Great Things....

In the "Don't Miss This" Study that I follow, they mentioned that we should watch for the great things that God showed the people.  When I searched "great things" in the Book of Mormon, this is what I came up with.  I know that all the great things the Lord shows us and the people in the Book of Mormon will not always come right out and say those words but this is a start.



2 Nephi 4:25-26https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/2-ne/4.25-26?lang=eng&clang=eng#p24

25 And upon the wings of his Spirit hath my body been acarried away upon exceedingly high mountains. And mine eyes have beheld great things, yea, even too great for man; therefore I was bidden that I should not write them.

3 Nephi 19:36https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/3-ne/19.36?lang=eng&clang=eng#p35

36 Verily I say unto you, there are none of them that have seen so great things as ye have seen; neither have they heard so great things as ye have heard.

Ether 6:30https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/ether/6.30?lang=eng&clang=eng#p29

30 And it came to pass that Orihah did walk humbly before the Lord, and did remember how great things the Lord had done for his father, and also taught his people how great things the Lord had done for their fathers.

Book of Mormon Title Page of the Book of Mormonhttps://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/bofm-title?lang=eng&clang=eng#p1

An abridgment taken from the Book of Ether also, which is a record of the people of Jared, who were scattered at the time the Lord confounded the language of the people, when they were building a tower to get to heaven—Which is to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever—And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations—And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the judgment-seat of Christ.

Ether 4:14https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/ether/4.14?lang=eng&clang=eng#p13

14 Come unto me, O ye house of Israel, and it shall be made amanifest unto you how great things the Father hath laid up for you, from the foundation of the world; and it hath not come unto you, because of unbelief.

Alma 62:50https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/alma/62.50?lang=eng&clang=eng#p49

50 Yea, they did remember how great things the Lord had done for them, that he had adelivered them from death, and from bonds, and from prisons, and from all manner of bafflictions, and he had cdelivered them out of the hands of their enemies.

Words of Mormon 1:11https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/w-of-m/1.11?lang=eng&clang=eng#p10

11 And they were handed down from king Benjamin, from generation to generation until they have fallen into amy hands. And I, Mormon, pray to God that they may be preserved from this time henceforth. And I know that they will be preserved; for there are great things written upon them, out of which bmy people and their brethren shall be cjudged at the great and last day, according to the word of God which is written.

Mosiah 27:16https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/27.16?lang=eng&clang=eng#p15

16 Now I say unto thee: Go, and remember the captivity of thy fathers in the land of aHelam, and in the land of Nephi; and remember how great things he has done for them; for they were in bbondage, and he has cdelivered them. And now I say unto thee, Alma, go thy way, and seek to destroy the church no more, that their prayers may be answered, and this even if thou wilt of dthyself be ecast off.

1 Nephi 18:3https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/18.3?lang=eng&clang=eng#p2

3 And I, Nephi, did go into the mount oft, and I did apray oft unto the Lord; wherefore the Lord bshowed unto me cgreat things.

Ether 7:27https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/ether/7.27?lang=eng&clang=eng#p26

27 And there were no more wars in the days of Shule; and he remembered the great things that the Lord had done for his fathers in bringing them aacross the great deep into the promised land; wherefore he did execute judgment in righteousness all his days.

2 Nephi 1:1https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/2-ne/1.1?lang=eng&clang=eng#p1

1 And now it came to pass that after I, Nephi, had made an end of teaching my brethren, our afather, Lehi, also spake many things unto them, and rehearsed unto them, how great things the Lord had done for them in bringing them out of the land of Jerusalem.

1 Nephi 16:29https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/16.29?lang=eng&clang=eng#p28

29 And there was also written upon them a new writing, which was plain to be read, which did give us aunderstanding concerning the ways of the Lord; and it was written and changed from time to time, according to the faith and diligence which we gave unto it. And thus we see that by bsmall means the Lord can bring about great things.

1 Nephi 7:11https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/7.11?lang=eng&clang=eng#p10

11 Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten what great things the Lord hath done for us, in adelivering us out of the hands of Laban, and also that we should obtain the record?

Alma 37:6https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/alma/37.6?lang=eng&clang=eng#p5

6 Now ye may suppose that this is afoolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by bsmall and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.

1 Nephi 15:3https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/15.3?lang=eng&clang=eng#p2

3 For he truly spake many great things unto them, which were hard to be aunderstood, save a man should inquire of the Lord; and they being hard in their hearts, therefore they did not look unto the Lord as they ought.

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_