September 5, 2024 • 43 mins
“Seek and expect miracles!” I can’t count how many times I have heard this quoted, but how do we implement it? In this episode I share personal stories and insights on we can become more miracle minded. We explore lessons from the story of the Brother of Jared in the Book of Mormon and what we can learn about bringing more miracles into our lives. I discuss the importance of setting goals that require divine intervention, and how prayer can draw us closer to miraculous experiences. Join me in pondering the miracles waiting in our lives and the faith needed to unlock them.
*Follow me on Instagram & all media platforms @amberdawnpearce
*Check out my new website and charity www.amberdawnpearce.com
*Thrive Life: Get 15% off retail and free shipping on orders of $100 or more when you set up your delivery at www.amber.thrivelife.com
*References in order of appearance:
“The Power of Spiritual Momentum” By President Russell M. Nelson
“Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives” By President Russell M. Nelson
Matthew 13:58
Ether 12:12
Story of the Brother of Jared: Ether 2-4
Rending the Veil of Unbelief, Jeffrey R. Holland Address at the Sidney B. Sperry Symposium at Brigham Young University on October 7, 1995, published in A Book of Mormon Treasury: Gospel Insights from General Authorities andReligious Educators
Alma 8:31
John 11:4
John 17:7
D&C 19:19
“Give Me This Mountain” By President Spencer W. Kimball
“Motions of a Hidden Fire” By President Jeffrey R. Holland
“Sweet Power of Prayer” By Elder Russell M. Nelson
Luke 22:40-26
“Be Your Best Self” Thomas S. Monson
“The Privilege of Prayer” By Elder J. Devn Cornish
Moses 4:1-2
Ether 4:7
“Living in Revelation with Elder David A Bednar” An Ensign College Address on YouTube
00:00 Introduction: Faith and Miracles
00:41 Welcome to Hope Smiling Brightly
01:20 Gratitude and Thrive Freeze Dried Food
02:06 Listener Reviews and Episode Introduction
03:05 Personal Story: Seeking Miracles
05:30 Scriptural Insights on Miracles
07:40 The Power of Sharing Stories
09:49 A Personal Miracle: Finding a Friend
20:14 Lessons from the Brother of Jared
29:20 The Importance of Prayer
38:21 Conclusion: Embracing Miracles
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Amber (00:00):
President Russell M.
Nelson said, The Lord will blessyou with miracles if you believe
in him, doubting nothing.
Do the spiritual work to seekmiracles.
Prayerfully ask God to help youexercise that kind of faith.
I promise that you canexperience for yourself that
(00:20):
Jesus Christ giveth power to thefaint, and to them that have no
might increaseth strength.
Few things will accelerate yourspiritual momentum more than
realizing the Lord is helpingyou to move a mountain in your
life.
Close quote.
(00:42):
Welcome to the Hope SmilingBrightly podcast.
I'm your host, Amber Pearce,known as at Amber Dawn Pearce on
Instagram, also known as mom tofive kiddos, known as hun to my
wonderful husband of 26 years,and recently known as founder of
the Hope Smiling Brightlycharity.
(01:02):
So be sure to check out www.
amberdawnPearce.
com.
And that's a pear Pearce, not apie Pearce.
So it's P E A R C E.
You can go there to learn moreabout my story and see how you
can benefit from my charity.
Before we get into things, can Ishare with you something that I
(01:24):
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Thrive freeze dried food hasbeen in my pantry for almost 15
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food out there.
Out there, it has a 25 yearshelf life and because of their
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(01:46):
supply easy instead ofoverwhelming, go to amber.
thrivelife.
com and set up your delivery toget 15 percent off retail and
free shipping on orders of 100or more all proceeds support the
Hope Smiling Brightly charity.
(02:06):
I want to thank you guys realquick for leaving your reviews
and helping my podcast get outto more people.
So thank you, Ricky Lynn 48.
She says, I always love newinsights from scriptures we
think we understand.
And that's the one thing Iappreciate about this podcast.
I come away with a list ofquestions to study and ponder,
(02:29):
which is super helpful.
I love that.
I will be giving you some morequestions today to ponder, I
hope that as you come with me inthis journey, you will have your
own insights given to you by theSpirit You are listening to Hope
(02:53):
Smiling Brightly with Amber DawnPearce, Episode 9, Do the Thing
That Requires a Miracle.
You know, it's interesting here.
I've been preparing to record apodcast about doing the thing
that requires the miracle.
(03:14):
And I had been stuck for quitesome time, just feeling busy and
overwhelmed and feeling likeideas weren't coming to me.
And I really wanted to get anepisode up last week.
And so I was like, Do you knowwhat?
I'm just going to do this.
I'm talking about miracles.
So why not ask for a miracle andsomehow whip out this podcast in
(03:37):
less preparation than I wouldlike and just see what happens.
So I pressed record.
I recorded a whole hour ofcontent and things were just
clicking.
And I was like, wow, miraclecheck.
And then I went to go edit it.
And realized that for somereason, there was no audio.
(04:02):
I would not have time again torecord this for another week.
Believe me, I definitely prayedfor another miracle that somehow
the audio would be restored Andthat didn't happen.
And it made me think, before Ishare with you all these
(04:24):
thoughts on receiving miraclesin your life, I was grateful for
the reminder that sometimes whenthe miracle we've been asking
for does not happen, it's mostoften because God has a greater
miracle in store for you.
(04:46):
In this last week, as I havepondered and asked the Lord if
he had anything more to teach methat I might share, I've been
blessed with insights that havebeen answer to prayer in other
areas of my life.
And this episode is going to becompletely different than what I
(05:11):
was originally going to share.
So I hope you know with thispodcast episode and any of them,
I'm on this learning journeywith you.
I'm asking God the samequestions that I offer you at
the end of every podcast.
And I'm so grateful that you arehere.
when it comes to learning aboutand being inspired by miracles,
(05:36):
there is one place I love to go,the scriptures.
And I noticed something reallycool when I read the Book of
Mormon at a very fast pace onetime.
Now, my first love is writing,and any writer knows that if
you're writing an essay or apaper, you state your purpose at
(05:57):
the beginning of the paper, andthen you restate it and really
drive it home at the end.
Well, I guess Mormon was a goodwriter, because have you noticed
that at the beginning, the veryfirst chapter of the Book of
Mormon, the purpose Of this bookis stated, and at the end, it is
(06:19):
affirmed again.
If you go to First Nephi,chapter 1, verse 20, Let me read
to you what it is.
It says, I will show unto youthat the tender mercies of the
Lord are over all whom he hathchosen, because of their faith,
(06:40):
to make them mighty.
Even unto the power ofdeliverance.
So this is the purpose of theBook of Mormon to show us that
our God is a God miracles, ofmercies, of deliverance.
And if you would go all the wayto the end, Moroni chapter nine,
verse three, this purpose isdriven home.
(07:05):
Again, it says, I would that yewould remember how merciful the
Lord hath been unto the childrenof men from the creation of
Adam, even down until the timethat ye shall receive these
things and ponder it in yourhearts.
Not only does God want us toknow of his miracles, but he
(07:27):
wants us to ponder them, toremember them.
And I believe the reason why isbecause he wants us to be ready
for the miracles he is waitingto bring into our lives.
my journey, sharing contentonline started actually on a
blog where I shared inspiringstories.
(07:50):
Mostly stories about tendermercies, miracles, the hand of
God in people's lives.
My intention was to gatherstories from other people and
share them.
And there were plenty of peoplethat shared.
Beautiful stories.
But I was surprised how often Iwould ask someone if they had a
(08:12):
story of a tender mercy in theirlife.
And their answer was that theycouldn't think of anything.
And where I thought I would begetting hundreds of submissions
of stories, I actually didn'tget that many stories.
And because I made thiscommitment to post every week, I
was like, well, I guess I betterstart coming up with my own
(08:36):
stories.
So I was constantly ponderingwhat mercies and miracles I had
seen in my life.
And it was amazing as I startedseeing things in my past that I
had never realized weremiracles.
And even in my present,something amazing happened
(08:58):
where, because I was constantlyreflecting upon, pondering,
remembering miracles, I became.
The easiest way to call it wouldbe miracle minded, where any
obstacle that I was faced withevery day, my instinctual knee
(09:21):
jerk reaction was, Oh, whatmiracle can I ask for?
And I started receiving andseeing so many more tender
mercies and miracles in my life.
It was a real testimony to me ofwhat happens when we take time
to focus on the tender merciesin our lives, in other people's
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lives and fill our mind with thestories of the scriptures.
So today I want to share withyou one of those stories that
came to my mind during thistime, something from my past
that I had never seen for themiracle that it actually was.
(10:03):
It also happened to be one ofthe first times in my life that
I Did the thing that required amiracle and God answered I was
13 years old in the 8th gradeand if you've listened to some
of my past Episodes, you'll knowthose were some rough years for
(10:27):
me I was definitely strugglingand one of the reasons I was
struggling that I haven't talkedabout before Was because of the
kind of friends I had chosen Iwas in a new school and it was
really hard for me to makefriends.
I was pretty shy, definitely anintrovert, but I had made one
friend.
She was a fun girl that camefrom a rough home and was
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deciding whether church was athing for her or not.
And a bit of a loner like me insome ways, so we just connected.
But as you know, that time oflife is really interesting, at
least for me.
It was a time where I came to acrossroads where as I was
(11:18):
maturing, I was thinking aboutthe things that my parents had
raised me to believe and beingfaced with opposition and
temptation and having to decide,was I going to behave in the way
that my parents taught me?
Was I going to act in accordanceto the principles of the gospel?
(11:42):
Or Was I going to choose adifferent path?
My friend was at that same placeas well.
And unfortunately, because shedid not have that support at
home, she started making somereally poor decisions.
And she was trying to pull mewith her.
And while she started to drinkand smoke and do things with
(12:04):
boys that I wasn't okay with,and trying to encourage me to do
the same.
it finally got to the point thatI was tired of having to say no.
And I felt like I needed somedifferent influences in my life.
I was grateful when our eighthgrade year ended because I knew
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I wouldn't see her much in thesummer.
I lived out in the middle ofnowhere.
I didn't have a car.
And so it gave me that space toreally think about the direction
I wanted to go in life and thedecisions I would need to make
to get there.
The spirit worked on me allsummer.
And just a few weeks beforeschool, I knew that I could no
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longer continue this friendship.
But the first day of school wasfast approaching.
What was I going to do?
I didn't have any other closefriends.
And for any teenager, the firstday of high school is hard
enough, but to go into itfeeling all alone, makes it even
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worse.
So I did the only thing that Iknew how, and I prayed my heart
out.
And prayed for some sort ofmiracle, prayed for new friends,
prayed for the courage to walkaway from a friendship that felt
safe to me.
That night before schoolstarted, I still remember the
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fear that I felt.
I didn't care what I was goingto be wearing for the first day
of school.
Like I normally did.
All I cared was that I wouldsomehow get through the day and
maybe meet a new friend.
The fear showed on my face as Iwalked onto campus that first
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day of school.
Instead of going right to ourclasses, there was a beginning
of the school year assembly thateveryone had to go to.
My worst nightmare.
When you're in a crowd, youdon't want to be all by
yourself.
And as I walked in, two seniorslooked over at me and said, Oh
my goodness.
(14:16):
Look at that scared littlefreshman.
That didn't help, but I walkedin scanning the bleachers and my
thought was, maybe someone elseis lonely.
Maybe there's a new girl.
I will find someone that looksalone and I will go sit with
them, and as I scan thebleachers, the first person I
saw.
(14:36):
Was my friend sitting with hernew group of friends that were
making the same choices as shewas.
She waved at me and smiled andbeckoned me over.
I smiled back and waved.
But I can't tell you how hard itwas to just keep walking.
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And I noticed a girl sitting allby herself on the bottom bench.
So I sat down next to her andturned to her and said, Hey, are
you new?
Are you a freshman?
To which she turned to me, gaveme the dirtiest look and said,
no, I'm a senior.
And she got up and walked away.
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So there I sat all by myselfthroughout that assembly and was
so grateful.
When it was over.
Now, another thing that I wasconcerned about this day was how
many times would I bump intothis old friend?
Was she going to confront me?
What would I say to her?
Would I have the courage to tellher I couldn't be her friend
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anymore?
So I was very relieved when Iwalked into first period and
that old friend wasn't there.
But I didn't have any newfriends either, so I just stayed
to myself., I went on to secondperiod, and noticed that one of
the girls from first period wasalso in my second period class.
Went on to third period, andthere she was again.
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Fourth period, same thing, thissame bright, cheerful girl.
And we both turn to each otherand we're like, Hey, we've seen
each other in all the sameclasses so far.
That's funny.
We ended up having the samelunch and that same pattern
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continued for the rest of theday.
By the end of the day, realizedwe had every single class
together.
Identical schedules.
Not only that, I had not seen myold friend a single time that
day.
We were in a pretty small schoolbut we did not have any classes
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together.
I also discovered that Isomehow, by some mistake, lucked
out as a freshman to get alocker in the main breezeway and
a top locker where my new friendwas assigned a locker that was
way out of the way.
So I asked her if she wanted toshare a locker with me.
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And that was the end of that.
We quickly became best friends.
And remained best friendsthroughout high school.
She was one of my bridesmaids.
And we are close friends to thisday.
As I look back on thatexperience as an adult, I am so
grateful for the lesson that Ilearned that God is well aware
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of our circumstances of ourprayers before we even speak
them and has set things in placeto bring miracles into our lives
through our faith.
He answers our prayers in biggerways than we could even imagine.
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All I wanted was courage and afriend.
And he answered in a bigger waythan I even thought possible.
President Russell M.
Nelson said Our Savior andRedeemer, Jesus Christ, will
perform some of His mightiestworks between now and when He
comes again.
(18:17):
We will see miraculousindications that God, the
Father, and His Son, JesusChrist, preside over this church
in majesty and glory.
when I first heard the prophetsay this, I was like, pick me.
I am in.
If he is performing some of hismightiest works and miracles, I
(18:38):
want to be there for it.
I want to experience some ofthese.
But these mighty works aren'tjust going to happen.
In Matthew 13, verse 58, itsays, and he did not many mighty
works because of their unbelief.
In Ether 12.
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12, it says, For if there be nofaith among the children of men,
God can do no miracle amongthem.
So, the fact that we've beenpromised marvelous works and
miracles tells me we have gotsome amazing faith here.
Who's it gonna be with that kindof faith?
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You?
Me?
You.
Why not?
Let's do this.
But the thing is, as I go backand think to those people who
responded, that they couldn'tthink of any mercies in their
life, any miracles.
Sometimes when we feel wehaven't received any miracles,
it's because We haven't beenasking for the thing that might
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require a miracle.
Miracles can't happen if wedon't set goals that require
miracles, express desires thatrequire miracles, pray for the
kind of help that requiresmiracles.
So if you haven't witnessed amiracle in your life lately, it
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might be because God is waitingfor you to do that scary thing
that will take you from yourcomfort zone and require his
miracles to accomplish myfavorite example of someone who
did something that required amiracle.
Is the brother of Jared in thebook of Ether in the book of
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Mormon, a short recap of this,the brother of Jared was leading
his family on an incrediblejourney towards the promised
land.
But when they got to theseashore, they set up camp and
they just decided to stay there.
and believe me, I don't blamethem.
I wouldn't mind staying on thebeacH.
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but God let Jared know it wastime to move on, that he had
more of a journey for him, andit would end in many beautiful
promises, including the promisedland.
God directed him on how to buildships that would take them
across the ocean to theAmericas.
Amazing ships, but there was aproblem.
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There was no air and there wasno light.
God immediately gave him asolution to the no air problem,
but the brother of Jared had toask again, what about light?
To which God responded in a waythat I haven't seen in other
places in the scriptures, hesaid, what will you that I
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should do that ye may have lightin your vessels?
So he was putting the solutionback on to the brother of Jared.
And so the brother of Jared cameup with the solution, and did
molten out of a rock, 16 smallstones, and they were white and
clear.
And he decided that he would askGod to touch these stones to
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make them shine with light.
He then approached God in prayerand not only did God provide
this miracle, but the brother ofJared was able to see the finger
of God and God showed hiscomplete self to the brother of
Jared because of his faith,along with many greater things.
Okay, that is the short of it,but I want to break this down a
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little bit with you becausethere are so many neat things
that we can learn to help usbring miracles into our lives
through this story.
Number one.
Just like God was miraculouslydirecting and guiding the
brother Jared, preparing him fora journey ahead with many
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promises.
God does the same for us.
He is always preparing us for ajourney ahead of us.
And offering many promises thatwill be given in miraculous
ways.
but do we have the eyes to seethe miraculous Ways God has
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guided our lives up until nowbecause that is faith We will
need to proceed with even moremiracles to come I think most
people would say, I believe inmiracles, but when push comes to
shove, are we saying, yeah, Ibelieve in miracles for everyone
(23:22):
else.
Just, not for me.
In speaking about the Brother ofJared, Elder Holland explained,
The Lord had done his part,miraculously, profoundly,
ingeniously.
Unique resolutely seaworthyships for crossing the ocean had
been provided.
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The brilliant engineering hadbeen done.
The hard part of thisconstruction project was over.
Now, he wanted to know what thebrother of Jared would do about
the incidentals.
close quote And isn't that whatour lives are like?
God has done his part, is doinghis part in our lives in
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miraculously, profoundlyingenious ways.
All the brilliant engineering ofour lives has been done.
And God wants to give us theopportunity to do Our part, what
miracles are we going to bringinto our lives for the
(24:26):
incidentals I believe that theincredible faith the brother
Jared had Came from his abilityto see the miracles that had
already happened in his life upuntil then our lives are
divinely designed.
It is up to us to see it.
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Number two, despite being guidedby God in miraculous ways, the
brother of Jared was facing aproblem just because there's
miracles doesn't mean we aren'tgoing to face obstacles.
In fact, obstacles are often theopportunities for miracles.
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And here's another really coolthing about obstacles and
miracles shown by Alma andAmulek in Alma 8 31.
It talks about how Alma andAmulek were given this power
that they could not be confinedin dungeons and no one could
slay them.
But listen to this.
It says, nevertheless, they didnot exercise their power until
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they were bound in bands andcast into prison.
Now if this was me, I'd be like,Hmm, how about let's make it so
I never have to be in prison andnever bound in bands.
But why did they wait for themiracle?
It says right in the next line.
Now, this was done that the Lordmight show forth his power in
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them.
When we face somethingdifficult, many times we want to
jump ship before it gets reallyhard.
But honestly, it's in the hardthat God's miracles are made
manifest where he's able to showhow powerful he truly is.
Christ said something similar tothis When he was told that
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Lazarus was sick in John 11four, he said, this sickness is
not unto death, but for theglory of God that the Son of God
might be glorified thereby.
God wants to show his peoplethat he is truly a God of
miracles.
And when we submit to him, hispower can be shown in great
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measure through us.
Even the Savior was the perfectexample of this.
In D& C 1919, it says,Nevertheless, glory be to the
Father.
And I partook and finished mypreparations unto the children
of men.
Glory to the Father because hewas the one who prepared Christ
(27:12):
and gave him the strength toperform his task.
He gave him miracles so that hecould perform the greatest
miracle ever given.
As he suffered for our sins toredeem us all.
And so for us, glory to thefather in our own lives, who
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shows forth his strength in usas we believe in, ask for, and
are willing to receive hispower.
He has prepared for each of us aunique task.
That task will includeobstacles, but he will provide.
Miracles for us.
So understanding that you almostwant to say, okay, bring on the
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obstacles.
Because by saying that you'rebasically saying, bring on the
miracles.
President Spencer W.
Kimball said, there are greatchallenges ahead of us.
Giant opportunities to be met.
I welcome that exciting prospectand feel to say to the Lord,
humbly,‘Give me this mountain,’give me these challenges..
(28:19):
Close quote.
Now, I don't know if I am braveenough to say that, but if we
look back to that originalquote, I said at the beginning
of this podcast, remember whatpresident Nelson said.
Than realizing the Lord ishelping you to move a mountain
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in your life.
This spiritual momentum, thishelp from the Lord, what's the
point if there's no mountain tomove?
There is no doubt that thisobstacle the brother of Jared
faced was actually a greatblessing in his life.
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The third thing we can learnfrom this story to bring more
miracles into our lives islooking at how.
The brother of Jared approachedGod for this miracle.
He approached him in prayer.
Isn't it interesting that prayeris one of those primary answers
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that we are asked and told to doall the time.
Read your scriptures, say yourprayers, go to church.
I think we forget how incrediblypowerful prayer is and how
important it is for us toincrease the power of prayer.
of our prayers if we gobacktrack a little bit in ether
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to when the brother of Jared wasjust hanging out on the beach,
the Lord came to the brother ofJared and chastened him for
three hours.
I don't know about you.
But, yeah, I've been chastenedby the Lord before.
Three hours?
No.
Thank goodness.
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But what was so important thatthe brother of Jared got a three
hour chastening?
Well, he chastened him becausehe remembered not to call upon
the name of the Lord.
The brother of Jared had stoppedpraying.
It was also profound to me thatour dear elder Holland, after
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not being able to speak to us ingeneral conference for one and a
half years and having anexperience that was beyond the
veil, What did he feel was themost important thing?
The most important message hecould give us.
It was all.
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prayer, and when it comes topowerful prayer, He said, when
we don't know how or exactly forwhat to pray, we should begin
and continue until the HolySpirit guides us into the prayer
we should be offering.
Close quote many times we aren'teven sure of the miracle, the
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mercy we should be asking for.
But if we approach prayer inthis way, we can have confidence
that the Holy Spirit will let usknow.
In fact, as Elder Holland saidthis, the spirit taught me
something else.
I realized, wow, we pray toHeavenly Father in the name of
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Jesus Christ.
We all know this, pretty basic,but truly powerful prayer
includes all three members ofthe Godhead.
President Russell M.
Nelson said, We pray to ourFather in the name of Jesus
Christ, by the power of the HolyGhost.
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This is the true order ofprayer.
Close quote we also know thatthis kind of prayer is important
and powerful because prayer iswhat was used by our Savior,
Jesus Christ, as he atoned forour sins, as he performed the
greatest miracle in alleternity.
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If you read in Luke 22, you seethat not only did he pray, Over
and over again, but he alsoasked his disciples to be
praying during this time.
And when his suffering becameeven worse, he prayed all the
more in verse 44, it says, andbeing in agony, he prayed more
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earnestly.
President Thomas S.
Monson said, To those within thesound of my voice who are
struggling with challenges anddifficulties large and small,
prayer is the provider ofspiritual strength.
It is the passport to peace.
Prayer is the means by which weapproach our Father in Heaven
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who loves us.
Speak to him in prayer, and thenlisten for the answer, miracles
are wrought through prayer.
Close quote.
Number four.
Just as the brother of Jared hadto do his part in the miracle,
so do we.
For me, so often, when thingsget hard, my prayer is like,
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Just take this from me.
But, that's not really how itworks.
Elder Cornish said, Often, as Ipray, the Lord nudges me to
admit that there is more Ishould do to receive the help I
am asking for from the Lord.
Then I must commit to do mypart.
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It is contrary to the economy ofheaven for the Lord to do for us
that which we can do forourselves.
Close quote.
So it helps to brainstorm alittle bit.
What obstacle am I facing rightnow?
Is there a problem, a situationthat I am just accepting?
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Imagine the Lord asking you whatyou would have him do, and start
coming up with some solutions.
But as you're thinking of thosesolutions, don't forget this
fifth principle we learned fromthe brother of Jared.
The brother of Jared came upwith a solution that would only
(34:39):
work for you.
If the Lord was involved, yes,the brother of Jared worked and
did his part to molten thesestones, and even though those
stones were probably pretty,they were absolutely useless
without a miracle.
(34:59):
So should we come up withsolutions that require the touch
of God?
So again, we can brainstorm andask ourselves, where in my life
am I relying on my own strengthtoo much?
Are you picking the solutionthat feels doable, logical, that
(35:20):
is within your own powerrequiring nobody else's help,
including God's.
What have we just accepted inour lives when we could be
asking for the Lord's help?
And where do we get this from?
This desire to, to musclethrough, to do it on our own.
(35:41):
Think about this comparisonbetween Satan or Lucifer and
Jesus Christ.
Heavenly Father came up with aplan, but, there was an obstacle
that needed a solution.
He needed someone who waswilling to suffer for the sins
of the world.
(36:03):
What was Satan's response?
Well, first of all, he decidedto come up with his own plan.
own plan rather than go withGod's and he said, I will do it
he didn't want God's help.
He didn't want God's miraclesbecause he did not want God to
(36:23):
have any glory.
He wanted the glory for himself.
Not to compare anyone to Satan,but do you see how he kind of
gets his ideas into our headswhere we're presented with a
problem and.
Instead of turning to God tohelp us with that solution, we
(36:45):
come up with our idea.
We decide I can do this.
And when we achieve it, who arewe patting on the back?
Ourselves.
And how much better could ithave been if we turned to God?
Now let's look at the Savior'sexample in this situation.
What did he do?
(37:06):
He accepted God's plan and said,Thy will be done, glory be thine
forever.
This is the example we want tofollow.
Seeking God's will, doing it inhis perfect and beautiful way,
even when it doesn't completelymake sense to us, but trusting
(37:31):
that it will work.
As we follow the Savior'sexample, we will be able to say
the glory be thine foreverbecause God's love, power,
miracles will be shown throughus.
Just as they were shown throughJesus Christ and we truly become
(37:53):
his work and his Glory, so likethe brother of Jared being
willing to prepare these stonesthat would have zero purpose
Without a miracle.
What will we have the faith todo the faith to prepare the
faith to create knowing?
(38:14):
That it will be a miracleCompletely useless without God's
hand.
Last but not least, let's notforget that When the brother of
Jared had the faith to go to theLord for this one thing, he got
(38:34):
a lot more than what wasexpected.
Brother of Jared needed waslight.
He asked for physical light,which he was given.
But even more precious andpowerful was the spiritual light
that was given to him.
(38:55):
I love the symbolism that heneeded light on his journey.
Similarly, light is the mostpowerful thing.
We could ask for on our journey,what light do you need?
And just like the brother ofJared, as we ask for what we
(39:15):
need temporally, it will lead togreater things that we need
temporarily.
Spiritually, our faith for onesmall thing will lead to more
than we can imagine.
Ether four seven says, and inthat day, now remember anytime
(39:36):
it says in the scriptures inthat day, it's talking about our
day.
So this verse is for you in thatday that they shall exercise
faith in me, saith the Lord,even as the brother of Jared
did, that they may becomesanctified in me.
Then I will manifest unto themthe things which the brother of
(39:58):
Jared saw, even to the unfoldingunto them all my revelations.
Receiving the light of Christ istruly one of the most The
greatest miracles we couldreceive.
Do you know what's interestingabout the quote from president
Nelson, where he said thatChrist would perform some of his
(40:19):
mightiest works between now andwhen he comes again, that quote
ends with this sentence, but inthe coming days, it will not be
possible to survive spirituallywithout the guiding, directing,
comforting, and constantinfluence.
(40:39):
It's so neat how this all workshand in hand.
God wants us to come to himseeking his mercies, his
miracles, his power, glorifyinghim through our faith, letting
his works be manifested throughus.
And at the same time, as we dothat, we are learning
(41:01):
revelation.
We are learning that influenceof the Holy Ghost that will
guide our prayers, that willlead us to greater things.
How generous God is.
He gives us more than we couldever ask for.
So again, I ask, what are youdesperate for in this
(41:23):
miraculous, but sometimesdifficult journey?
The brother of Jared was withoutlight.
What are you without?
What are you willing to ask Godfor now before I end things?
I want to address those of youthat are doubting your faith and
(41:43):
worth right now that you couldactually Ask for these things.
I want you to remember againwhere the brother of Jared was,
right before all these miracleshappened.
Remember, he was being chastenedby the Lord for three hours,
because he was not praying.
(42:06):
Yet, the Lord asked him torepent, and shortly after, He
started receiving all thesemiracles.
It is truly simple as that.
Repent, come to the Lord, andknow that He wants so much for
you.
He is waiting for you to ask.
(42:28):
So I've already talked aboutseveral different questions you
could possibly ask, but I wouldjust want to share with you the
one question that was the mostpowerful for me.
It came from an insight fromElder Bednar where he was
talking about prayer.
And mentioning that sometimes weoffer prayers, almost like a
(42:49):
shopping list.
I need this, I need this, I needthis, but instead of asking for
all the things we think we wantfor ourselves, do we ever stop
to ask God, what do you want forme?
So my favorite question addsjust one word to that.
(43:10):
What miracles do you want?
Do you want for me?
God wants to show you what yourlife can be when it is
multiplied by His power.
Have courage to do the thingthat requires a miracle.
Ask Him what miracle He wantsfor you.
(43:33):
Christ is the miracle.
Christ is hope.
Smiling brightly.
President Russell M.
Nelson said, The Lord will blessyou with miracles if you believe
in him, doubting nothing.
Do the spiritual work to seekmiracles.
Prayerfully ask God to help youexercise that kind of faith.
I promise that you canexperience for yourself that
(00:20):
Jesus Christ giveth power to thefaint, and to them that have no
might increaseth strength.
Few things will accelerate yourspiritual momentum more than
realizing the Lord is helpingyou to move a mountain in your
life.
Close quote.
(00:42):
Welcome to the Hope SmilingBrightly podcast.
I'm your host, Amber Pearce,known as at Amber Dawn Pearce on
Instagram, also known as mom tofive kiddos, known as hun to my
wonderful husband of 26 years,and recently known as founder of
the Hope Smiling Brightlycharity.
(01:02):
So be sure to check out www.
amberdawnPearce.
com.
And that's a pear Pearce, not apie Pearce.
So it's P E A R C E.
You can go there to learn moreabout my story and see how you
can benefit from my charity.
Before we get into things, can Ishare with you something that I
(01:24):
am incredibly grateful for thatmy family uses on a daily basis?
Thrive freeze dried food hasbeen in my pantry for almost 15
years now and it is hands downthe best quality freeze dried
food out there.
Out there, it has a 25 yearshelf life and because of their
monthly delivery service,they've made building up a food
(01:46):
supply easy instead ofoverwhelming, go to amber.
thrivelife.
com and set up your delivery toget 15 percent off retail and
free shipping on orders of 100or more all proceeds support the
Hope Smiling Brightly charity.
(02:06):
I want to thank you guys realquick for leaving your reviews
and helping my podcast get outto more people.
So thank you, Ricky Lynn 48.
She says, I always love newinsights from scriptures we
think we understand.
And that's the one thing Iappreciate about this podcast.
I come away with a list ofquestions to study and ponder,
(02:29):
which is super helpful.
I love that.
I will be giving you some morequestions today to ponder, I
hope that as you come with me inthis journey, you will have your
own insights given to you by theSpirit You are listening to Hope
(02:53):
Smiling Brightly with Amber DawnPearce, Episode 9, Do the Thing
That Requires a Miracle.
You know, it's interesting here.
I've been preparing to record apodcast about doing the thing
that requires the miracle.
(03:14):
And I had been stuck for quitesome time, just feeling busy and
overwhelmed and feeling likeideas weren't coming to me.
And I really wanted to get anepisode up last week.
And so I was like, Do you knowwhat?
I'm just going to do this.
I'm talking about miracles.
So why not ask for a miracle andsomehow whip out this podcast in
(03:37):
less preparation than I wouldlike and just see what happens.
So I pressed record.
I recorded a whole hour ofcontent and things were just
clicking.
And I was like, wow, miraclecheck.
And then I went to go edit it.
And realized that for somereason, there was no audio.
(04:02):
I would not have time again torecord this for another week.
Believe me, I definitely prayedfor another miracle that somehow
the audio would be restored Andthat didn't happen.
And it made me think, before Ishare with you all these
(04:24):
thoughts on receiving miraclesin your life, I was grateful for
the reminder that sometimes whenthe miracle we've been asking
for does not happen, it's mostoften because God has a greater
miracle in store for you.
(04:46):
In this last week, as I havepondered and asked the Lord if
he had anything more to teach methat I might share, I've been
blessed with insights that havebeen answer to prayer in other
areas of my life.
And this episode is going to becompletely different than what I
(05:11):
was originally going to share.
So I hope you know with thispodcast episode and any of them,
I'm on this learning journeywith you.
I'm asking God the samequestions that I offer you at
the end of every podcast.
And I'm so grateful that you arehere.
when it comes to learning aboutand being inspired by miracles,
(05:36):
there is one place I love to go,the scriptures.
And I noticed something reallycool when I read the Book of
Mormon at a very fast pace onetime.
Now, my first love is writing,and any writer knows that if
you're writing an essay or apaper, you state your purpose at
(05:57):
the beginning of the paper, andthen you restate it and really
drive it home at the end.
Well, I guess Mormon was a goodwriter, because have you noticed
that at the beginning, the veryfirst chapter of the Book of
Mormon, the purpose Of this bookis stated, and at the end, it is
(06:19):
affirmed again.
If you go to First Nephi,chapter 1, verse 20, Let me read
to you what it is.
It says, I will show unto youthat the tender mercies of the
Lord are over all whom he hathchosen, because of their faith,
(06:40):
to make them mighty.
Even unto the power ofdeliverance.
So this is the purpose of theBook of Mormon to show us that
our God is a God miracles, ofmercies, of deliverance.
And if you would go all the wayto the end, Moroni chapter nine,
verse three, this purpose isdriven home.
(07:05):
Again, it says, I would that yewould remember how merciful the
Lord hath been unto the childrenof men from the creation of
Adam, even down until the timethat ye shall receive these
things and ponder it in yourhearts.
Not only does God want us toknow of his miracles, but he
(07:27):
wants us to ponder them, toremember them.
And I believe the reason why isbecause he wants us to be ready
for the miracles he is waitingto bring into our lives.
my journey, sharing contentonline started actually on a
blog where I shared inspiringstories.
(07:50):
Mostly stories about tendermercies, miracles, the hand of
God in people's lives.
My intention was to gatherstories from other people and
share them.
And there were plenty of peoplethat shared.
Beautiful stories.
But I was surprised how often Iwould ask someone if they had a
(08:12):
story of a tender mercy in theirlife.
And their answer was that theycouldn't think of anything.
And where I thought I would begetting hundreds of submissions
of stories, I actually didn'tget that many stories.
And because I made thiscommitment to post every week, I
was like, well, I guess I betterstart coming up with my own
(08:36):
stories.
So I was constantly ponderingwhat mercies and miracles I had
seen in my life.
And it was amazing as I startedseeing things in my past that I
had never realized weremiracles.
And even in my present,something amazing happened
(08:58):
where, because I was constantlyreflecting upon, pondering,
remembering miracles, I became.
The easiest way to call it wouldbe miracle minded, where any
obstacle that I was faced withevery day, my instinctual knee
(09:21):
jerk reaction was, Oh, whatmiracle can I ask for?
And I started receiving andseeing so many more tender
mercies and miracles in my life.
It was a real testimony to me ofwhat happens when we take time
to focus on the tender merciesin our lives, in other people's
(09:43):
lives and fill our mind with thestories of the scriptures.
So today I want to share withyou one of those stories that
came to my mind during thistime, something from my past
that I had never seen for themiracle that it actually was.
(10:03):
It also happened to be one ofthe first times in my life that
I Did the thing that required amiracle and God answered I was
13 years old in the 8th gradeand if you've listened to some
of my past Episodes, you'll knowthose were some rough years for
(10:27):
me I was definitely strugglingand one of the reasons I was
struggling that I haven't talkedabout before Was because of the
kind of friends I had chosen Iwas in a new school and it was
really hard for me to makefriends.
I was pretty shy, definitely anintrovert, but I had made one
friend.
She was a fun girl that camefrom a rough home and was
(10:53):
deciding whether church was athing for her or not.
And a bit of a loner like me insome ways, so we just connected.
But as you know, that time oflife is really interesting, at
least for me.
It was a time where I came to acrossroads where as I was
(11:18):
maturing, I was thinking aboutthe things that my parents had
raised me to believe and beingfaced with opposition and
temptation and having to decide,was I going to behave in the way
that my parents taught me?
Was I going to act in accordanceto the principles of the gospel?
(11:42):
Or Was I going to choose adifferent path?
My friend was at that same placeas well.
And unfortunately, because shedid not have that support at
home, she started making somereally poor decisions.
And she was trying to pull mewith her.
And while she started to drinkand smoke and do things with
(12:04):
boys that I wasn't okay with,and trying to encourage me to do
the same.
it finally got to the point thatI was tired of having to say no.
And I felt like I needed somedifferent influences in my life.
I was grateful when our eighthgrade year ended because I knew
(12:28):
I wouldn't see her much in thesummer.
I lived out in the middle ofnowhere.
I didn't have a car.
And so it gave me that space toreally think about the direction
I wanted to go in life and thedecisions I would need to make
to get there.
The spirit worked on me allsummer.
And just a few weeks beforeschool, I knew that I could no
(12:51):
longer continue this friendship.
But the first day of school wasfast approaching.
What was I going to do?
I didn't have any other closefriends.
And for any teenager, the firstday of high school is hard
enough, but to go into itfeeling all alone, makes it even
(13:13):
worse.
So I did the only thing that Iknew how, and I prayed my heart
out.
And prayed for some sort ofmiracle, prayed for new friends,
prayed for the courage to walkaway from a friendship that felt
safe to me.
That night before schoolstarted, I still remember the
(13:35):
fear that I felt.
I didn't care what I was goingto be wearing for the first day
of school.
Like I normally did.
All I cared was that I wouldsomehow get through the day and
maybe meet a new friend.
The fear showed on my face as Iwalked onto campus that first
(13:55):
day of school.
Instead of going right to ourclasses, there was a beginning
of the school year assembly thateveryone had to go to.
My worst nightmare.
When you're in a crowd, youdon't want to be all by
yourself.
And as I walked in, two seniorslooked over at me and said, Oh
my goodness.
(14:16):
Look at that scared littlefreshman.
That didn't help, but I walkedin scanning the bleachers and my
thought was, maybe someone elseis lonely.
Maybe there's a new girl.
I will find someone that looksalone and I will go sit with
them, and as I scan thebleachers, the first person I
saw.
(14:36):
Was my friend sitting with hernew group of friends that were
making the same choices as shewas.
She waved at me and smiled andbeckoned me over.
I smiled back and waved.
But I can't tell you how hard itwas to just keep walking.
(14:58):
And I noticed a girl sitting allby herself on the bottom bench.
So I sat down next to her andturned to her and said, Hey, are
you new?
Are you a freshman?
To which she turned to me, gaveme the dirtiest look and said,
no, I'm a senior.
And she got up and walked away.
(15:19):
So there I sat all by myselfthroughout that assembly and was
so grateful.
When it was over.
Now, another thing that I wasconcerned about this day was how
many times would I bump intothis old friend?
Was she going to confront me?
What would I say to her?
Would I have the courage to tellher I couldn't be her friend
(15:40):
anymore?
So I was very relieved when Iwalked into first period and
that old friend wasn't there.
But I didn't have any newfriends either, so I just stayed
to myself., I went on to secondperiod, and noticed that one of
the girls from first period wasalso in my second period class.
Went on to third period, andthere she was again.
(16:04):
Fourth period, same thing, thissame bright, cheerful girl.
And we both turn to each otherand we're like, Hey, we've seen
each other in all the sameclasses so far.
That's funny.
We ended up having the samelunch and that same pattern
(16:26):
continued for the rest of theday.
By the end of the day, realizedwe had every single class
together.
Identical schedules.
Not only that, I had not seen myold friend a single time that
day.
We were in a pretty small schoolbut we did not have any classes
(16:50):
together.
I also discovered that Isomehow, by some mistake, lucked
out as a freshman to get alocker in the main breezeway and
a top locker where my new friendwas assigned a locker that was
way out of the way.
So I asked her if she wanted toshare a locker with me.
(17:12):
And that was the end of that.
We quickly became best friends.
And remained best friendsthroughout high school.
She was one of my bridesmaids.
And we are close friends to thisday.
As I look back on thatexperience as an adult, I am so
grateful for the lesson that Ilearned that God is well aware
(17:36):
of our circumstances of ourprayers before we even speak
them and has set things in placeto bring miracles into our lives
through our faith.
He answers our prayers in biggerways than we could even imagine.
(17:57):
All I wanted was courage and afriend.
And he answered in a bigger waythan I even thought possible.
President Russell M.
Nelson said Our Savior andRedeemer, Jesus Christ, will
perform some of His mightiestworks between now and when He
comes again.
(18:17):
We will see miraculousindications that God, the
Father, and His Son, JesusChrist, preside over this church
in majesty and glory.
when I first heard the prophetsay this, I was like, pick me.
I am in.
If he is performing some of hismightiest works and miracles, I
(18:38):
want to be there for it.
I want to experience some ofthese.
But these mighty works aren'tjust going to happen.
In Matthew 13, verse 58, itsays, and he did not many mighty
works because of their unbelief.
In Ether 12.
(18:58):
12, it says, For if there be nofaith among the children of men,
God can do no miracle amongthem.
So, the fact that we've beenpromised marvelous works and
miracles tells me we have gotsome amazing faith here.
Who's it gonna be with that kindof faith?
(19:20):
You?
Me?
You.
Why not?
Let's do this.
But the thing is, as I go backand think to those people who
responded, that they couldn'tthink of any mercies in their
life, any miracles.
Sometimes when we feel wehaven't received any miracles,
it's because We haven't beenasking for the thing that might
(19:42):
require a miracle.
Miracles can't happen if wedon't set goals that require
miracles, express desires thatrequire miracles, pray for the
kind of help that requiresmiracles.
So if you haven't witnessed amiracle in your life lately, it
(20:02):
might be because God is waitingfor you to do that scary thing
that will take you from yourcomfort zone and require his
miracles to accomplish myfavorite example of someone who
did something that required amiracle.
Is the brother of Jared in thebook of Ether in the book of
(20:24):
Mormon, a short recap of this,the brother of Jared was leading
his family on an incrediblejourney towards the promised
land.
But when they got to theseashore, they set up camp and
they just decided to stay there.
and believe me, I don't blamethem.
I wouldn't mind staying on thebeacH.
(20:46):
but God let Jared know it wastime to move on, that he had
more of a journey for him, andit would end in many beautiful
promises, including the promisedland.
God directed him on how to buildships that would take them
across the ocean to theAmericas.
Amazing ships, but there was aproblem.
(21:10):
There was no air and there wasno light.
God immediately gave him asolution to the no air problem,
but the brother of Jared had toask again, what about light?
To which God responded in a waythat I haven't seen in other
places in the scriptures, hesaid, what will you that I
(21:34):
should do that ye may have lightin your vessels?
So he was putting the solutionback on to the brother of Jared.
And so the brother of Jared cameup with the solution, and did
molten out of a rock, 16 smallstones, and they were white and
clear.
And he decided that he would askGod to touch these stones to
(21:58):
make them shine with light.
He then approached God in prayerand not only did God provide
this miracle, but the brother ofJared was able to see the finger
of God and God showed hiscomplete self to the brother of
Jared because of his faith,along with many greater things.
Okay, that is the short of it,but I want to break this down a
(22:19):
little bit with you becausethere are so many neat things
that we can learn to help usbring miracles into our lives
through this story.
Number one.
Just like God was miraculouslydirecting and guiding the
brother Jared, preparing him fora journey ahead with many
(22:41):
promises.
God does the same for us.
He is always preparing us for ajourney ahead of us.
And offering many promises thatwill be given in miraculous
ways.
but do we have the eyes to seethe miraculous Ways God has
(23:01):
guided our lives up until nowbecause that is faith We will
need to proceed with even moremiracles to come I think most
people would say, I believe inmiracles, but when push comes to
shove, are we saying, yeah, Ibelieve in miracles for everyone
(23:22):
else.
Just, not for me.
In speaking about the Brother ofJared, Elder Holland explained,
The Lord had done his part,miraculously, profoundly,
ingeniously.
Unique resolutely seaworthyships for crossing the ocean had
been provided.
(23:43):
The brilliant engineering hadbeen done.
The hard part of thisconstruction project was over.
Now, he wanted to know what thebrother of Jared would do about
the incidentals.
close quote And isn't that whatour lives are like?
God has done his part, is doinghis part in our lives in
(24:06):
miraculously, profoundlyingenious ways.
All the brilliant engineering ofour lives has been done.
And God wants to give us theopportunity to do Our part, what
miracles are we going to bringinto our lives for the
(24:26):
incidentals I believe that theincredible faith the brother
Jared had Came from his abilityto see the miracles that had
already happened in his life upuntil then our lives are
divinely designed.
It is up to us to see it.
(24:49):
Number two, despite being guidedby God in miraculous ways, the
brother of Jared was facing aproblem just because there's
miracles doesn't mean we aren'tgoing to face obstacles.
In fact, obstacles are often theopportunities for miracles.
(25:12):
And here's another really coolthing about obstacles and
miracles shown by Alma andAmulek in Alma 8 31.
It talks about how Alma andAmulek were given this power
that they could not be confinedin dungeons and no one could
slay them.
But listen to this.
It says, nevertheless, they didnot exercise their power until
(25:35):
they were bound in bands andcast into prison.
Now if this was me, I'd be like,Hmm, how about let's make it so
I never have to be in prison andnever bound in bands.
But why did they wait for themiracle?
It says right in the next line.
Now, this was done that the Lordmight show forth his power in
(26:00):
them.
When we face somethingdifficult, many times we want to
jump ship before it gets reallyhard.
But honestly, it's in the hardthat God's miracles are made
manifest where he's able to showhow powerful he truly is.
Christ said something similar tothis When he was told that
(26:24):
Lazarus was sick in John 11four, he said, this sickness is
not unto death, but for theglory of God that the Son of God
might be glorified thereby.
God wants to show his peoplethat he is truly a God of
miracles.
And when we submit to him, hispower can be shown in great
(26:48):
measure through us.
Even the Savior was the perfectexample of this.
In D& C 1919, it says,Nevertheless, glory be to the
Father.
And I partook and finished mypreparations unto the children
of men.
Glory to the Father because hewas the one who prepared Christ
(27:12):
and gave him the strength toperform his task.
He gave him miracles so that hecould perform the greatest
miracle ever given.
As he suffered for our sins toredeem us all.
And so for us, glory to thefather in our own lives, who
(27:34):
shows forth his strength in usas we believe in, ask for, and
are willing to receive hispower.
He has prepared for each of us aunique task.
That task will includeobstacles, but he will provide.
Miracles for us.
So understanding that you almostwant to say, okay, bring on the
(27:58):
obstacles.
Because by saying that you'rebasically saying, bring on the
miracles.
President Spencer W.
Kimball said, there are greatchallenges ahead of us.
Giant opportunities to be met.
I welcome that exciting prospectand feel to say to the Lord,
humbly,‘Give me this mountain,’give me these challenges..
(28:19):
Close quote.
Now, I don't know if I am braveenough to say that, but if we
look back to that originalquote, I said at the beginning
of this podcast, remember whatpresident Nelson said.
Than realizing the Lord ishelping you to move a mountain
(28:46):
in your life.
This spiritual momentum, thishelp from the Lord, what's the
point if there's no mountain tomove?
There is no doubt that thisobstacle the brother of Jared
faced was actually a greatblessing in his life.
(29:06):
The third thing we can learnfrom this story to bring more
miracles into our lives islooking at how.
The brother of Jared approachedGod for this miracle.
He approached him in prayer.
Isn't it interesting that prayeris one of those primary answers
(29:29):
that we are asked and told to doall the time.
Read your scriptures, say yourprayers, go to church.
I think we forget how incrediblypowerful prayer is and how
important it is for us toincrease the power of prayer.
of our prayers if we gobacktrack a little bit in ether
(29:53):
to when the brother of Jared wasjust hanging out on the beach,
the Lord came to the brother ofJared and chastened him for
three hours.
I don't know about you.
But, yeah, I've been chastenedby the Lord before.
Three hours?
No.
Thank goodness.
(30:14):
But what was so important thatthe brother of Jared got a three
hour chastening?
Well, he chastened him becausehe remembered not to call upon
the name of the Lord.
The brother of Jared had stoppedpraying.
It was also profound to me thatour dear elder Holland, after
(30:37):
not being able to speak to us ingeneral conference for one and a
half years and having anexperience that was beyond the
veil, What did he feel was themost important thing?
The most important message hecould give us.
It was all.
(30:58):
prayer, and when it comes topowerful prayer, He said, when
we don't know how or exactly forwhat to pray, we should begin
and continue until the HolySpirit guides us into the prayer
we should be offering.
Close quote many times we aren'teven sure of the miracle, the
(31:22):
mercy we should be asking for.
But if we approach prayer inthis way, we can have confidence
that the Holy Spirit will let usknow.
In fact, as Elder Holland saidthis, the spirit taught me
something else.
I realized, wow, we pray toHeavenly Father in the name of
(31:43):
Jesus Christ.
We all know this, pretty basic,but truly powerful prayer
includes all three members ofthe Godhead.
President Russell M.
Nelson said, We pray to ourFather in the name of Jesus
Christ, by the power of the HolyGhost.
(32:04):
This is the true order ofprayer.
Close quote we also know thatthis kind of prayer is important
and powerful because prayer iswhat was used by our Savior,
Jesus Christ, as he atoned forour sins, as he performed the
greatest miracle in alleternity.
(32:27):
If you read in Luke 22, you seethat not only did he pray, Over
and over again, but he alsoasked his disciples to be
praying during this time.
And when his suffering becameeven worse, he prayed all the
more in verse 44, it says, andbeing in agony, he prayed more
(32:51):
earnestly.
President Thomas S.
Monson said, To those within thesound of my voice who are
struggling with challenges anddifficulties large and small,
prayer is the provider ofspiritual strength.
It is the passport to peace.
Prayer is the means by which weapproach our Father in Heaven
(33:11):
who loves us.
Speak to him in prayer, and thenlisten for the answer, miracles
are wrought through prayer.
Close quote.
Number four.
Just as the brother of Jared hadto do his part in the miracle,
so do we.
For me, so often, when thingsget hard, my prayer is like,
(33:35):
Just take this from me.
But, that's not really how itworks.
Elder Cornish said, Often, as Ipray, the Lord nudges me to
admit that there is more Ishould do to receive the help I
am asking for from the Lord.
Then I must commit to do mypart.
(33:55):
It is contrary to the economy ofheaven for the Lord to do for us
that which we can do forourselves.
Close quote.
So it helps to brainstorm alittle bit.
What obstacle am I facing rightnow?
Is there a problem, a situationthat I am just accepting?
(34:17):
Imagine the Lord asking you whatyou would have him do, and start
coming up with some solutions.
But as you're thinking of thosesolutions, don't forget this
fifth principle we learned fromthe brother of Jared.
The brother of Jared came upwith a solution that would only
(34:39):
work for you.
If the Lord was involved, yes,the brother of Jared worked and
did his part to molten thesestones, and even though those
stones were probably pretty,they were absolutely useless
without a miracle.
(34:59):
So should we come up withsolutions that require the touch
of God?
So again, we can brainstorm andask ourselves, where in my life
am I relying on my own strengthtoo much?
Are you picking the solutionthat feels doable, logical, that
(35:20):
is within your own powerrequiring nobody else's help,
including God's.
What have we just accepted inour lives when we could be
asking for the Lord's help?
And where do we get this from?
This desire to, to musclethrough, to do it on our own.
(35:41):
Think about this comparisonbetween Satan or Lucifer and
Jesus Christ.
Heavenly Father came up with aplan, but, there was an obstacle
that needed a solution.
He needed someone who waswilling to suffer for the sins
of the world.
(36:03):
What was Satan's response?
Well, first of all, he decidedto come up with his own plan.
own plan rather than go withGod's and he said, I will do it
he didn't want God's help.
He didn't want God's miraclesbecause he did not want God to
(36:23):
have any glory.
He wanted the glory for himself.
Not to compare anyone to Satan,but do you see how he kind of
gets his ideas into our headswhere we're presented with a
problem and.
Instead of turning to God tohelp us with that solution, we
(36:45):
come up with our idea.
We decide I can do this.
And when we achieve it, who arewe patting on the back?
Ourselves.
And how much better could ithave been if we turned to God?
Now let's look at the Savior'sexample in this situation.
What did he do?
(37:06):
He accepted God's plan and said,Thy will be done, glory be thine
forever.
This is the example we want tofollow.
Seeking God's will, doing it inhis perfect and beautiful way,
even when it doesn't completelymake sense to us, but trusting
(37:31):
that it will work.
As we follow the Savior'sexample, we will be able to say
the glory be thine foreverbecause God's love, power,
miracles will be shown throughus.
Just as they were shown throughJesus Christ and we truly become
(37:53):
his work and his Glory, so likethe brother of Jared being
willing to prepare these stonesthat would have zero purpose
Without a miracle.
What will we have the faith todo the faith to prepare the
faith to create knowing?
(38:14):
That it will be a miracleCompletely useless without God's
hand.
Last but not least, let's notforget that When the brother of
Jared had the faith to go to theLord for this one thing, he got
(38:34):
a lot more than what wasexpected.
Brother of Jared needed waslight.
He asked for physical light,which he was given.
But even more precious andpowerful was the spiritual light
that was given to him.
(38:55):
I love the symbolism that heneeded light on his journey.
Similarly, light is the mostpowerful thing.
We could ask for on our journey,what light do you need?
And just like the brother ofJared, as we ask for what we
(39:15):
need temporally, it will lead togreater things that we need
temporarily.
Spiritually, our faith for onesmall thing will lead to more
than we can imagine.
Ether four seven says, and inthat day, now remember anytime
(39:36):
it says in the scriptures inthat day, it's talking about our
day.
So this verse is for you in thatday that they shall exercise
faith in me, saith the Lord,even as the brother of Jared
did, that they may becomesanctified in me.
Then I will manifest unto themthe things which the brother of
(39:58):
Jared saw, even to the unfoldingunto them all my revelations.
Receiving the light of Christ istruly one of the most The
greatest miracles we couldreceive.
Do you know what's interestingabout the quote from president
Nelson, where he said thatChrist would perform some of his
(40:19):
mightiest works between now andwhen he comes again, that quote
ends with this sentence, but inthe coming days, it will not be
possible to survive spirituallywithout the guiding, directing,
comforting, and constantinfluence.
(40:39):
It's so neat how this all workshand in hand.
God wants us to come to himseeking his mercies, his
miracles, his power, glorifyinghim through our faith, letting
his works be manifested throughus.
And at the same time, as we dothat, we are learning
(41:01):
revelation.
We are learning that influenceof the Holy Ghost that will
guide our prayers, that willlead us to greater things.
How generous God is.
He gives us more than we couldever ask for.
So again, I ask, what are youdesperate for in this
(41:23):
miraculous, but sometimesdifficult journey?
The brother of Jared was withoutlight.
What are you without?
What are you willing to ask Godfor now before I end things?
I want to address those of youthat are doubting your faith and
(41:43):
worth right now that you couldactually Ask for these things.
I want you to remember againwhere the brother of Jared was,
right before all these miracleshappened.
Remember, he was being chastenedby the Lord for three hours,
because he was not praying.
(42:06):
Yet, the Lord asked him torepent, and shortly after, He
started receiving all thesemiracles.
It is truly simple as that.
Repent, come to the Lord, andknow that He wants so much for
you.
He is waiting for you to ask.
(42:28):
So I've already talked aboutseveral different questions you
could possibly ask, but I wouldjust want to share with you the
one question that was the mostpowerful for me.
It came from an insight fromElder Bednar where he was
talking about prayer.
And mentioning that sometimes weoffer prayers, almost like a
(42:49):
shopping list.
I need this, I need this, I needthis, but instead of asking for
all the things we think we wantfor ourselves, do we ever stop
to ask God, what do you want forme?
So my favorite question addsjust one word to that.
(43:10):
What miracles do you want?
Do you want for me?
God wants to show you what yourlife can be when it is
multiplied by His power.
Have courage to do the thingthat requires a miracle.
Ask Him what miracle He wantsfor you.
(43:33):
Christ is the miracle.
Christ is hope.
Smiling brightly.
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