344 Days Without youTube

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PRESIDENT M. RUSSELL BALLARD THINKING ABOUT YOU

“As I think about your schedules and the pressures you face at this time in your lives, I can understand why scripture study can so easily be neglected. You have many demands pulling at you. In some cases, just maintaining your social life is a full-time occupation. But I plead with you to make time for immersing yourselves in the scriptures.  Couple scripture study with your prayers. Half an hour each morning privately studying, pondering, and communicating with your Heavenly Father can make an amazing difference in your lives. It will give increased success in your daily activities. It will bring increased alertness to your minds. It will give you comfort and rock-steady assurance when the storms of life descend upon you” (“Be Strong in the Lord, and in the Power of His Might,” BYU Fireside, March 2002).

.  .  .  .  .

344 DAYS WITHOUT YOUTUBE

Have you ever felt totally trapped?

Have you felt what it’s like to be in a very confined space with very limited movement?

Have COVID-19 restrictions made you feel trapped or limited? 

Have you felt socially limited because of social skills or the pressures to act or be a certain way?  

When you felt trapped, was it limiting physically, mentally, spiritually, or socially?  

.  .  .  .  .

PLEASE OPEN YOUR SCRIPTURES TO
ETHER 6

As you study record your thoughts and feelings in your journal or in your Gospel Library digital notes
As you do this, the things you learn from the Spirit will not fade away and you will receive more.

AS OF NOVEMBER 11, 2020, Californians had spent 293 days in quarantine — 51 days shy of the 344 days the Brother of Jared and his family and friends were confined to the barges as they crossed the sea. As the Jaredites “set their feet upon the shores of the promised land they bowed themselves down upon the face of the land and did humble themselves before the Lord, and did shed tears of joy before the Lord, because of the multitude of his tender mercies over them (Ether 6:12).” At the end of their confinement, their faith was intact. 

Will your faith be intact?

Where are the winds of COVID driving you?

What are the shores of your promised land?

Will you feel joy because of the “multitude of [the Lord’s] tender mercies over you”?  

Or when you look back at 2020 will you see frustration, anger, and discouragement?

The Brother of Jared shows us the way. . .

How did the families and friends of Jared and his Brother prepare for their confinement?

Read Ether 6:1-4

• What do these verses teach that can help us survive our personal calamities with our faith intact?

Commending ourselves unto the Lord

Ether 6:4 says that they “commended” themselves unto the Lord their God.

• From the definitions below, which do you feel best describes what the Jaredites did? 

What does commending ourselves unto God look like today?

Read the following quotes from the Living Prophet and a prophetic Sister Leader and consider ways they’ve invited us to commend ourselves to God:

“If preparation is our key to embracing this dispensation and our future with faith, how can we best prepare? …

“…as turmoil rages around us, we need to create places where we are safe, both physically and spiritually. When your home becomes a personal sanctuary of faith—where the Spirit resides—your home becomes the first line of defense.

“…each time we have the faith to be obedient to God’s laws—even when popular opinions belittle us—or each time we resist entertainment or ideologies that celebrate covenant-breaking, we are exercising our faith, which in turn increases our faith.

“Even when things went well, Captain Moroni continued to prepare his people. He never stopped. He never became complacent.

“The adversary never stops attacking. So, we can never stop preparing! The more self-reliant we are—temporally, emotionally, and spiritually—the more prepared we are to thwart Satan’s relentless assaults” (Russell M. Nelson, “Embrace the Future with Faith,” October 2020 General Conference).

“We may not yet be where we want to be, and we are not now where we will be. I believe the change we seek in ourselves and in the groups we belong to will come less by activism and more by actively trying every day to understand one another. Why? Because we are building Zion—a people ‘of one heart and one mind’” (Sharon Eubank, “By Union of Feeling We Obtain Power with God,” October 2020 General Conference).

• Based on these quotes and your recent experience with isolation, sheltering in place, uncertainty over future events, social distancing, and other challenges, in what ways will you “commend” yourself to God?

BOOK OF MORMON WORD SEARCH
As you study Ether 6:5-11 do the following:

• Highlight all the adjectives describing the wind, waves, and water that the Jaredites encountered during their long journey towards their promised land.

In verse 5 we read the “Lord God caused” that these things should occur in order for them to arrive at their destination.

Sister Sharon Eubank of the General Relief Society Presidency taught:
“Each of us is going to have deeply wounding experiences, things that should never happen. Each of us will also, at various times, allow pride and loftiness to corrupt the fruit we bear. But Jesus Christ is our Savior in all things. His power reaches to the very bottom and is reliably there for us when we call on Him. We all beg for mercy for our sins and failures. He freely gives it. And He asks us if we can give that same mercy and understanding to each other” (“By Union of Feeling We Obtain Power with God,” October 2020 General Conference).

BECOMING LIKE JESUS WILL REQUIRE SOME CHALLENGES OF FAITH

Consider Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s inspired counsel:
“I too suggest that “one’s life… cannot be both faith-filled and stress-free.” It simply will not work “to glide naively (clueless) through life,” saying as we sip another glass of lemonade, “Lord, give me all thy choicest virtues, but be certain not to give me grief, nor sorrow, nor pain, nor opposition. Please do not let anyone dislike me or betray me, and above all, do not ever let me feel forsaken by Thee or those I love. In fact, Lord, be careful to keep me from all the experiences that made Thee divine. And then, when the rough sledding by everyone else is over, please let me come and dwell with Thee, where I can boast about how similar our strengths and our characters are as I float along on my cloud of comfortable Christianity. My beloved brothers and sisters, Christianity is comforting, but it is often not comfortable” (“Waiting on the Lord,” October 2020 General Conference).

Ether 6:7, 9 and 10 describe at least three ways the Jaredites endured the furious, fierce, terrible, deep, never-ceasing wind and waves of the sea. Look for the different means by which they survived.

• How are you being benefited by similar means?

• Which one have you not practiced?

Make a plan with a pal or parent to practice the Jaredite way of traveling through hard times.

OPPORTUNITIES TO LEARN AND GROW

As you watch this video clip from Elder Holland, consider your own circumstance.
While temples are closed, and we are facing difficult circumstances, where can we find the white sands of the promised land?

EXTRA MILE LEARNING JOURNEY: PONDER THIS PAINTING

• As you look at this work of art what messages does it convey to you?
• Who is reaching for whom in this picture?
• Why did the artist not paint Jesus waiting above the surface of the water for you to reach out to Him first?
• Next time you feel like you’re being held underwater by heavy burdens, how can you more intentionally reach out for your Savior’s comfort and strength?

What is one thing you learned today that you want to remember to teach your children one day?

Make sure to record your thoughts, feelings, and impressions so they will not be lost.