“The intensity of our desire to share the gospel is a great indicator of the extent of our personal conversion.”
~ Elder Dallin H. Oaks
What was Nephi’s response when the people in the strange building mocked him and the others who were partaking of the fruit? Why?
A new thought struck me as I read about Lehi's dream today. He was about to enter a "dark and dreary" new phase of his life - taking his family away from the familiar and going into the wilderness. When faced with the parallel experience of his dream, he cries out to the Lord for mercy (8:8). The Lord's response - a tender mercy - is to give Lehi a glimpse of the reward at the end of the path. In 9:6 the Lord's power to do this is defined - if He sees past, present, future as one, then He is able to give that gift to his children when they need it most. I can bear personal testimony of this gift. Three times in my life I have been blessed with teaching dreams, and the knowledge gained therefrom has been a tender mercy I have hung onto with all my might through the dark and dreary times the Lord knew would come. How grateful I am for the witness of Lehi and Nephi, in testifying that the Lord will bless us with strengthening knowledge - in symbols we can understand - about his eternal plan for us. He wants us to understand the saving power of His love. But we have to prepare ourselves to receive this gift. As we see from the account, some members of Lehi's family were not prepared.
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