"O all ye that are spared because ye were more
righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins,
and be converted, that I may heal you?"
"Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye
shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and
whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto
me."
Christ pleading with us...asking us to come unto Him so
that he can heal us, so that He can take away our pain and make us whole again.
"(Nephi) went forth among them in that same year and
began to testify, boldly, repentance and remission of sins through faith on the
Lord Jesus Christ."
"And it came to pass that they were angry with him,
even becuase he had greater power than they, for it were not possible that they
could disbelieve his words, for so great was his faith on the Lord Jesus Christ
that angels did minister unto him daily."
Nephi's faith turned to power. So much that it was IMPOSSIBLE
for the people to NOT believe his words.
His faith was so strong that angels came to him daily.
Later in the chapter it talks about how he cast out devils
and raised his brother Timothy from the dead. He performed all of these
miracles and yet the people still chose to be angry and chose not to believe.
It really made me think about the people here. We're out
talking to people on the street, and 8 out of 10 will say they are agnostic or
atheist. Most of them have absolutely no interest in listening, and yet it is so
interesting to me in how firm they say they are with their beliefs--yet when we say,
"well, if you tried to pray, do you
think something would happen?" They usually always say something like,
"Well, I don't think it's impossible. There might be something."
The
thing that made me think of all this today---well, I think I may have already shared this
story, but oh well--it was a while ago. So, we were on the street talking to people, and
we stop this man. Basically, he feels like he already knows everything about the
Mormons, and so we just see what he knows and explain some things for him.
Well, we go on to the subject of prayer, and we say: "okay--well, will you try praying to see if this is
true?" He said, "No." We asked why, and he said: "I'm not going to pray because
I know I will get an answer--and that's what I am afraid of." He went on to
say: "I know that I would get an answer because of the conviction in your
voice. I can tell that you two know that prayer works. But I am not going to
try because I am not ready to change."
This was just one of the most
interesting situations. One of those times where you completely know they get
it--but it's just all up to their own agency. But the interesting thing that
made me think of this story was just his faith in the fact that he knew the
answer would come if he prayed. I thought--and still think--that this is rather amazing. To have that faith without even trying! Ha! That's impressive--but sadly
it's usually better if you actually just try it out, though!
Well...I never did hear back from Lars, but it's times like
that that just make you think--and hopefully it goes the same with him. Ponder
till you're on your knees--and begin turning your thoughts and heart over to the Lord.
I love you all with all my heart, and I hope you have the
Happiest New Year!
Love,
Syster Campbell
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