The One with Thoughts from a Pearl ...fear

One (this) semester I decided to enroll in a course called "Rel A - The Pearl of Great Price".

Photo courtesy of lds.org

For those who have no idea The Pearl of Great Price is one of the five books of canonized scripture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Originally published in England in 1851 as a way to give the English Saints better access to doctrine as expounded by Joseph Smith. The Pearl of Great Price has since undergone several content and formatting changes as recently as 2013, and I get to learn all about it!


The course that I am in covers the entire Pearl of Great Price (its less than 70 pages which apparently means we need to read it 3 times over the 16 week semester) and expands on the specific doctrines found therein. One of the super fun activities I get to do as part of the class is report on my reading each week, basically pick a random scripture and write a page of ramblings about it. (It's one of those assignments designed to soften the blow of failing your midterm...not that I have any idea of what that's like).

At  any rate I thought I'd share these ramblings with the world in the hope that they get you thinking a little every week. Here's the first one and you can expect a new one to go up every Wednesday (I am currently ahead because I've been writing them since the beginning of the semester and I can set posts to go up automatically...I LOVE who wrote that bit of code...so they'll be regular for at least the next 6 weeks. :) ) I would like to apologize in advance for my poor use of English, occasionally I don't try very hard to break the engineers-can't-write stereotype.

Scripture: Moses 1:20

While there are many aspects of Satan’s visit with Moses that might have personal application to my life, I have felt over in recent months the need to remind myself of and apply this particular scripture to my life almost daily. Everyone has certain fears that they have to work to overcome in life. Fear of rejection, fear of spiders, and the list goes on.

One of my greatest fears is total uncertainty about the future, as my senior year has approached I have been gripped with the fear of not knowing what exactly graduation, and the rest of the future, holds for me. This has led to one of my constant prayers for the strength to make it through just one more day, and the faith to know that eventually my future will work itself out even if it is not exactly the way that I had planned or imagined from the start. 

As I read over this scripture recently I felt a little peace bit of that peace again for two reasons. The first might be considered a little petty, but sometimes it feels better to know that you are not the only one that struggles with something. Particularly if that someone that you are relating to happens to also be a prophet of God, I, at least, gain the reassurance that this struggle that I am having will not prevent me from ever doing anything significant with my life. The second is the reaffirmation of the eternal truth that God is there for me. He knows me, knows my struggles, and is more than willing to give me the strength and help that I need to overcome my fears and move forward in my life. I love God, and I know that he loves me. 

I know that I am a daughter of God. As a daughter of God I know that whenever I am afraid I have the right to call upon the divine powers of Heaven to intervene on my behalf and help me through whatever difficulty is making progress seemingly impossible at that moment. Moses taught me that, thank you Moses.