1 Nephi 7-10

I loved reading about faith and thinking about the strength that can come when we apply this verb in out lives. For that is what faith is, not just a regular word, but an action word. It is something that we must apply and continually strive to achieve. This act of being faithful. However when I think about faith I also tend to think about trust. These two go hand in hand, for when we have faith in someone we are trusting them to follow through with their end of the deal. This is a personal struggle for me. I really struggle trusting other people to follow through with their side of things. I know that this is wrong, and it really is something that I am working on. The problem with this struggle is the fact that sometimes it is simply so much easier to try and come up with a solution yourself instead of relying on someone else to help you figure things out. Sometimes I think that this way of thinking could be a good thing, but in others it can be a bit of a fatal flaw. For instance (as a small example) when you are rock climbing you have to trust someone to belay for you. Personally I love going up, however, I really struggle trusting someone to help me get down, and half the time simply climb down the same way I climbed up. I need to learn to have more faith and trust in those that surround me.

Later on while reading 1 Nephi 7:17 Nephi prays to the Lord to give him the strength to break the bands with which his brothers have confined him. This reminded me that we are not meant to simply pray for things; not simple or vauge things but for specific desires and needs. For instance the desire to be freed from bounds, to be forgiven for a specific sin, even for something as simply as growing up to be 5 foot and 4 inches tall. Silly, but the Lord will grant even your silly requests in your prayers.

Reading chapter 8 I was curious as to the transition between the seeds which Lehi's family took with them, and then the sudden transition to that of the seed and generations of his family to come. I completely get the idea of talking about his vision of his family, but why mention the seeds in verse 1? Not quite sure about this yet.

Anyway, I don't really know how to tie all these thoughts and ideas together, but I figures I should still record these thoughts. So there you have it. Pam, if you can explain what that first verse was for, go ahead and try. I certainly don't quite understand it. So I may have to read it again. Night!