2.53 A Power Verse to Pick Me Up When I am Down

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth, a bold reminder that our lives are meant to carry his flavor, his truth, and his love to the world. Join me each day to explore one verse of scripture and one thought, striving to stay full of savor and truly live as savory salt. Hello, my friends, great to have you with me.

Today let's be anxiously engaged in a good cause and bring to pass much righteousness. It's been a while since we had a bit of a journaling activity, hasn't it? I've got one for you today that may get you a little bit of time to ponder and think into your relationship with your Heavenly Father.

This week we've been reading Doctrine and Covenants sections 12 through 17, as well as 2 Nephi 5. Today we're actually diving into 2 Nephi. If you're reading along, kind of chapters 6, 7, and 8 would be kind of the range that we're looking at.

Maybe 6, 7, depending on the time that you have. And yes, I'm actually going to use a verse from one of the Isaiah chapters inside of here as we dive into 2 Nephi 7. Let's get started.

And verse 7. This is a verse that for me can be like, 'Hey, if you're struggling, if you're having a hard day, or you're just in a tough place, verse 7 is a pick-me-up.' Verse 7 is a lift-up and turn to the Lord type verse. And so that's what I picked for today.

It says this, "Shall I not be confounded? Therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed." Now there's a cool phrase inside of this one that I like because I guess maybe it's just an old phrase we don't use much anymore, right? We don't use it at all, actually, let's just be honest.

Because no one goes around and says, "Hey, I set my face like a flint." So if you start using that one, I'm not sure people are going to pick up on what you're saying there. But really what it's saying inside of this is you understand God's going to be there to help you out, right? He's got your back.

You're not going to be struggling inside of it when the Lord's on your side, right? You're not going to be confounded or ashamed. And when it says, "I set my face like a flint," it's this idea that your resolve becomes unflinching, right?

You become resolute in your faith. You become firm and steadfast. That's what it's really saying here.

And so this level of faith, I love what it expresses here: that I know the Lord is going to help me out. I'm going to be unflinching and resolute in my faith that I will not be confounded nor ashamed as I follow the Lord. Now, the piece of that can become an amazing journaling activity for you if you'll take the time today.

I did this earlier with my youth in my Sunday school class with the "Restoration Proclamation." Now you could use this really with any chapter in the Book of Mormon, any chapter of scripture really, any proclamation you want. But I'll just keep it kind of open-ended for you on the journaling side of things. What I had them do is take three different highlighter colors.

This one you could just journal. So, you know, just, just writing inside of this, but I want you to think into the things that you could testify of in this unflinching, resolute way. And just, just let it, let it flow.

Just bullet point it. Now, maybe that's one thing that you just feel very firmly about to the level that you could say, "I believe this." Maybe it's 10 things, maybe it's 15 things, but you're just taking some time to think into where you could testify resolutely, firm and steadfast, the things that you know and believe to be true. And then the second thing you could think into is areas that you want to be able to testify of.

So these are areas that maybe you don't have as strong a faith or as firm a resolute understanding of in the gospel, but you want to, you have a desire to it. Write it down. Share that with your journal and with the Lord as you write these things down.

And then the third area is an area where you can write the questions that you still don't know answers to. Because as you write those down and become aware of them, the Lord can open your eyes inside of your scripture study and through promptings of the Spirit to answer those questions. So write those questions down.

And then what you have in front of you is almost a progression of sorts. You can work from the questions you have into the areas that you want to testify and ultimately land in the areas where you are unflinching and resolute in your faith. This is an opportunity to set your face like a flint.

Do as Isaiah says there and stand resolute and firm in your knowledge and understanding that Heavenly Father is here to help each one of us as we find faith in Him. I find that very exciting and very empowering. That's all for today, my friends.

Lift up your hearts and rejoice. Cleave unto the covenants you have made, and together we will be savory salt. For more information, visit us at www.fema.org.