Daily Thoughts

In the Old Testament I read a verse that says woe unto those who seek to hide their counsel from the Lord and keep their works in the dark. They might think that no one sees their evil deeds, but they cannot hide from the Lord, not keep Him from know what they're up to. Isa. 29: 15 "Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?"

In the Book of Mormon I read about how the invading Lamanites are unable to take the fortified cities because Moroni had made such careful preparations. They had thought they could easily overpower them, but were astonished when they discovered how well prepared the Nephites were for them. Alma 49: 2-9 "And behold, the city had been rebuilt, and Moroni had stationed an army by the borders of the city, and they had cast up dirt round about to shield them from the arrows and the stones of the Lamanites; for behold, they fought with stones and with arrows. Behold, I said that the city of Ammonihah had been rebuilt. I say unto you, yea, that it was in part rebuilt; and because the Lamanites had destroyed it once because of the iniquity of the people, they supposed that it would again become an easy prey for them. But behold, how great was their disappointment; for behold, the Nephites had dug up a ridge of earth round about them, which was so high that the Lamanites could not cast their stones and their arrows at them that they might take effect, neither could they come upon them save it was by their place of entrance. Now at this time the chief captains of the Lamanites were astonished exceedingly, because of the wisdom of the Nephites in preparing their places of security. Now the leaders of the Lamanites had supposed, because of the greatness of their numbers, yea, they supposed that they should be privileged to come upon them as they had hitherto done; yea, and they had also prepared themselves with shields, and with breastplates; and they had also prepared themselves with garments of skins, yea, very thick garments to cover their nakedness. And being thus prepared they supposed that they should easily overpower and subject their brethren to the yoke of bondage, or slay and massacre them according to their pleasure. But behold, to their uttermost astonishment, they were prepared for them, in a manner which never had been known among the children of Lehi. Now they were prepared for the Lamanites, to battle after the manner of the instructions of Moroni. And it came to pass that the Lamanites, or the Amalickiahites, were exceedingly astonished at their manner of preparation for war."

A verse with a thought booklet tells us to bear with each other and forgive each other for whatever grievances we may have. We need to forgive one another as the Lord forgives us. The thought that went with this, written by Roberta Messner, says: Some years ago a friend gave me the most gorgeous umbrella I had ever seen. It was made from a plastic-laminated floral chintz fabric, and it gave me such a feeling of being loved and protected that I felt the Lord nudging me to give away umbrellas myself. Anytime I found umbrellas on sale, I snapped them up. Before long I had quite a supply in the trunk of my car and my hall closet. I designed calling cards with the words "Jesus is your shelter in the time of storm" and attached them to the umbrellas. Whenever I spotted someone running for cover or struggling with an umbrella, I gave them one of mine. One April day our neighbor Jerry came over to see my husband on business. Jerry had treated a close relative of mine poorly, and I still harbored a grudge. Suddenly there was a terrible downpour. Jerry stood in the shelter of the porch, waiting for it to pass. Just then, God spoke to my heart: "Give him one of your umbrellas, Roberta." I argued with the inner voice: "Then he'll think what he did was okay." "Simply offer him the umbrella, Roberta", God seemed to say. "Trust me to take care of the rest." With considerable hesitation, I gave Jerry one of my umbrellas and learned a powerful lesson about giving: If you can't feel forgiveness in your heart for someone, find some way to give to them anyway, and as sure as April showers bring May flowers, the feeling will follow the act. Teach my hesitant heart to forgive. Col. 3: 13 "Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye."