Light in the Darkness

Ether 3

v. 1 And it came to pass that the brother of Jared, (now the number of the vessels which had been prepared was eight) went forth unto the ^amount, which they called the mount ^bShelem, because of its exceeding height, and did ^cmolten out of a rock sixteen small stones; and they were white and clear, even as transparent ^dglass; and he did carry them in his hands upon the top of the mount, and cried again unto the Lord, saying:

v. 2 O Lord, thou hast said that we must be encompassed about by the floods. Now behold, O Lord, and do not be ^aangry with thy servant because of his weakness before thee; for we know that thou art holy and dwellest in the heavens, and that we are ^bunworthy before thee; because of the ^cfall our ^dnatures have become evil continually; nevertheless, O Lord, thou hast given us a commandment that we must call upon thee, that from thee we may receive according to our desires.

v. 3 Behold, O Lord, thou hast smitten us because of our iniquity, and hast driven us forth, and for these many years we have been in the wilderness; nevertheless, thou hast been ^amerciful unto us. O Lord, look upon me in pity, and turn away thine anger from this thy people, and suffer not that they shall go forth across this raging deep in darkness; but behold these ^bthings which I have molten out of the rock.

v. 4 And I know, O Lord, that thou hast all ^apower, and can do whatsoever thou wilt for the benefit of man; therefore touch these stones, O Lord, with thy ^bfinger, and prepare them that they may shine forth in darkness; and they shall shine forth unto us in the vessels which we have prepared, that we may have ^clight while we shall cross the sea.

v. 5 Behold, O Lord, thou canst do this. We know that thou art able to show forth great power, which ^alooks small unto the understanding of men.

Everybody passes through dark times, trials and tribulations.  That is the nature of this life. "A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance." Ecclesiastes 3:4  If you don't know bitter, you can't know the sweet.

So, I have to ask myself, have I done enough to prepare myself for this journey, for the storms that I knew would come?  And what am I doing now to provide light during these dark times?

I'm responsible for providing the light.  It's up to me to look for it and find it, and if I do, the Lord will bless it.  I suppose that's one of the lessons I am to learn from this. 

My lighted stones are:

My husband

My children

Prayer

Scripture study

My writing

My friends

Good music

The flowers in my garden

The birds that visit me

The abundant sunshine outside

My internet supportive community

Stories from General Conference online

Good books

These are the things that bring me joy every day, that make me smile and feel happy, that make my burdens seem much smaller and less significant.  These things outshine my suffering and push it into the background of a very happy life.