3 Nephi 14-15

(November 29, 2014)

                So I must make a confession – at times, particularly recently, it has felt as though each time I have gone to the Lord asking for bread I have been given a stone, and when I have gone to Him asking for a fish, I have gotten a serpent.  I know the problem is my perception – I am asking for the wrong things, and I am not sufficiently grateful for the things that He is giving me.  It seems so clear and easy for me to understand what should happen (from my perspective), and yet time and time again it doesn’t happen.

                The only way to understand this is to trust the Lord that what I think I am asking for as bread is in fact a stone, and when I am getting something that I think is a stone I am in fact getting bread.  It is so very hard at times (fatiguing, even), to bear the adversity that seems to come down regardless of my prayers for relief, but through this process I am blessed to know that He has thus far given me the strength to not fall.  And that is far more important than anything else.

                We know that the rains descend and the flood come and the winds blow and beat upon the houses built on both the good and sandy foundation – building on the right foundation does not spare us from the storm.  It just enables us to weather it, as the Lord has thus far enabled me to weather the storms in my life.