One of my favorite characters of The Book of Mormon is a prophet named Nephi. Nephi went through many hardships in his life, but he was always optimistic and thankful to God for all of the blessings that he received. When he was a young man, God told Nephi’s father Lehi, who was also a prophet that he needed to leave Jerusalem with his family because it was a wicked city and was going to be destroyed. So he took his family into the wilderness leaving all of their possessions and the great inheritance that they had back in Jerusalem. Nephi’s older brothers, Laman and Lemuel, complained throughout almost the entire trip saying at one point, “these many years we have suffered in the wilderness, which time we might have enjoyed our possessions and the land of our inheritance; yea, and we might have been happy” (1 Nephi 17:21).
The thing is, Nephi was happy, and he went through the exact same things as his brothers did. The reason he was happy was because of his great attitude of gratitude towards the Lord. He knew that even though he didn’t understand everything that God did or commanded him to do, it would all work out for good in the end. He said, “…I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things” (1 Nephi 11:17) Though he didn’t understand everything, Nephi chose to trust in God because he knew that God knows everything, and because He loves his children he will use his knowledge of everything to do everything he can to help his children learn, grow, and progress.
By praying we show our trust in the Lord.
I make the same choice as Nephi to trust in God. Just a few months ago, my faith in the foresight of God was tested. As I was planning to attend BYU this fall, I had to decide whether I wanted to live on campus in the dorms with most of the freshmen, or if I wanted to live off campus with my brother who is three years older than me. This was a very hard decision for me to make. I really wanted to live with my brother, but at the same time I was afraid that if I did I would have a hard time making friends that are my own age to hang out with. As I continually prayed about it, I kept getting the feeling that what would make me happiest would be to live off campus with my brother. However, I kept feeling doubts and being worried that I would not be able to make friends my own age. One day I was praying about it, as I had many times, but this time, as I expressed my worries to my Heavenly Father, He spoke to me by the power of the Holy Ghost, saying, “have some faith.” So I did. I finalized my decision to live with my brother. Soon thereafter I was able to get two other freshmen to live in the same apartment with me! Because of my faith that God knows everything and will make sure things work out for the best, I was able to put my trust in Him and it all worked out perfectly.
By Seth P.
Seth is a freshman at BYU, studying physics. He enjoys playing and writing music, playing tennis, sailing, and hiking. He plans on serving a 2-year mission for The Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints after this school year.
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