With today being Pioneer Day, a day we celebrate the long, cross-country journey of the early Saints, I started thinking about how difficult that would have been. Here they are, setting off into an unsettled wilderness, not really knowing where they were going to end up but having faith it would be God’s Promised Land.
It brought to my mind the journey of Lehi’s family—and then my own journey.
“And I will be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments;… ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led.” (1 Nephi 17:13)
Promised Land = a resolution to whatever problem you’re dealing with at any given time. For me, right now, it is a solution to my financial difficulties—business profits to cover my overhead; a salary to bring into the household funds; preparing for retirement; something—anything—that will allow my husband to change to a job he likes better and that will give me time to pursue my own writing projects.
Where I am now feels like a wilderness—overgrown with thorns and weeds which block my way; no clear path to follow; no sense of direction; dark, dreary, confusing, frightening.
But the Lord has promised to be my light. And He has been. He shows me each next step. Rarely do I stand for long, wondering where to put my foot.
I believe the Lord has, does, and will prepare a way for me. For example, yesterday He prepared a way for me to pay my bills. In the morning, I did not have the funds to cover them. In the afternoon mail came enough money to pay the bills, plus some.
The solution, the prepared way, was not a case of “here’s a need—poof!—here’s a solution. The checks that arrived to save the situation were written and mailed days ago in order to arrive in my time of need. This comforts me. It tells me the Lord isn’t scrambling to help me. He doesn’t wait for my need then look around for a solution. He knows far in advance what I will need and when I will need it and sets things in motion so the solution is ready and waiting when I realize I need it.
And the part that I cherish most about this verse is the last line—“and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led.”
This is a blessing beyond belief. The struggle through my personal wilderness becomes easier to bear when I know it is the Lord who is leading me through it.
To know that I am led by the Lord is a gift beyond compare.
~Karlene B.
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