Getting Nervous

So I am getting nervous. I am getting nervous because we are getting closer to the Isaiah chapters. There will be a few in 1 Nephi AND THEN MORE MORE MORE in 2 Nephi. I know some people LOVE these chapters, but they intimidate me. My mind doesn't quite work in the way they are written, but I have HIGH HOPES that this time around I will be patient and that everyone else will help me. But enough of my fears, more on 1 Nephi chapter 19.

Verse 17 says, yea, and all the earth shall see the salvation of the Lord, saith the prophet; every nation, kindred, tongue and people shall be blessed." Here Nephi is writing of the more sacred things and is making a record of what he knows of the Lord. After he has told of how the world will judge the Savior and scourge him and smite him and spit upon him he talks of how the earth shall see the salvation of the Lord. I skipped a lot in the middle there, but this scripture I love and it stood out to me. Nephi mentions this that he has learned from another prophet, Zenos. I love it when Nephi speaks of other prophets because again, it shows how the Lord works. How the Lord teaches us through our prophets. That hasn't changed, it is still the same and I love that He still blesses us with a living prophet to guide us. I think anytime I read about the Savior and his salvation being shown I feel joy inside. There is so much love that can be felt in learning of His love and the salvation that is there for us to take. After this verse Nephi says, "And I, Nephi, have written these things unto my people that perhaps I might persuade them that they would remember the Lord their Redeemer." (v.18) I love this as well. When I read the scriptures I sometimes can just feel the love from these prophets of old. They wrote these records with so much love and energy for their posterity, for us. The whole purpose of him writing all this is to persuade us to remember the Lord, our Redeemer. How many times do we ourselves say things to persuade others towards something we feel is important? I know my parents have said much to me my whole life to help me live a good life because they knew what would give me real happiness. I didn't ALWAYS listen, but I am glad I usually did. I feel that anxiousness that I think Nephi feels with my own children. I wonder if they will know what I feel and how important the knowledge that we are children of God and that our Savior lives and that through faith and obedience we will have joy and be redeemed is. Was that a run on sentence? Anyways, I think Nephi feels that same anxiousness and writes and speaks to us with so much energy because he wants to make sure we see the importance of what is in the scriptures. He is constantly bearing his testimony to us of our Savior. That is another learning lesson that I want to incorporate into my life. I want to constantly be bearing my testimony to my children and by the way I interact and live I hope that I will be bearing my testimony to others as well. I don't mean I want to be weird and crazy where I am scaring my family or weirding them out, I just mean that I want to do it more when the Spirit guides me. I just wanted to make that clear, not in a weird crazy way, a good led by the Spirit way.

Verse 23, "And I did read many things unto them which were written in the books of Moses; but that I might more fully persuade them to believe in the Lord their Redeemer I did read unto them that which was written by the prophet Isaiah; for I did liken all the scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning." Again Nephi reads from other records to persuade his brethren to believe in the Lord. I love that. I love the end where he says he "...did liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning." I feel like that is kind of the only way I know how to study the scriptures is by mostly thinking about how it applies to my own life. I am not so great at the more scholarly type of learning, although maybe one day I will get there. I do love to apply the scriptures to me because it makes them make sense to me. It helps me to see why we have them and why they are so important. When I liken the scriptures to my life well I always finish feeling inspired and motivated to act on my faith more diligently.