Give Me Strength

Recently Brandon and I started institute and so far its been awesome!!! Today we were talking about Nephi and his brothers when they went to get the daughters of Ishmael. 1Nephi 7:17 says "But it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea, even give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound."  I've heard this story and read through it many times and 1Nephi 7:17 has never really stood out to me until today. Nephi had just done something hard; he had just went to Jeruselum for the second time with his brothers and then his brother bound him and were planning to harm him. I think if I were in Nephi's shoes I probably would have just been praying for Heavenly Father to get me out of there. But I thought it was cool that Nephi didn't pray for his situation to change but that he could have the strength to change it.

Elder Bednar said "As you and I come to understand and employ the enabling power of the Atonement in our personal lives, we will pray and seek for strength to change our circumstances rather than praying for our circumstances to be changed." He also said "I do not think the bands with which Nephi was bound just magically fell from his hands and wrists. Rather, I suspect he was blessed with both persistence and personal strength beyond his natural capacity, that he then .. worked and twisted and tugged on the cords, and ultimately and literally was enabled to break the bands."

My life is amazing right now, but I thought this was a good reminder for when we face trials.

We also talked about the Tree of Life, and why Lehi stayed there calling to his family, instead of going back to them to bring them to the Tree. One of the students said that it could have been because when we reach where we are supposed to be, we shouldn't go back. If we put ourselves in a lower position than where we're supposed to be, it's harder to get back. That's why we should stay how we are and continue to improve, all the while encouraging our peers to do the same.