BYU (Brigham Young University) is operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often mistakenly called the “Mormon Church.” As part of their undergraduate coursework, BYU students take multiple semesters of spiritually uplifting, stimulating religion classes.
In this series (see below), students enrolled in scripture study classes have shared their thoughts, insights, and reflections on the Book of Mormon in the form of letters to someone they know. We invite you to take a look at their epiphanies and discoveries as they delve into the scriptures.
In publishing these, we fulfill their desire to speak to all of us of the relevance, power and beauty of the Book of Mormon, a second witness of Jesus Christ and complement to the Bible. The Book of Mormon includes the religious history of a group of Israelites who settled in ancient America. (The names they use are those of prophets who taught the Book of Mormon peoples to look forward to the coming of Christ—Nephi, Lehi, Alma, Helaman, and other unfamiliar names. We hope those names will become more familiar to you as you read their inspiring words and feel the relevance and divinity of their messages through these letters.)
Let us know if you’d like to receive your own digital copy of the Book of Mormon, and/or if these messages encourage and assist you spiritually as well.
Mormon Thoughts: Fear, Meet Faith
Letter to my mom, who is my best friend
Dear Mom,
In my Book of Mormon class this week, my prayers were answered. As you know, I have been struggling with my decision to serve a mission. I am both excited and utterly terrified to serve. I never thought I would make a good missionary, but this week’s Book of Mormon class was a light in a troubled time. A kid in class described it this way: the scriptures are a “Book of Answers” made just for us. Seriously, it says it right in the word ‘scriptures.’ They are script-ures. You are in the scriptures, it’s just up to you to find out where. As we were talking about this, we were also talking about fear and faith. Brother Hilton reminded us that fear is of the devil and can’t exist in the same place as faith. “Fear knocked on the door. Faith answered and there was no one there.”
I realized I’ve been allowing fear to block out my faith in the Lord and his plan for my life. I like how Helaman 5:12 treats the whole faith/fear concept:
…it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.
Right now Satan’s storm for me is fear of a mission and wanting to be doing other things here in Provo. It’s a “grey zone” where I know that Heavenly Father would be happy with whichever choice I decide to make, but it’s up to me to make the choice. I love what Brother Hilton said about these grey zones: “if we follow Christ those shades disappear.”
I know that sometimes there are storms in life, and they can be hard and terrifying. But if we trust in the Lord then we can weather the storm—because they don’t last forever. He will help us find the silver lining in everything and will help us make it through if we just rely on him. I hope that as you face your “shafts in the whirlwind” you will be able to see God’s hand in your life and trust that he is leading you where you need to go.
If you are reading this post and have any questions or comments I would be happy to hear from you.
Additional Resources:
Mormon Beliefs