we endure them well, will take us to the Celestial Kingdom.

We covered much more, but that's all I have time for. Have a great day!

Thanks for reading,

Kelsey