Lessons from Nephi

As I've been reading 1st Nephi this time around, I have picked up on some lessons that Nephi repeats over and over that I hadn't noticed before. The first is that the Lord wants to help us help ourselves. We see this in several of Nephi's stories. For example, Nephi breaks his bow, so rather than asking for the Lord to fix it or give him a new bow, he makes himself a new bow and asks for the Lord's help in knowing where to hunt for food. Another example is when Nephi is commanded to build a ship, the Lord doesn't give Nephi a ready-made toolkit. Nephi asks the Lord where to find ore so he can make his own tools. Archaeology experts say that near Bountiful, where Lehi's family camped, there is ore sitting right on the surface, ready to gather for any who knows the location. Not only does the Lord show Nephi where the ore is, but he makes it easy for him to retrieve it and make the tools. The Lord is willing to help Nephi because Nephi is willing to do his part.

This lesson has been dancing around in my head for several days. I have found myself reflecting on this form of tender mercies and the parallels of Nephi's experiences with my own life. Allow me to share my most recent experience of this principle.

My husband and I are in the middle of moving out of our tiny apartment into a much bigger house and each day we have been taking several truckloads to break up the job. It happens that today, in the midst of unloading, I locked the only key we have to the Blazer, inside the Blazer in my purse. Panic ensued. We quickly discovered that one of the seat-belts had gotten caught in a door, causing it to not close all the way, however, the lock had worked and it wouldn't budge. I just knew that if the door was open a crack, it was the Lord's way of helping us. I was certain that something could be done with that small opening. We realized that we could fit something through the small opening and after 45 minutes of intense effort, we were able to hook the door lock and pull it upwards. We felt immensely grateful. Again I was reminded that the Lord helps those who help themselves.

Another principle that Nephi teaches is the concept of "if... then". This means that if we do something, there is a consequence based upon our actions. Nephi teaches that if we keep the commandments, then the Lord will bless us and we can live with Him again. After a particularly rough weekend, I can testify that this is true. I had my own "if... then" situation this week. Suffice it to say, that I was able to justify an action I wouldn't normally do which led to additional bad decisions being made. I chose to take a wedding decorating job on Saturday and Sunday. I usually have a policy not to work on Sunday and this messed up my entire schedule and really threw me off. I made some bad decisions that ended up ruining my set-up on Saturday. I was mortified, embarrassed and humbled. I recognized that the Lord wasn't able to bless me and help me pull off the decor as a consequence of my poor decision to work on Sunday. I can also testify that the Lord loves us and when we repent he is eager to shower us with blessings, which is what I have felt this week.

I am so thankful for the many tender mercies the Lord shows each of us, and especially the multitudes of blessings I have received just in the past week. No question about it, God loves us!