Divorce and the Brother of Jared

I love the story of the Brother of Jared and the sixteen stones!

Imagine being faced with the unimaginable project of building barges ("tight, like unto a dish") to transport your family and friends across the ocean. The Lord had a particular plan for how He wanted these ships built and set forth a very specific pattern for the Brother of Jared to follow.

Upon completion of the ships, though, the Brother of Jared realized there was a problem: no light to illuminate these dark vessels as they sailed upon the deep waters. The Lord didn't spell out how this dilemma was to be managed, so the Brother of Jared had to devise his own plan.

He took the problem and his solution to the Lord, and--once the plan was approved---the Brother of Jared acted on his light-deprived-boat issue. He fashioned sixteen stones which he asked the Lord to touch with his finger.

What a neat idea! And how wonderful that the Lord thought so, too.

Now that you are facing the challenges of divorce, you will find that sometimes the Lord is very specific on how he wants you to move forward (i.e., be temple worthy, attend your church meetings, read the scriptures each day, pray...), but sometimes He wants us to figure out our own solutions, bring them to Him for His approval, and then wait as He works special miracles in our lives.

Earth-life isn't all about waiting for the Lord to solve our problems, most of the times He wants us to figure things out and then ask Him if our ideas will fly.

So don't be disheartened that the path isn't always clear. When you think about it, when we exercise creative problem solving, we're probably most like our Father in Heaven!

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