Come, Follow Me: Book of Mormon 2024 (November 4-10)

In the Book of Mormon, Ether 1 is the demonstration of praying unto the Lord and seeing His compassionate response. The verb “cry” is used seven times as the brother of Jared pleads for the language of his family to not be confounded and to know where they should travel after being driven from their home. Those prayers must have been fervent, urgent, maybe even desperate. And they weren’t one and done. We read in verse 43, they took time, “And this I will do unto thee because this long time ye have cried unto me.”  

But when the brother of Jared and his family were led by God to the seaside, those sincere, prayers by a prophet faded or even ceased. For four years, while living on the beach, “he remembered not to call upon the name of the Lord” (Ether 2:14). 

It’s easy to forget the Lord when “you’re at the beach”, when life is calm and going well. Once we’re out of hard situations, we can let go of the very things that got us through those experiences. 

While we may let go of the rope that once saved us, God does not. The brother of Jared repented of his inaction and turned again to Jesus, his faith turning into knowledge as he saw the living God. It wasn’t too late. It’s never too late to invite Christ into our hard times and our good times. He’ll want to hear our cries of sorrow and of joy. 

Elder Holland promises this: “… however many mistakes you feel you've made or talents you think you don't have, or distance from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ's Atonement shines. Whether you are not yet of our faith or were once with us and have not remained, there is nothing in either case you have done that cannot be undone. There is no problem which you cannot overcome. There is no dream that in the unfolding of time and eternity cannot yet be realized.”

Do Hard Divinely Better Lesson #44:  Keep God with you in the good times. 

Do Hard Divinely Better lesson #45: However long or far you’ve been away from Him, it is never too late to reach out. He is waiting with open arms.