Relating to Lehi.....

When I read the Book of Mormon, I usually focus on Nephi and the children of Lehi and Sariah, or even Sariah, but I seldom think about Lehi and how he felt about all the events of his life.

  I have always identified with Nephi and the children in this story, but this morning I was realizing that I am the age now that Lehi was, or at least closer to his age than any of his children.  I started thinking about how I can identify with Lehi.  First of all, I love this scripture in 1 Nephi that Nephi included, which is the testimony of his father, Lehi.

1 Nephi 1:14,15:

14 And it came to pass that when my father had read and seen many great and marvelous things, he did exclaim many things unto the Lord; such as: Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God Almighty! Thy throne is high in the heavens, and thy power, and goodness, and mercy are over all the inhabitants of the earth; and, because thou art merciful, thou wilt not suffer those who come unto thee that they shall perish!

15 And after this manner was the language of my father in the praising of his God; for his soul did rejoice, and his whole heart was filled, because of the things which he had seen, yea, which the Lord had shown unto him.

Also, he received revelation through dreams and because of that, the dynamic of his family changed greatly.  I have had this experience too.  I had a recurring dream for a long time. Combined with other forms of revelation and inspiration, it culminated in my going back into teaching children with special needs when my kids were still all in school.  This changed my life and the lives of my family.  

It also reminds me that God usually will whisper, but if He really needs to make a point or emphasize something, He uses more than a whisper.  I still ponder over that recurring dream which consisted of my being either getting ready to go on a mission or being in the MTC and then telling someone, “Wait- I can’t do this.  I have a young family.”  It never gets resolved before I wake up.

I don’t know what correlation this dream had to my going back into special education and working full-time outside the home, but the dream stopped after I was obedient and I have always felt, because of the dream, that this was a “mission”.  I always thought I would understand why at some point, but it has been almost 12 years and I’m still not sure why this was an important component of my life.  I have had some hard and some great experiences, but nothing that would help me to understand why I needed to do this.  My plan had always been to be a stay-at-home mom and I identified with that.  This has had an impact on the lives of my family, too.  Some has been negative, but some has been positive.  My 3 youngest girls were all involved in some way, with the kids I worked with.

I want to look at this journey from Lehi’s perspective.  I don’t think I have done this before, in all my reading of the Book of Mormon.  He always seemed like an old man that was a prophet and I couldn’t find much to relate to with that. 

Also, the loss of the 116 manuscript pages, which was the Book of Lehi, is another example how life gets messy, and it doesn’t always feel like a plan.  But God  knows our strengths and weaknesses and works with us, and knows it is never a straight line in life from point a to point b and makes allowances for that.  The point isn’t to get from point a to point b quickly and efficiently.  It is to get to point b with a lot of experience, lessons learned, and wisdom and understanding.

I also liked the insight of the person who does Come Follow Me Daily: She posts on Instagram and Facebook.

Come Follow Me Daily

About two years ago, I lost my keys at the park.

I was locked out with two kids during lunch/nap time.

I knelt down and prayed. Got up, looked for two hours, and still didn’t find my keys.

The next day, after locking the house up and getting the kids in the car, I lost my husband’s keys—the only other set.

Kids were losing it.
I was losing it.

I told Michael he would have to walk home and I knelt down and prayed again. Thirty minutes later, I found Michael’s keys (in the door of the car 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️).
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Then, Michael came walking down the street with my keys in his hand. He had found them on his walk home when he took a shortcut through the park.

Steve Jobs once said “You cannot connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.”
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This silly experience taught me a lot about God—things it seems Nephi also knew:

The Lord works in mysterious ways.

Why didn’t they just get the plates and Ishmael’s family when they left Jerusalem the first time?

Why did they have to back track?
Then, why did they have to go back and fail—then give away all their precious possessions and fail again?

The truth is, we don’t know the answers.
But God does.
And every step they took led them to eventually being successful.

Maybe Lehi’s sons needed to fail twice to eventually get the plates.
Just like I needed to lose the second set of keys to find my first set.

I would have never guessed it, but God knew.

God has connected all the dots.

So when the dots don’t seem to connect,
Keep acting
Keep praying
And don’t give up.
Eventually, all the dots will connect.

Art by @caitlin_connolly_