How would it be? 2 Nephi 22

Book of Mormon: 2 Nephi 22

 1 And in that day thou shalt say: O Lord, I will praise thee; though thou wast angry with me thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.

 2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation.

 3 Therefore, with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

 4 And in that day shall ye say: Praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.

 5 Sing unto the Lord; for he hath done excellent things; this is known in all the earth.

 6 Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion; for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.

 

     In 2 Nephi 22 it talks about how everyone will be in the Millennium...Everyone.  Everyone will be a Christian. Everyone will call upon His name.  Everyone will love Him.  

     That is how I feel now.  Today I was sitting in Church feeling like I was about to boil over.  I was feeling angry at someone who I love very much, and then the sacrament began and I started to think about the Savior and how He died for me and what He had to go through for me.  I began to pray letting the Lord know I felt horrible inside and horrible for raising my voice at this loved one.

     After I finished praying, peace filled me and I felt Love enter the chambers of my heart.  I saw the Savior with open arms and I felt like my sins had been washed away, but I also felt I should go and sin no more.

     I was so humbled by these feelings of peace and love.  I felt so undeserving of them.  I didn't understand why the Lord cared for me so much, but I was glad He did.  So glad.  I praise Him today.  I love Him.  I want to be a better person so I can repay Him, but of course I will never be able to pay in full.  God is good. 

 

Love,

    Becky joy 

Book of Mormon: 2 Nephi 20

 2 To turn away the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the ^apoor of my people, that ^bwidowsmay be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!

 3 And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?

 4 Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

    Emotionally I have been in 2 different places financially speaking: stressed and unstressed.  There was a time when I was super dupery stressed about money.  We were in debt, we lived off of a savings account because my husband was only working during the summers and not working during the school year, and we were barely making ends meet.

     During that time I often had thoughts of helping others or getting others gifts and such and all my ideas often cost money.  I would quickly talk myself out of it because I knew our financial situation wasn't very good.  Then one day I received a priesthood blessing that counseled me "in order for the Lord to bless me financially I needed to listen to my ideas and get things for people".  I thought that was interesting and so I did, even though I didn't feel like we had the money to I showed faith in that counsel.  

      The most amazing thing followed.  First of all the financial stress went away.  My husband and I had a baby which resulted in money flowing into our lives, the following summer my husband made so much more money than he ever had previously. and we paid our debts with so much extra money to spare!

      The Lord wanted me to help others so He could bless me and help me.  When we turn our help from others, He cannot help us, but as we listen to our ideas He blesses us with more.  

     He has blessed me TEN FOLD!

   Love,

        Becky joy

His Hand is Stretched out Still.

Book of Mormon: 2 Nephi 19

17 Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have ^amercy on their fatherless and^bwidows; for ^cevery one of them is a hypocrite and an^devildoer, and every mouth speaketh ^efolly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his ^fhand is stretched out still.

     When I first read this scripture it seemed confusing to me.  The beginning seemed to clash with the ending and I wasn't sure why the Lord had no mercy for these people and then it turned around saying His hand was stretched out.
      After reading it a few times, the spirit filled me as I realized what it meant.  The Lord cannot save us in our sins, but He will always be there with His hand stretched out if or when we leave our sins behind and follow Him.  
     He came to this earth to save us, but He also gave us agency and will never take  that away from us.  It is our choice to reach back and take His hand.

Love,
     Becky joy

Government.

Book of Mormon-- 2 Nephi 19


 6 For unto us a ^achild is born, unto us a son is given; and the ^bgovernment shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counselor, The ^cMighty God, The ^dEverlasting Father, The Prince of ^ePeace.

     As I was studying different sources to help me understand Isaiah better, one of the sources asked the question, "In what way or ways does the government rest upon Christ’s shoulder?"
     Honestly I have never noticed that line of this scripture before because my focus was on the wonderful titles it gives to our Savior and I always think how they are so true!  But I am so happy "the government shall be upon his shoulder"  was brought to my attention.
      Of course we have governments established throughout this world, but who is the ultimate Governor??  THE SAVIOR IS!   He came to this earth, established laws, and He will judge us by His laws.  Instead of focusing only on things like the speed limit, we need to focus on things such as Loving One Another.  He is the higher law.

Love,
    Becky joy

      Every Monday night we have been asked my the Church to hold Family Home Evening.  Last night we took our family to the pool.  I am so thankful the Church asks us to do this.  I have such good memories of having Family Home Evening as a little girl in my family and now we are making our own.

His Work and His Glory.

Book of Mormon: 2 Nephi 18

 19 And when they shall say unto you: Seek unto them that have ^afamiliar spirits, and unto ^bwizards that peep and mutter—^cshould not a people seek unto their God for the living to hear from the dead?

 20 To the ^alaw and to the testimony; and if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

 21 And they shall pass through it hardly bestead and hungry; and it shall come to pass that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.

 22 And they shall look unto the earth and behold trouble, and ^adarkness, dimness of anguish, and shall be driven to darkness.

     I used to think when I was going through a trial that God sent that trial to me because He could see I needed that experience so I could grow.  I still believe He knows what experiences I need to grow, but I don't think anymore that He sends trials to me.  Instead He allows trials to enter my life so I can grow, and instead of placing the trial on me, He is instead helping me to get through it as I turn to Him.

     There have also been times in my life when He has blocked trials from my life.  These experiences are too personal to share too many details, but I will share how the Lord helped me.  I remember receiving priesthood blessings on two different occasions that told me the Lord wouldn't allow me to be tempted at that time.  Then when the trial came I would start to feel down and have negative thoughts which immediately were swiped away and replaced with peace.

     One of the times Satan began trying to tempt me, it felt as though someones finger touched the stress I felt and dissolved it into a trail of peace running through me.  

      I have learned through these experiences and other experiences where He did allow the trial and temptation to hit that He is not the one that I should be mad at if things don't go my way.  Instead He loves me and He is there to help me and bring peace and joy in my life.  He is there to ease my burdens. He is there to be my armor against Satan. He is there to hold my hand as I go through hard times, and He is there to not allow more than I can handle.  As long as I look to Him instead of to the World for guidance.

Moses 1:39

 39 For behold, this is my ^awork and my ^bglory—to bring to pass the ^cimmortality and ^deternal ^elife of man.

My cute family after church.  My daughter wouldn't look at the camera, siily girl.  I love them so much!

Love,

    Becky joy

His Glory.

Book of Mormon: 2 Nephi 16

 3 And one cried unto another, and said: Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of his ^aglory.

     I love this scripture.  "the whole earth is full of his glory."

     I once struggled with a food addiction and I was overweight, you can read about that here.  The Lord placed His glory on me when I got down on my knees and prayed for help to overcome it.  He healed my mind.  I am so thankful for Him.  He love me.  He loves you.  Elder Uchtdorf talks about the Savior and the Atonement more here as well as another person telling their story overcoming a food addiction. 

Love,
    Becky joy
     

Wo.

Book of Mormon: 2 Nephi 15

    Chapter 15 in 2 Nephi has a lot of "Wo"'s or in other words, has lots of warnings declared throughout the verses.  I thought I would list them:

WO:
*8 Wo unto them that join ^ahouse to house, till there can be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!
   This scripture is referring to people who are unhappy with what they have because they are always looking at what others have and they want more, and so they take it from others.   The footnotes from this scripture warned against taking from others violently.  So when you take from others especially violently, then you will ultimately be alone.  

11 Wo unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may ^afollow strong drink, that continue until night, and ^bwine inflame them!

   Strong drink ...aka coffee, tea, alcohol.  

 18 Wo unto them that draw iniquity with cords of ^avanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope;

     Okay, I looked up cart rope and they are very strong ropes.  When we sin we are binding ourselves to Satan.  Here the Lord is warning against being vain and sinning because it binds us very strongly to Satan.

20 Wo unto them that ^acall ^bevil good, and good evil, that put ^cdarkness for light, and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

 21 Wo unto the ^awise in their own eyes and ^bprudent in their own sight!

 22 Wo unto the mighty to drink ^awine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink;

 23 Who justify the wicked for ^areward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!

But what is the outcome of turning away from the Lord's Woes (Warnings)? :

 24 Therefore, as the ^afire devoureth the ^bstubble, and the flame consumeth the ^cchaff, their ^droot shall be rottenness, and their blossoms shall go up as dust; because they have cast away the law of the Lord of Hosts, and ^edespised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

     The most interesting part to this verse is when it says "their root shall be rottenness".  The roots of a plant serve to nourish and anchor the plant, as it reaches out and grabs nutrients and water from the earth.    Imagine your spirit now being like the root of your body.  When the spirit is not fed and anchored, the rest will die and fall.  The Lord doesn't want that to happen, that is why He sends warnings.  He  loves us.

This weekend we bought a car!!  Here we are introducing our black Vincent to our new silver Lucille.  My husband and I reflected a lot about how the we have been wanting a car for so long but every time we went shopping, the Lord always guided us not to buy the car.  If we would have bought a car the other times we looked we would have gone into farther debt than we already were.  Because we listened to the Lord's Wo, warning us not to get a car we were able to pay off our other debts and over time save up and buy a car this weekend with cash!!  My husband and I are so so so thankful we tuned to the Lord in this decision and that He takes care of us and prospers us in the.land.

Love,
     Becky joy