These last two weeks, without a doubt, have been the hardest week of college for me so far. I have discovered these last two weeks that college can sometimes feel like drowning: You struggle under the pressure of the water which just so happens to be multiple assignments, tests, and due dates. And once you feel like you are caught up and can come up for a breathe of air you get shoved under the water again with just more stuff to worry about. As you can imagine this is not ideal. And I don't want to complain because I know for a fact that there are many students that are juggling more credits than I am and are handling other activities such as jobs and intramural sports on top of their school work load. I should consider myself lucky. However, like I said, these past two weeks have just been rough. However, I have found that the times I learn the most are when I am required to be more humble as I find myself asking for the Lords help more often.
Around the time that these rough weeks were starting I found out that my Dad was going to be in town. This really comforted me for some reason. My immediate thought was to ask for a blessing. However, I felt like I shouldn't. I thought to myself "I don't need a blessing. I am perfectly healthy, nothing is majorly wrong, and there are far better reasons to ask for a blessing other than just being stressed out." I was really thinking about it when I had a chat with my mom on the phone. I didn't necessary tell her all the stuff I had been struggling with but she all of a sudden said "well dad is coming down soon, ask him for a blessing." This encouraged me to take a step and ask my dad for what I needed most. When the time came that my dad was in town I had finished my first "stress week" and I knew that I needed to be humble and ask for additional help from my Father in Heaven at this time. So I asked my dad to give me a blessing. I will say this: I know that the priesthood is a real power and I am so grateful for it. The minute my dad placed his hands on my head I felt a sense of peace just wash over my troubled mind and heart. The words my dad spoke to me were very special. One of the things that stuck out most to me were the worlds spoken at the very beginning of my blessing. The words that were spoken simply told me to be aware that my Heavenly
Father loved me. This may seem like an extremely simple and
insignificant thing to be said in a fathers blessing but this struck
home with me. I was being reasured at this time that I truly had a
Heavenly Father that loved me and was aware of the struggles I was
facing. These words reminded me of a scripture that I have been pondering for a couple weeks now (I wanted to blog sooner but it has been so busy I haven't gotten a chance yet!)
This semester I have started a Book of Mormon class 121. I have read the Book of Mormon many times and I always find myself just looking for the same things every time I read it. As I started to read it for my class I started where everyone starts: First Nephi chapter one. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints we all pretty much have it memorized: "I Nephi having been born of goodly parents..." ya, ya (that's how I think it feels for some of us as we start the first chapter in this book) However, as I read the first verse I noticed something I never thought of before. It says
"I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been haighly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days."
(as you could probably guess, the highlighted portion was what I noticed) As i read this I realized this could apply to me personally as well as everyone. The Lord loves His children; Every single one of them. However, just because we are beloved children of God doesn't mean that He is going to spare us from ever experiencing afflictions in our lives. Nephi, for example, suffered persecution from His own brothers, suffered in the wilderness, dealt with trials of family sin that affected him, and many other things. Regardless of these things He was blessed in many ways and was favored of the Lord. This scripture me made me realize that even though I was going through a hard time this didn't mean that I had been forgotten or that I was being punished. As this much needed fathers blessing reminded me, Heavenly Father still loved me and was there for me even though He was allowing me to go through some rough times.
I know that Heavenly Father is very real. He loves each of us and allows things to happen for a reason. I am grateful for the things that I learn even though sometimes it may be through uncomfortable and, even, painful experiences. I know that He lives and that His son Jesus Christ lives and loves us too. We are asked to go through some difficult times in our lives but these things will be for our good.
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