I just had to share...

Today, Owen went in for one last Kindergarten assessment test. While we were there, the teacher gave me a collection of some of his most noteworthy school papers. And one of them was this one...

If you can't read it, it says, "I have a dream that every one could be a family." It just touched my heart and still does every time I think of it. That is my wish too. If everyone had a family that loved them, this world would be so heavenly. Families are truly divine.

I don't normally share spiritual insights on our blog, but I have strongly felt inclined to share this one.

It came at the least likely time. When I am doing my personal scripture study I am much more likely to get spiritual promptings. During family scriptures, not so much. Sometimes I get a good feeling, but not a direct, poignant prompting that feels almost heard in my heart. This time amidst the chaos of getting the kids to sit and hopefully listen, I miraculously did. 

We were learning about Lehi and the Liahona.{1 Nephi 16}
 

We use the Gospel Art Kit pictures  {or the Book of Mormon Reader} for Family Scripture study, to help keep the kids interested. We summarize the story on the back of the picture and read the scripture(s) provided. This time as I was skimming the back to summarize,  I stumbled upon this verse:

1 Nephi 16:16 "And we did follow the directions of the ball, which led us in the more fertile parts of the wilderness."

It struck me that, we know Lehi's family was not led in a direct course to the Promised Land. It wasn't the easiest route. It was a more circuitous route that brought hardship and consequently essential lessons to be learned. But it also brought many miraculous blessings. Going this route allowed the Lord to provide for them in a way they couldn't comprehend beforehand.

This route, if they trusted in him, brought temporal as well as spiritual blessings. Indeed it was "fertile" in sustenance as well as wisdom.

So, even though our life is not taking the direct course that makes sense in my head or that seems possible to me, we are trying out best to trust in the Lord and His path for us. I know that He will continue to teach us and take care of us in the manner that is best for us, as He has always done. Just like with Lehi's family, I know he is leading us in the "more fertile parts of the wilderness." Life often feels like a wilderness and yet we are blessed and happy. I am grateful to know we have a purpose to our life and that Our Heavenly Father has a loving hand in it.