~by Michelle

Exodus 14 is one of my favorite chapters in the Old Testament. Besides containing the amazing miracle of the parting of the Red Sea, I also appreciate the commentary on human nature contained in these verses. It’s easy to look at the children of Israel and roll our eyes, but to me, they represent the human nature in all of us that can tend toward complaint, fear, pain avoidance, and false narratives (which, ironically, cause us more pain). Life isn’t easy, and barriers come along the way that can leave us feeling a lot like they did.

There are also some amazing life mantras from Moses in this chapter, such as “fear ye not, stand still” and “hold your peace.”

But God had something to add to Moses’ words to the people. It was, “Go forward.”

I sometimes imagine the children of Israel looking at the sea of water in front of them and thinking, “Um, Moses, we are being chased and there’s this thing called the Red Sea in our way. We are trapped! We have plenty of things to be afraid of here! Could you get real and take us back to where things were predictable?” [Sometimes even misery can be preferred to the unknown, simply because it’s known.]

Moses knew that things would be okay. How? Because he was listening to the Lord, and he was ready to follow the instructions he had received.

What’s fascinating to me is that the instructions he received were relatively simple. He was told to speak and to hold up his staff.

In The Church of Jesus Christ, we have additional books of scripture that shed more light on the story of Moses and the children of Israel. One such scripture is found in Doctrine and Covenants 8:-2-3.

Here Jesus Christ (the same God — known as Jehovah in the Old Testament — who guided and helped Moses in the deliverance of the children of Israel) is talking through the prophet Joseph Smith to Oliver Cowdery. Oliver was helping as a scribe when Joseph was translating the plates on which the ancient scripture found in The Book of Mormon were written.

In this chapter, the Lord teaches about how divine guidance from Him works.

2 [B]ehold, I will ^atell you in your mind and in your ^bheart, by the ^cHoly Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart.

3 Now, behold, this is the spirit of revelation…

These verses describe how any of us can receive answers and guidance from the Lord, through the Holy Ghost.

But the second part of verse 3 is stunning to me:

…behold, this is the spirit by which Moses ^abrought the children of Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground.

How did Moses part the Red Sea? He simply received and followed revelation. He acted in faith on the relatively simple instructions he received. He responded and trusted.

And then the Lord parted the sea.

And Moses stretched out his hand over the ^asea; and the Lord ^bcaused the ^csea to ^dgo back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea ^edry land, and the ^fwaters were ^gdivided. (Exodus 14:21)

Sometimes it can feel like we are facing an impossible Red Sea in our lives. The Lord’s teaching through Joseph Smith about the parting of the Red Sea gives me hope for such times. All we have to do is get guidance for our relatively simple part (our “next right thing(s)”) and then watch to see how the Lord will help clear the way forward.

Other miracles in the Bible share a similar message. Just go wash in the Jordan. Just make this cake first. Just look at the serpent on the pole (see how this and other stories abotu Moses and the children of Israel get some wonderful attention in the Book of Mormon). Just let those carrying the ark of the covenant put their toes into the water. Take a step into (or onto) the water. Just wash this spittle off your eyes. Just draw some water from that well.

Just “Follow me.”

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, our prophet today points us to Jesus. He says, “Hear Him.” We can hear Him through a living prophet (like a Moses in our day) . And if we seek the Lord’s guidance in our lives, He’ll keep giving us personal guidance as well that can allow even more of His power and peace to flow.

What’s your next right step that the Lord is inviting you to do? Don’t focus on the sea in front of you, focus on Him, and let Him part the sea in His time and way.

Just Hear Him...”in your mind and in your heart…by the Holy Ghost…which…is the spirit of revelation.”

This post is edited from the original.

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I am an adviser in the Young Women program in my ward congregation. A key role of an adviser is to help with Sunday lessons. It was my turn this week to prepare a lesson (that’s not really what it is with the new curriculum, Come, Follow Me — we are urged not to teach/lecture/convey information but rather to engage the youth, to facilitate so that they can be the ones to teach, share, and testify).

I’ve found that usually there is a sense of a “forward flow” when anticipating teaching/facilitating a lesson. As I prayerfully open my heart to what to focus on in class, ideas will come and sort of settle on me. This week, only one thought really settled, and it was of Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s most recent General Conference talk. But that was about all I got.

But then Saturday night while I was cleaning my room, I “happened” to open one of my books to a story of one woman’s experience having a day go bad fast. She decided to take a drive and ponder and pray. She felt guided by the Spirit to simply write her thoughts. First, she captured all the negativity, worry, and fear that was plaguing her, and then she felt prompted to write some testimony-based thoughts of what she knew and believed.

The idea came to have the girls do something similar, except to flip the order of what they wrote — to implement Elder Holland’s counsel to lead out with faith.

The young women were invited to silently read Elder Holland’s words for a few minutes, and to share what stood out to them. I then handed out a piece of paper to each person. They folded their papers in half and put “Lord, I Believe” at the top of the left-hand column.

And then I invited them to write what came to mind about their testimony. I gave them simple prompts like, What principles or truths help you in your life? What does your testimony include right now? What scriptures help you when you have a hard day?

They wrote and wrote and wrote.

I was hesitant to interrupt the writing, but I wanted to bring the process full circle back to sharing after watching this video. We divided the class into three circles of three and I invited them each to share with their little group something from their list, as they felt comfortable doing so. Some young women read their whole list, others shared one or two things and talked a little about it. We ended with a little more group discussion. It was wonderful to see how personal the process of pondering was for each person, and also how hearing others’ feelings spurred more thoughts and feelings. There was value in both the quiet self-reflection and also in sharing and testifying to one another. And I felt like the Lord had guided us to a simple tool that could be used on hard days or during hard times.

Elder Holland says,

In the growth we all have to experience in mortality, the spiritual equivalent of this boy’s affliction or this parent’s desperation is going to come to all of us. When those moments come and issues surface, the resolution of which is not immediately forthcoming, hold fast to what you already know and stand strong until additional knowledge comes. (Emphasis in original)

I was so grateful for the ideas that came with regard to this lesson, because right after church, my daughter was sad about something that had happened today at church. We are working hard in our home right now to help make sure that the children feel safe sharing their feelings, whatever they may be, so I wanted to listen attentively to her pain. But the thought came to invite my daughter to try this exercise, making it clear that the second column could be used to then write down her concerns and struggles, too.

She wrote and wrote.

And wrote.

She wrote four columns worth (two half pages, front and back) declaring her beliefs.

I hesitated to ask later if she’d be willing to share some of her list, because I didn’t want to enter her sacred space uninvited. But I did want her to feel that I cared and was willing to listen.

We curled up on my bed as she read me her list. And I wept at the power of her testimony. When I asked her about one of the most tender things she’d written — one of those things she’s desiring to believe but doesn’t quite feel it yet — she said that it wasn’t until she spoke the truth out loud that the truth settled more into her heart.

I’m grateful to Elder Holland for his simple, powerful teaching to let our faith lead out. I’m grateful for the Spirit who led me to use this talk. I’m grateful for the young women who are willing to engage and share and testify. And I’m grateful for the blessings that are flowing into my home because of this new curriculum. I encourage parents to tap into this amazing resource, including the training videos. Our children have much to teach us. We just need to find opportunities to invite them to do so.

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