"Wherefore, we would to God that we could persuade all men not to rebel against God, to provoke him to anger, but that all men would believe in Christ, and view his death, and suffer his cross and bear the shame of the world; wherefore, I, Jacob, take it upon me to fulfil the commandment of my brother Nephi."
What stands out to me is the "provoke him to anger". I had an experience ten days ago that has made me sensitive to this thought. This is what I recorded in my journal.
"Last night I had such an unusual experience. I was reading all these memes about the virus and saving them and passing them on to my siblings. I was laughing the whole time. Everything was hitting me so funny. I had not felt so much laughter over this whole thing. Then in an instant I had this great soberness come over me and the spirit warned me not to laugh at this. That what I was doing was "loud laughter", and those that laugh will mourn. What an absolute wake-up call.
I then read my scriptures and there it talked about destruction before the second coming. My frame of mind on this virus and its meaning completely changed. The Lord's hand is in all this and obedience is important. I have a feeling of much sorrow for those that are effected by this. When we did our family scripture reading I told them my experience and the other impressions that I had. We laid some ground rules for ourselves."
This situation is not funny. There are people dying, there are health professionals that are risking their lives for us. I know people will relieve stress with humor but it can become far to easy to forget oneself. If you are stressed the best relief is to turn to the Lord, he will bring comfort and peace. We must always remember Him.
Day 1819
