I hope your week was amazing! This week has been a good one! We are currently stuck in our apartment because Washington's got a few inches of snow and when it snows in Washington everything shuts down because there are a total of two snow plows in the entire town of Monroe and people don't know how to deal with snow here haha, so we're on lockdown 👍🏻 But other than that it's been a typical week here in Woods Creek. We had stake conference which was very good and spiritually uplifting.
This week in Come Follow Me we read 1 Nephi 3-4. We all know the story; Nephi and his brothers are commanded to go back to Jerusalem and get the brass plates from Laban. Their first two attempts to get them they fail, but they finally succeed the third time. In the Come Follow Me booklet it references Proverbs 3:5-6 in relation to this story, it says, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." As I read this I was reminded of a talk by Bonnie H. Cordon from the April 2017 general conference titled "Trust in the Lord and Lean Not." I highly recommend checking it out it's a good one. But in it she defines what it means to lean, she says, "the word lean has a connotation of physically listing or moving to one side. When we physically lean toward one side or another, we move off center, we are out of balance, and we tip. When we spiritually lean to our own understanding, we lean away from our Savior. If we lean, we are not centered; we are not balanced; we are not focused on Christ." Now as I thought about how the scripture in Proverbs, this talk, and the story in 1 Nephi 3-4 related I thought about Nephi as he went to get the plate the third time. His understanding in this moment would have been that Laban wanted to kill them, they had already failed twice in trying to get the plates, and he probably would have been pretty discouraged and wanting to give up. However, Nephi did not "lean to his own understanding." Instead he trusted in the Lord. He went forth "not knowing beforehand the things which he should do" (1 Nephi 4:6). I know that as we like Nephi trust in the Lord and follow Him we will be blessed throughout our lives. At times our understandings may be darkness and confusion, not knowing what's ahead of us, but as we trust in God and take steps of faith, relying on Him with each step forward, He will guide our paths, and will not only guide us, but be with us every step of the way helping us along. I invite each of you to think of how you can more fully trust the Lord in your life this week and commit to follow Him in all things not matter how hard or impossible it may seem.
Love you all! Have an amazing week!
Sister Carlson
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