Baptism and the Wobbly Path

I recently was blessed to attend the baptism of a family friend, Bailey.  She just turned eight and she is a gorgeous girl.  My kids went with me (and one kept crying, sorry Bailey!) but it was still such a wonderful experience.  Of course I could feel the spirit there, but her grandma gave a great talk on Baptism (which I capitalize because it was all about how Christ was baptized and why, and why we should be baptized.  It was everything I would expect from Lori, which is a compliment).  Anyway, this got me thinking about baptism and life in general.

Then that same night, in my personal scripture study, I read in Mosiah about King Limhi and his people.  For those of you not familiar with Limhi, let me tell you, he did not have a fantastically easy life.  His dad was a Royal Jerk.  (King Noah of the famous photo with leopards.  He's fat, he's hedonistic, and he's a horrible, lazy, lecherous, murderous, well... jerk. But I digress.)  Limhi didn't have a great father.  In spite of that, he turned out pretty well.  His dad's advisers were as bad, or maybe worse, as his dad.  So poor Limhi did not have a life full of spiritual role models.  To top that off, the one fantastic guy (Abinadi) gets burned alive (by his dad) and then the other great guy who Abinadi really gets going (Alma) gets run off by Limhi's evil dad, along with all his followers... so Limhi doesn't have a lot of good counsel.

Now, add to that the fact that his dad has really, royally ticked off the Lamanites.  Now he's stuck making a deal where he agrees to give half of every single thing that he (and all his people) own to the Lamanites every year in exchange for, you know, keeping their heads connected to their necks.  Some deal, right?  (Actually 50% taxation doesn't seem THAT far fetched, but I am right there with Limhi and his people in thinking it stinks.)  On top of that, the oppressive (and lazy?) Lamanites are MEAN.  They get right in the faces of Limhi's people and rub it in that they're basically slaves.  They push them around, make fun of them, take their stuff and generally make life miserable.  Is it any wonder that the people finally come to Limhi and beg to go to war?  Let's fight our way free, or die trying!!

Limhi's people try a lot.  They secretly send scouts looking for the people they'd broken off from, the other Nephites like them.  That fails completely.  So finally, Limhi says, "Okay, let's go to war."  They're destroyed.  Again and again.  There are literally widows they can barely afford to feed because there just aren't enough fathers to go around.  Life is NOT good and the Lamanites don't make it easier.

Now, where's the biggest problem here?  Like always, it's not that they aren't rich.  It's not that they aren't free.  I know those sound bad, and the almost starving sounds awful, but the real problem, the underlying CAUSE of their woes is that... anyone?  They aren't turning to GOD.  They are getting angry, frustrated, furious, dejected, depressed, irate, and on and on.  But they are looking to Limhi or themselves and NOT to God.  It is not until they are literally beaten like drums over and over, dead or dying that they finally humble themselves and?  You've guessed it.  They turn to God.

It is then that God helps them completely whoop up on those Lamanites and break free.  Not.  Because that's not how God works.  That's when God says, "Oh good.  FINALLY you have turned to me.  You are looking my way.  Now the next baby step."  He doesn't free them.  He knows that if he does, they just slump right back. It's like a child with a toy.  They cry and cry for it and when they get it, they go right back to how they were before, no different.  God needs them to CHANGE.  So instead of an easy victory, which is TOTALLY what they wanted and what I would want in their place, God gives them something else.  Something harder.  He lightens their burdens.

NO NO NO! That's what I scream when God does this to me.  Not LIGHTER burdens.  I want those darn burdens to be GONE!!

God knows.  He lightens them.  We know he's listening and we keep praying.  We keep being humble.  We keep asking.  And then he sends them a lifeline--another Nephite group from the big group.  Hope.  They know they aren't alone.  If only they can get away, they can rejoin their people and be out from under the thumb of the Lamanites.  So now they have a goal.  And guess what?  God eventually helps them do that.

But first?  He gets them to the point where they want to be baptized.  This is important.  Before God GIVES them what they need (no burdens), he makes sure they have grown enough for that challenge.  They have all become desirous to be baptized.  Their hearts are changed.  It was a long time, and a hard path to get there, but they are there.  They have changed and NOW God can give them what they so desperately desired.  They humbly escape, no destruction and vengeance, and rejoin their people.  They get baptized there in Zarahemla and they can live beautiful lives, unfettered by the Lamanites for a while, but more importantly, unfettered by SIN.  The real thing that was weighing them down.

I loved that story.  Aren't we all on the same path?  Whether we have been baptized already or we are preparing for it, we are all on the wobbly path either to or from a happy situation.  If you are miserable, THAT'S OKAY!  I have been there!  I might be there again, too! But God has a plan for you to get back to happy!  He has a purpose for you and a way to get there.  You just have to trust that He knows how to get there and it's usually those wobbles that help strengthen us and open our hearts so we are ready to receive all he has to offer.  So we can see what truly matters.  I am so grateful for all the blessings I have been given, and all the wobbles it took for me to get there.