Strength as Samuel the Lamanite

The nature of man is interesting to me. Sometimes we are so slow to forget our own convictions! This is seen time and again in The Book of Mormon, specifically throughout the book of Helaman. The people are chastened, they are humbled, the repent, begin to prosper again, again are prideful and forget their conversion. This cycle repeats itself so often that it's hard to keep track of how many times the Nephites adhere to the gospel and then stop because of temptation.

Enter Samuel the Lamanite. Because of the preaching of Lehi and Nephi many Lamanites (including Samuel) was converted. Once he was converted and saw the wickedness of the Nephites, he was told that he should preach to them. After trying once and being thrown out of the city, he was set on leaving and going to another place to preach. However, we felt strongly what he needed to say and that it needed to be said to the people of this city. So he got on top of the city wall and preached to the people according to what the Lord told him.

Imagining the difficulty of Samuel in this situation is crucial to seeing how hard it sometimes can be to DO what we are told to do. It is not always easy to stay strong. It is not easy to maintain a close, real relationship with our Father in Heaven. Choosing to sacrifice rather than to indulge selfishly can be very difficult. But, Heavenly Father will bless us and does bless us as we are trying to do what he asks us to do.

We will be tempted and we won't be perfect, but as long as we keep our resolve to do what we've been asked to do, we can overcome and make the best of our circumstances and lives. The gospel of Jesus Christ is about repentance, meaning positive change. It is about the love of a Savior who died so that we can have the opportunity to repent and a Father in Heaven who provided and allowed that sacrifice for us. We can and must take strength in that sacrifice and that Godly love.