catching up...

This might not be a super thoughtf provoking entry, but better than nothing? Sorry I haven't been keeping up as well.

So the three women we have studied over the past two weeks are Puah and Shiphra and King Lamoni's wife, Queen...Lamoni. 

The two midwives remind me a lot of people in the Old Testament whose stories get a lot of attention for the same reasons- following God instead of the King. Daniel in the lions den, Shadrak Meshak and Abednigo, to name a few. But these are women, which unfortunately means no one has really heard their story, at least not as much. Anyways, what impresses me about them is that they had the courage to disobey the kind in order to fulfill the laws of God. That can be one of the scariest things anyone is asked to do, especially because one of our beliefs is that we obey the law of the land. It's kind of like Nephi kililng Laban- he had to break that one commandment - because God told him to - to fulfill another commandment. I doubt I'll ever really be put in a situation like that, we are blessed to live in a relatively religion-friendly nation (though many times it doesn't seem like that), but I guess I could compare it to things we do that go against social norms. Tying in with the story, having more than two children- or even having children at all- is kind of looked down on by our society for so many reasons. It's by no means against the law (which it IS in other countries- I can't imagine...), but people will call you crazy, selfish (uhh cause our kids are taking up their precious space?), sex-crazed, whatever it be, just if you have a large family. And that can be disheartening. So fulfiling God's commandment to multiply and replenish the earth is something that takes courage and selflessness.

Moving on to the Queen of Lamoni. The two things that stand out to me are her exceeding faith- Ammon even tells her that she has more faith than any Nephite in the land- and her devotion to her husband. When even his servants (who I feel respected him and were on good terms with him) and others around him kind of gave up on him, The Queen stood by him. She was in tune enough to know that there was something larger going on, something with meaning, and that he was not dead. She knew that something important was happening and that she wanted to be a part of it. I hope that in times where I need to stand by my husband even when no one else does, I will have the faith and spiritual guidance that King Lamoni's wife had. 

Trust in the Lord

In my scriptures next to Exodus 1:17 I have written, "[Puah and Shiphrah] became a world conscience that takes away the whole argument of 'I was just following orders'." Verse 17 says, " . . . the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them . . ." Because these women trusted God they were able to save a whole nation. I love so much of what Heather from the Women in the Scriptures blog has to say about these two women.

She speculates: 

• Some scholars say that midwives in Israel were always barren women, who in order to find their place in a society where family was valued above all else, were given the responsibility of helping other women bring life into the world. If this is true then it makes the fact that God gave them "houses" or "posterity" as a reward for their faithfulness an even more beautiful blessing. 
• They may have been the midwives who attended the birth of Moses and consequently saved his life. Moses was the one who wrote the book of Exodus and it is probable that the reason we know their names and so much about them is because he was grateful to them for sparing his life as a baby. 

She also gives her thoughts:

• Righteous women of God have always chosen, and always will choose, to conceive, deliver, and protect life above all else. This is because righteous women understand the value of life and of its importance in God's eternal plan. They also know that each life, male and female, is sacred to God and that to bring life is one of the most noble and sacred callings God has given on this earth. Righteous women also understand that without women who are willing to bear, deliver and raise children none of God's plans could come forth. Without their courage and sacrifice there would be no hope for a future and no purpose for the present. 
• It may appear that it is always the men in the scriptures who always do the delivering out of bondage, the saving, and the rescuing, but the truth is that God's plans usually start with women. For example, without the courage and dedication of Puah, Shiphrah, and other midwives like them who chose to ignore the commands of the Pharaoh and do what they knew was right, Moses would not have survived to lead the children of Israel out of bondage. In fact, one could say that these women were the "first delivers" of Israel because they delivered the deliverer. 

I love these women's examples of doing the right thing no matter what, trusting completely that the Lord will take care of you.

Woman at the Well

I really love the Saviors use of symbols and analogies in His teachings. For me, it makes the gospel so easy to understand, AND it helps me to understand why everything is so logical. There are two types of water in this story. There is the water that we need to physically stay alive, and there is the water that we need to spiritually stay alive. We all know and accept the fact that if we go even two days without water we are putting ourselves in serious physical danger. And that's a fact. Well why would we then think we could go days or weeks or months without partaking of the Living Water? Spiritual decline happens so slowly that even if we were to stop doing what we should cold turkey, I don't think it would be instantly awful. That's one thing that makes it so easy to get lazy. But then one day we wake up and realize that our faith isn't where it used to be, and we have to build that spiritual strenght back up. 

I feel like that is what has happened to me over this past year. I stopped personal scripture study a while ago. Probably... more than two years ago. But life was fine and good and great and I didn't really notice a difference. Then this year when I've had some things that have really required a lot more faith on my part, I realized that my faith is not as strong as it used to be. It was really upsetting for me to feel so easily discouraged and mad at the Lord and any other negative feelings, because I knew that wasn't me. It's just so true that no one can stand still in their spiritual growth or decline. We are either moving towards The Lord or away. And I wouldn't say I got too far away, but it was enough that my faith felt extra tested.

One thing that strikes me about the woman at the well, and about all of the other women we have studied so far, is that she was prepared. She had heard about The Messiah. She knew He would come. When she learned who she was, she didn't really need further explanation about why that should be significant to her. She knew! I was not prepared for the trials of this past year. So I needed so much extra reassurance and I had to sometimes rely on the faith of others. Not that it's a bad thing, but I hope that from now on I am always spiritually prepared. It doesn't necessarily make hard things easy, but it makes it easier to make it through. 

Living Water

The woman at the well was one of the first few people that Christ openly declared himself the Messiah to. The woman was a Samaritan and was living in sin. She was also perceptive to spiritual truths. She asked if Christ was a prophet and when he told her he was the Messiah she believed him. When she learned this truth she ran to her village to tell others and have them come learn from Christ.

A few weeks ago my bishop told us a story during Sacrament Meeting. He told us that he commutes via the train to Salt Lake for work each day. On his rides to and from work he had observed a woman that also travels back and forth each day. This woman would engage with those around her during their commute and take opportunities to talk to others about the gospel. He said that she eventually started talking to him. He said that as she talked and shared the gospel with him he didn't reveal any personal information about himself, including that he is LDS and a bishop. He let this woman "teach" him the gospel over the course of several weeks. Eventually she asked specific questions about him and learned that he is a bishop. He said that she was so excited to share the gospel with everyone around her and that even though he is a faithful member he enjoyed hearing her enthusiasm. He then talked about how we should all be excited about gospel truths so much so that we can't contain it within ourselves and we just have to share it. I thought back to a few years ago when I wanted to serve a mission. I tried to prepare myself by studying diligently every day. I devoured the scriptures. I loved them. I loved learning from them. That is a time when I was excited about the gospel and couldn't contain it within myself. I didn't end up serving a mission and life caught up to me, or I got caught up in life is more like it and that passion and excitement that I felt has slowly been dwindling, unfortunately. The woman at the well was excited and had to run and share her news with others.

Christ still offers us living water. Elder Bruce R. McConkie defined living water as “the words of eternal life, the message of salvation, the truths about God and his kingdom; it is the doctrines of the gospel.” He went on to explain, “Where there are prophets of God, there will be found rivers of living water, wells filled with eternal truths, springs bubbling forth their life-giving draughts that save from spiritual death.” Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin said, "We are blessed to live in a day when prophets and Apostles live on the earth. Through them we are refreshed continually by an abundant stream of eternal truth that, if obeyed, brings the living water of the Lord into our lives."

Rebekah

My sister finished reading the Divergent book series last week and was anxious for someone to talk to the books about. I told her I would read them as quick as I could. They were incredibly easy to get through due to the writing style and story being very basic. However, at the beginning of this week as I was finishing up the series I found myself putting off my scripture study to read those books instead. I was so mad at myself at the end of the third book. Those books are about a girl, Tris, that is trying to figure out who she is in a dystopian society and she goes back and forth so much that it is dizzying. The books also describe her romantic relationship with another character to the point of wanting to gag and roll my eyes anytime they were near each other. It was pretty ridiculous.

As I studied Rebekah the rest of this week there was a very stark contrast between Rebekah and Tris. Rebekah was amazing. She knew who she was and she knew what she needed to do. When she had the option to stay with her family a little longer, or to go with Abraham's servant she didn't hesitate. She simply said, "I will go (Genesis 24:58)". Her relationship with Isaac was also a much better love story then Tris'. Tris' relationship was immature, there were way too many descriptions about how they always had to be touching each other, and it seemed unhealthy the way they were constantly fighting and disagreeing about something. Again, ridiculous. On the other hand you have Rebekah who had proven to be very charitable and faithful, and who had prepared to make and keep sacred covenants. Sister Elaine S. Dalton talked about Rebekah and Isaac's love story in General Conference last year. She said, "Now the moral and ending of this love story: Rebekah was prepared and worthy to make and keep sacred covenants and to become a covenant wife of Isaac. She did not have to wait and prepare herself. Prior to her departure from her family, she was given a blessing, and the words are stirring to me, for she was promised that she would become “the mother of thousands of millions.” But the best part of this love story is when Rebekah first saw Isaac and he first saw her. It doesn’t say this in the Bible, but I think it was love at first sight! For “virtue loveth virtue; [and] light cleaveth unto light.” When Isaac went out to meet the caravan,Rebekah “lighted off [her] camel.” And then it says, “And he loved her.” This is where I sigh!"  

The spirit that was felt while reading about these two different heroine's was very distinguishable.  It was another lesson that I learned about the importance of studying the women in the scriptures and putting scripture study first.