Led Towards the Promised Land

1 Nephi 17

I'm tired and kind of dreary this evening. Life has me feeling sorry that it's only Tuesday and not closer to the weekend. I'm going to stick with this same chapter tonight and dwell on some beautiful thoughts to make myself feel better.

3 And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them; wherefore, he did provide means for us while we did sojourn in the wilderness.

Heavenly Father will get stuff done. If He commands you or me to do it, it doesn't matter. It has to get done. He'll make it work out and things will fall into place for it to work. How blessed we are if he asks us to help. Then we get the nourishment, strength, and the means directly from the Lord to accomplish His work. What a promise. I love how Nephi's testimony of this principal is simple and direct. "See? He did it for us!"

This leads me to the next awesome scripture from this chapter:

13 And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as 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.
14 Yea, and the Lord said also that: After ye have arrived in the promised land, ye shall know that I, the Lord, am God; and that I, the Lord, did eliver you from destruction; yea, that I did bring you out of the land of Jerusalem.

It comforts me that Heavenly Father promises to make it obvious to us that it is by His power that we get where we're going. Our own versions of the promised land. This means that He'll do what needs to be done to get us there if we do our best to keep the commandments and stay pure before Him. This means that He'll stop at nothing to bless us. Miracles aren't out of bounds. The blessing will come and they will be so plentiful and so obviously given by the power of the Lord that we will not be able to deny it.  I will know, even after I arrive in my promised land, just how I got there.

That thought is calming to me. I'm stressing about life angst at the moment (career stuff) and I always worry that I'll miss the boat or misinterpret instructions from the Lord. That is such a silly worry. Heavenly Father will not hide, or speak to me in a language I don't understand. He wants me to know that it is HIM who prepared the way and helped me get there. He wants me to acknowledge that the blessings are given by HIS hand.

I still worry about just whether or not I'm keeping the commandments enough to deserve these miracles and blessings, but I'm dealing with that worry by just doing my best. I have to remember that Heavenly Father KNOWS me. I'm not trying to convince some hiring manager to grant me an interview based on a lamish resume and an online application. (See my career angst? It's leaking into everything.) I'm seeking instructions and strength from a loving Father who created me with all my weaknesses fully intact. He's totally got this.