Have you ever felt trapped like you were in bondage? Or are you feeling like the load you are carrying is just too heavy and you're longing to rest from all your care?
" 1 And now, it came to pass that after king Mosiah had had continual peace for the space of three years, he was desirous to know concerning the people who went up to dwell in the land of Lehi-Nephi, or in the city of Lehi-Nephi; for his people had heard nothing from them from the time they left the land of Zarahemla; therefore, they wearied him with their teasings." (Mosiah 7: 1)
"24 Yea, I say unto you, great are the reasons which we have to mourn; for behold how many of our brethren have been slain, and their blood has been spilt in vain, and all because of iniquity." (Mosiah 7: 24)
"19 Therefore, lift up your heads, and rejoice, and put your trust in God, in that God who was the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob; and also, that God who brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, and caused that they should walk through the Red Sea on dry ground, and fed them with manna that they might not perish in the wilderness; and many more things did he do for them." (Mosiah 7: 19)
"33 But if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will, according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage." (Mosiah 7: 33)
And here's the introductory commentary for the reading assignment this week, May 6–12: “In the Strength of the Lord” Mosiah 7–10 :
"While King Mosiah’s people were enjoying “continual peace” in Zarahemla (Mosiah 7:1), their thoughts turned to another group of Nephites, who many years before had left to dwell in the land of Lehi-Nephi. Generations had passed, and Mosiah’s people had heard nothing from them. So, Mosiah asked Ammon to lead a search party to find the Nephites who had left. The search party found that these Nephites, “because of iniquity” (Mosiah 7:24), were in captivity to the Lamanites. But with the arrival of Ammon and his brethren, suddenly there was hope for deliverance.
Sometimes we’re like these captive Nephites, suffering because of our sins, wondering how we’ll ever find peace again. Sometimes we’re like Ammon, feeling prompted to reach out to others and eventually finding that our efforts have inspired them to “lift up [their] heads, and rejoice, and put [their] trust in God” (Mosiah 7:19). No matter our circumstances, we all need to repent and “turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart,” with faith that “he will … deliver [us]” (Mosiah 7:33)."
In different areas and at different times of our lives, we could feel we're in bondage like these captive Nephites.
After a few years of working here in Thailand, I did feel like I was in bondage myself. My teaching load was so heavy. I was teaching a total of around 700 students as I would teach each of my 22-23 classes, of around 30-35 students each, once every week. Whenever it's time to mark the exam papers, it would take a number of sleepless nights before I get done marking all the test papers. While all the other teachers were already enjoying their free time and school activities for teachers, I would still be marking my students' exam papers. This would go on for a number of years. And I couldn't do anything about it. There was a time I was talking to my mother on the phone and told her how heavy my load was and that maybe I should quit this job. My mom told me, "It's your job and you need to do it." And I thought, "Yes. I have to do my job because this is where I'm getting my income. I have no other option. I have one job and one income. I have to keep this job so I can continue to earn my income."
Thoughts about my boss would come to my mind then. I thought how terrible she was and it's looking to me like she wanted me out of the school. She's giving me a hard time so I would decide to quit my job eventually. One day when I was reading the passage about Alma's people being captives by the Lamanites under the leadership of Amulon, I was reminded of their situation--they had heavy loads themselves and couldn't even pour out their hearts aloud in prayer unto God at their own homes. This did touch my heart and realized my situation was not as bad as theirs. I, myself, could say my prayers unto God aloud, in my own place if I wanted to. And just as Alma's people poured out their hearts unto God continually in prayer without crying aloud, I decided to pour my heart out in prayer to God myself. And as I was praying, miracles started to happen. Suddenly I started praying for my boss. I prayed for her to be able to do her work better. And I thought she was doing her work the best way she could according to what she knew she was supposed to do. If she would know better, she would do better. And if I focus on doing my own job better, I could help her do her job better. My mindset suddenly shifted. And with this mindset shift, I stopped blaming my boss for my having my heavy load and instead, I started looking at what I could do to improve the way I'm doing things so that my work could be easier and I could show my boss that I'm supporting her. While I was getting better and feeling better even with my heavy load, more miracles would come. Suddenly, my boss decided to give me a different subject to teach and my teaching load went down from 23 to 16 classes. And I heard from a colleague that she actually likes me. After one year of enjoying teaching a lesser teaching load, the number of my teaching load went even lower---I got moved back to teaching Kindergarten and back to teaching only one class. After a few years, I got moved to teach 2 classes of 1st graders. Then the 2 classes went down to only one. And then this past school year, I started teaching 2 classes of 2nd graders with each class having 29 students. My heavy teaching load went down to a much more comfortable number. And I'm so grateful that the feeling of being in bondage has been long gone. It's been lifted since the time I decided to pray for my boss and focus on doing my best in my job. I did repent and have been reaping the blessings of doing so. Because I turned to the Lord "with full purpose of heart" and with faith that "He will deliver me", He indeed delivered me. My work right now still has challenges and yet it's no longer as heavy as it was before.
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