Hello Beautiful people,
I've had a scripture running through my head ALL week. It's one of my favorite from Nephi's stories in the beginning of the Book of Mormon. It comes out of 1Nephi 11. I have always loved this chapter because of Nephi's search for his own knowledge. I love how Nephi establishes the pattern of revelation. He shows us that we do not have to take people's word for revelation they receive, we can ask questions ourselves. I think it's amazing how much Nephi learned asking questions for himself instead of relying on his father's testimony. My favorite part of his vision comes near the beginning. The Angel asks Nephi a pretty tough question, Knowest thou the condescension of God? Whenever I read this I laugh a lot. It's crazy to imagine being in Nephi's place. He is having this amazing experience, the angel is giving him answers to the question of his soul, then the Angel just casually asks him one of the deepest questions with a pretty un fathomable answer even to us today with all of our knowledge. Do you know where God came from? How did he become God? I probably would have laughed at the Angel and then given him a solid blank stare. The revelation would have ended there. Alas, Nephi has so much more wisdom than I. I LOVE his response in verse 17,
1 Nephi 11:17
17 And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.
Nephi took one of the deepest questions of the soul, where did God come from and boiled all of those Gospel truths we will have to wait for eternities to find out into one simple truth. He bore his simple testimony that he might not know the answers to every thing he knew Heavenly Father loved him and that is enough for him. This week we've faced a lot of interesting doctrinal questions while considering the plight of our investigator Michelle. We've been trying to consider how to help her understand repentance and how to help her feel loved. We've also felt pretty worn down and tired. The wasting and wearing has been real. I felt a little like I'm sure Nephi felt when first faced with the Angel's overwhelming question. Luckily, just like Nephi I have a strong and simple testimony to turn to. I might not know how to best teach every gospel principle, I might not understand every repentance process and deep doctrine issue, I might not know how to motivate my companion and keep my head above water every day, I might not always know how to get stubborn people to take the leaps of faith they need to find eternal happiness, BUT I know that the Lord knows me. I knows that He knows Sister Davis. I know He knows Michelle. I know He knows every single person here in Urbana. Most importantly I know that He loves us! As I come to understand and feel that love in my own life, I desire to share it even more. Thank you all for being inspired and being a very real sign of that love to me.
✌🏻️Sister Reynolds✌🏻️
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