2.180 Be Comforted. And They Were Comforted.

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, it's great to have you with me.

Today let's be anxiously engaged in a good cause and bring to pass much righteousness. Did I tell you yesterday to go back to Season One to listen to the Alma 17 verses? Well, I got to tell you, I couldn't get past Alma 17 without sharing a verse.

So if you want the in-depth look of Alma chapters 17, 18, and 19, you're going to have to go back to Season One because I only left us with a couple of verses this week from Alma, and yet they are very, very good ones. And so, if you are interested, go back to Season One, listen to Alma chapter 17, 18, and 19 as I do some more in ones there. But our reading this week has been Doctrine and Covenants sections 67 to 70, and that's where we spent most of our time.

Our verse for today is in Alma chapter 17. And here, we're introducing the sons of Mosiah and their missionary work, and there has been, as I mentioned before, and I won't read the verse from it, but there's been a great joyful reunion with Alma and the sons of Mosiah. Can you even imagine them seeing each other after the experiences that they have had with Alma's conversion and his repentance and their conversion and their repentance, and they haven't seen each other in 14 years, right?

It's been this crazy long missionary experience. Anyway, I won't get into it, but I love it so much. It's such a great beginning to this story here as we get into what's going to happen with these missionaries.

We're getting this verse for today inside of describing, looking back at their 14 years a little bit. And we get another short verse. Yesterday was a short verse, today's a short verse, but there's so much inside of it.

It's Alma chapter 17, verse 10. And they're kind of telling us upfront the experiences that the missionaries had, just at a high level, right? They had challenges, but they were great instruments in the hands of the Lord, right?

They had trials, and we're going to learn about their trials for the next, you know, 10 chapters or so. But verse 10 says this: "And it came to pass that the Lord did visit them with His Spirit, and said unto them: Be comforted. And they were comforted." My friends, do we listen to the Lord when He visits us with His Spirit and says unto us, "Be comforted"?

Our world is one of chaos, of speed. Everything is faster today. News is faster.

It seems that emergencies happen faster. Natural occurrences are happening faster. Wars are faster.

Everything happens faster today. And yet here the Lord visits them with His Spirit and says, "Be comforted." One of my favorite places that I have found to be comforted is in the temple of our Lord. I have very much enjoyed this year attending the temple.

I'm going to read a passage from the Bible. And it's been a wonderful experience whether it's with my wife, whether it's with my girls, whether it's in a ward activity, or whether it's just by myself. I have sought to have the Spirit of the Lord come and speak to my heart and say, "Be comforted." So if you find yourself in the whirlwinds, in the chaos, in fact, if you find yourself so busy you can't even find time to go to the temple, I would encourage you: Even if you're not old enough to be in it, go to the temple grounds, seek the Lord's Spirit, allow Him to visit and listen as He says to you, "Be comforted." And then that final sentence in this verse is so telling for Ammon and these other missionaries.

They were comforted. They allowed themselves to be comforted by the Lord. My friends, I think there's two parts there.

The Lord would absolutely bring comfort to our hearts, and we absolutely need to accept that comfort. In a world today of chaos, in a world today where so much is happening so fast, I hope you can seek the Spirit of the Lord and listen as He tells you to "Be comforted" and find comfort as well. 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.