As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (mistakenly referred to as the “Mormon” church) and also a student at Brigham Young University I have been assigned to read the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon consists of many recordings of ancient prophets. These prophets and the stories provided in the wonderful book provide another account and testimony of Jesus Christ. In my Book of Mormon class at Brigham Young University I was assigned to read 1 Nephi chapters eighteen through twenty-two. One particular chapter that stuck out to me was chapter eighteen. In chapter eighteen, Nephi, an ancient prophet, was commanded by the Lord to build a ship to get to a promised land the Lord had prepared for his people. Nephi, with the help of the Lord, finished building the ship. While on the ship some members of Nephi’s family rebelled. These family members were participating in activities that were rude and not pleasing unto God. His brothers Laman and Lemuel were among those who rebelled. When Nephi tried to speak to them about their behavior they became angry with him. Laman and Lemuel tied Nephi up.
We can express our gratitude to the Lord through prayer.
After they tied Nephi up a storm begins to rage. The storm was getting worse every day and soon everyone on the ship started to fear for his or her life. Laman and Lemuel knew that the Lord had given them the storm as a result of their unrighteousness, so they untied Nephi. The storm passed. After being let loose Nephi’s wrists and ankles were tremendously swollen and sore having been tied up for four days. Then Nephi writes in 1 Nephi 18:16, “Nevertheless, I did look unto my God, and I did praise him all the day long; and I did not murmur against the Lord because of mine afflictions.” Nephi had just been tied up for four day and was painfully swollen, but still did not complain. Instead, he looked to God and thanked Him for his blessings.The main principle that I learned from this story is to always be grateful. Hard circumstances will come up, but if they are faced with a positive attitude those circumstances will not seem too difficult. Whenever I remember to thank Heavenly Father for the blessings in my life, I start to have better days. The days have not necessarily gotten better but I am able to notice the good things in my life and look at the positive more.
I heard a story in church one Sunday that illustrates this principle very well. A woman in my neighborhood had a friend with cancer. Her friend was told in blessings she received from those holding proper priesthood authority that she would be healed. Months went by and she was not getting any better in fact she was slowly getting worse. One night as she was on her knees in prayer she was given the impression that she needed to be grateful for any improvements she saw in her health. She started thanking Heavenly Father in her prayers for the tiniest improvements and was healed. The Lord blessed her for showing gratitude.
This article was written by Shannon O., a student at Brigham Young University and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
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Basic Mormon Beliefs and Real Mormons
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