An investigator that I have been teaching has the love for rocks! He has been collecting a lot of rocks for a few years now and he enjoys it a lot. He has a lot of containers, rock cases, and buckets of rocks just flooding his garage and back yard. I was very amazed of how many different rocks are out there...rocks that I didn't even know existed! There were so many different colors, textures, and shapes. I was having so much fun looking at all the rocks he had, they all had their own stories behind them. One particular rock really caught my attention and I ended up asking him if I could keep it. And it is the picture above. It has a story to it and as I was really looking at it trying to figure it out, it made me think of the many wars between the Lamanites and the Nephites from the Book of Mormon. And with that said, I feel so inspired to share a perfect story from the Book of Mormon that relates to this rock.
In the Book of Mormon there was an account between these two man that battled against one another. (Ether 15) Just a little background about this chapter: Millions of the Jaredites are slain in battle--Shiz and Coriantumr assemble all the people to mortal combat--the Spirit of the Lord ceases to strive with them--The Jaredite nation is utterly destroyed--Only Coriantumr remains.
( http://lds.org/scriptures/bofm/ether/15?lang=eng) -A link to Ether 15
But in this account Coriantumr and Shiz assembled their own armies that they may battle with one another. And after four years of gathering their armies, they were all set for war. And they did march forth and battle with one another and at night when they were weary, they would retire to their camps. They would mourn over the loss of their people and but the next day they would continue their battle. They did this for a few days, but they kept going until there were not many of them left. And when all the armies were death, Coriantumr and Shiz were the only ones left. They fought and Coriantumr smote off Shiz, and Shiz fell to the ground and died. Coriantumr did fall unto the earth as well.
It was a brutal battle but there's a lesson that I learned from this chapter, even though it seemed like it was very disturbing. It was last transfer, one morning where I was just distracted because it was Preparation Day and I was excited to hear from home and to write home. I had a lot in mind and my mind was wandering off somewhere that I was distracted while I was doing my personal study. I finally realized it and so I said a prayer asking Heavenly Father to help me so I could forget myself and get to work. I also asked Him to speak to me through the scriptures. I opened my scriptures randomly and it fell unto Ether chapter 15. I started reading and after a few verses I stopped and said, "Heavenly Father, really?! What does this have to do with me? How is this relate to me?" I closed my scriptures and decided to study from Preach My Gospel. Few minutes my companion came by my desk to grab something and saw me just staring outside and she knew my mind was wandering off somewhere. She gave me a kiss and a hug and said, "I feel like Heavenly Father is talking to me." So I told her that I don't feel like His talking to me and I started telling her what had just happened. She told me to just be patient and to go back and read until I feel like I have received my answers.
I did go back and started reading even though I still felt like Heavenly Father wasn't talking to me at all. As I read again from the beginning of the chapter, slowly I began to understand more of what Heavenly Father was trying to tell me. From this particular chapter, Heavenly Father was talking to me through the scriptures even though I felt like it didn't relate to me at all. That I will experience all the distractions I can get, but I will have to battle up those distractions. It will happen everyday, but as I put my trust in Heavenly Father, with patience and really not questioning Him, I will receive the many answers to my prayers even though I don't feel like I am receiving them. "...Whether the Lord will that I be translated, or that I suffer the will of the Lord in the flesh, it mattereth not, if it so be that I am saved in the kingdom of God. Amen." (Ether 15:34) Just like what Ether said on that very last verse of this chapter...only through the will of the Lord I will be saved in His kingdom if I rely on Him by putting my trust in Him. He will help me overcome those battles that I face in my everyday life! Just like the rocks, the scriptures have stories or accounts of the people that can help lead and guide us in this life. They are lessons to be learned, stories to relate to our lives, or even answering some of our questions we have in this life. How grateful I am for the scriptures and for the many things in life that I can relate myself to and learn a lesson from. But only through the Lord my mind can be enlightened to know the things that I need to know, and what He wants me to know.
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