1/07/2007

1 Nephi 2 - A Dream Come True

It may not have been a 'dream vacation' for the whole family, but I can relate to what Lehi's kids and wife must have been going through.

2 And it came to pass that the Lord commanded my father, even in a dream, that he should take his family and depart into the wilderness.
3 And it came to pass that he was obedient unto the word of the Lord, wherefore he did as the Lord commanded him.

As a child our family moved in answer to prayers, visions, and dreams of where the Lord wanted our family. With every announcement of a move there the typical reactions portrayed by Lehi's family. Denial, fear, misplaced anger, rationalization, hope, and , for most of us - most of the time, acceptance. I'll share one of the dozen or so moves I remember as a child. We were living in my dad's family home down in Southern California (his parents had passed away). We tried to sell it and move into a new housing development in a place called Mira Loma, then, a new city developing outside of the Los Angeles region. In a real estate market that is normally thriving, ours wasn't getting any offers. As a family, we prayed and fasted about it. We decided to give up our bid on a house in the development and that very day our house sold. Wow! Now where do we live. As a kid, this idea of being homeless was worrisome. So we prayed again. My mom, Sharon, had a 'dream'. This is the first one I remember her telling us kids. We lived in a home near the beach, but there were evergreens there. We all had a good laugh, anyone from LA knows that only palm trees grow on beaches. Next thing we knew, my dad was accepted for his hospital residency in Northern California along the coast of McKinleyville. First thing we did when we arrived was to scope our the beach, 'And what to my wondering eyes should appear' but evergreen trees on the beach. After searching hopelessly for 6 weeks and living out of a hotel room, we found a house available on Sharon Road.
This wasn't the first or last time we were blessed by moving on a 'wing and a prayer'. So it came as no surprise to my husband and I to feel inspired to move and to feel free to follow this inspiration. My husband and I have packed up and moved 24 times in our 18 years of marriage. So, as a wife, I feel for Sariah who went out for a quick trip to the wilderness and spent 8 years in the desert, crossed an ocean, and died in a foreign place. It may not be a dream vacation, but it is certainly a dream come true.

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