t e s t i m o n i e s . o f . k e l s .

I have been thinking a lot about where we as humans turn when life gets hard. Some of us may turn inwards, some may turn to addictive substances, some may try sleep away the pain, (which may or may not be my escape more frequently than I'd like to admit) but most try to do all they can to escape the long traitorous trials in anyway possible and any way that will bring that relief, we desperately want, the quickest. I was reading this last Conference edition of the Ensign (May 2017) and I came across a talk that quickly became one of my favorites. It was given by Elder Weatherford T. Clayton entitled, Our Father's Glorious Plan . In this talk a scripture was quoted that I have thought interesting for quite some time now and I felt that it answers the question above, on where we should  turn in those hard moments. The scripture talks about what our Savior did when He was faced with the hardest trial that seemed as if it may never end. "And being in an agony he [Jesus] pray...

I can't even begin to express the smallest degree of my testimony of this. It has literally shaped everything that I am today. It has changed me. It has molded me. And even though, at times, it was the hardest thing I ever did to completely turn my will to Him and say "Father what would you have me do," it was the greatest thing I ever did and I truly became a little better because of it. I can count endless times where I have been on my knees praying asking for guidance and the answer comes to do the unthinkable -- to quit volleyball, to serve a mission, to stop writing my best friend while on my mission and the list goes on and on. All the while, being the stubborn person that I am, fighting the prompting, yet the moment I give my will to Him everything changes. Immediate power and strength comes. Even when sometimes the understanding I so desperately want doesn't come, something better does -- peace, comfort, and a reassurance that Heavenly Father has nothing but...

Today, I was studying in 2 Nephi chapter 4. As I began to study my eye caught the chapter summary. The part that I was drawn to in the summary reads,  “ [Lehi] dies and is buried — Nephi glories in the goodness of God to him.”  I thought about that and realized how incredibly hard it would be to lose a parent. Especially under Nephi’s circumstances being that Lehi not only is the prophet and with him finishing his life now makes Nephi the prophet, but also Nephi’s brothers want to kill him almost every other chapter and Lehi is one of the ones that really understands the will of the Lord and understands what Nephi is going through. He understands Nephi and I’m sure they had a very close relationship with his father — taking into account that we receive all of the counsel Lehi gives to his sons besides Nephi’s probably because it was too personal and sacred for him to share.  Just think about that for a second though. This is probably one of the greatest challenge...