"And it came to pass that they did worship the Lord, and did go forth with me; and we did work timbers of curious workmanship. And the Lord did show me from time to time after what manner I should work the timbers of the ship."
At this point in the story, Nephi is commanded to build a ship to carry his family across the ocean. Nephi is not a shipbuilder, but he relies on the Lord for direction, and those directions came.
The God I worship gives clear direction. It was very difficult for me to make my decision to divorce. I did not make enough money to support myself and the needs of my children. My youngest two were not quite ready to support themselves, even though they were 18 and older. I remember making this decision a matter of mighty prayer. I really wanted God's help and direction and assurance that I was making the right decision. My mom had also divorced, but she divorced out of boredom, and I valued marriage more than that. I needed this decision to be right with me and to be right with God. I remember I went to a holy place often to ponder and think and to try to get an answer. On one particular day, I did get a clear-cut answer: it whispered to me, "There is no other way." That answer gave me comfort, but at the same time it didn’t give me a timeline! What did that mean? It took four more years until I was finally given the confirmation that now was the time. I didn’t use those four years to prepare for the divorce, but looking back now, I can see where doors and windows opened up for me that acted as a preparation, without me even knowing it. I did not give up on my marriage those past four years. I still continued to seek out professional counseling and tried to work things out with my husband with full faith that they would. I'm so glad I did. When the time came to take the first step, I needed that confirmation that I did all in my power to make the marriage work and to make myself available to fix whatever needed fixing. The God I worship gives us clear direction when we ask and when it’s important to us.
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And I looked and beheld the Redeemer of the world, of whom my father had spoken; and I also beheld the prophet who should prepare the way before him. And the Lamb of God went forth and was baptized of him; and after he was baptized, I beheld the heavens open, and the Holy Ghost come down out of heaven and abide upon him in the form of a dove. And I beheld that he went forth ministering unto the people, in power and great glory; and the multitudes were gathered together to hear him; and I beheld that they cast him out from among them."
In a dream, Nephi is blessed to see the Savior of the World in the Old World going forth among the Jewish people. He was sent to show us the way to live and how to return back to Heaven. His example in the scriptures show us plainly the way we should live in order to bring us the most amount of happiness during this mortal period. He also shows us how to behave so we might become more like Him, thus more like our Father. We follow His example by exercising faith and being baptized by immersion, like Jesus did. We follow His example by forgiving, being kind and charitable. We follow His example of being non-judgmental. We follow His example of loving little children. We follow His example by teaching others about His gospel. We follow His example by praying to our Father. We follow His example of great compassion on all those around us. We follow His example of doing our best to help others heal. We follow His example by helping people who are blind to the mysteries of God, "see" once more or for the very first time. We follow His example of loving and fellowshipping others that might seem "dead" to spiritual things, that we might "raise them up" again. We follow His example by turning from the temptations of the world and finding out what God's will is for us, then follow it. The God I worship sent His Son as a sure example to follow.
