Sometimes

"Sometimes God calms the storm...Sometimes he lets the storm rage and calms his child."

I was reading 1 Nephi 1 today and found interesting the process that Lehi goes through in his discovery of the events that were about to unfold. He finds out that Jerusalem is going to be destroyed, so he prays about it on behalf of his people. It says that he sees and hears much in a vision of some sort, "...and because of the things which he saw and heard he did quake and tremble exceedingly."

He goes home and is overwhelmed by what he has learned. Another vision is shown to him in which he sees more and is comforted because he understands the plan a little better and is given the reassurance that those who come unto the Lord "shall not perish."

He is overjoyed because he knows that there is hope. So the first thing he does is he goes into town and tells everyone the good news. That didn't go over very well. They tried to kill him.

While the Lord has control over it all and could potentially change the outcome of an inevitable event, I think it is interesting how many times in our lives he allows the chaos to swirl around us, but gives us the strength to make it out alive. This was the case in Lehi's story.

The Lord blesses Lehi and tells him that he's done a good job warning the others, but that he needs to get out of there. He didn't change all of the other people, he let them live out the choices that they had made. He doesn't tell Lehi to go back and that he will be protected, either. He tells him to hightail it out of there. He gives him instruction to follow and leaves it up to him.

A lot of times I face difficult situations and I pray that they will just go away, or that an easy way out will magically appear. Most of the time however, I don't like the answer I am given because it is unexpected or unpleasant. It is usually hard and seems like a lot of trouble. Let's look at Lehi though. What would have happened if he had stayed in Jerusalem? I'm sure the command to leave everything he had spent his life building, his livelihood, his friends, his reputation, etc. was not an easy bite to chew on. While Nephi expresses the faith and diligence of his father, I am sure it was one of the most challenging decisions Lehi ever had to make. That's really how it is for us too, isn't it? We make thousands of decisions every day, but when it comes down to it, the only decision we REALLY have to make is: obey or not.

It would be nice if the storms were always calmed for us, but I am sure we will turn out a lot better and stronger in the end if we learn how to be calmed while they rage.