EVERY difficult thing hit my life within the matter of a few months.
Have you experienced one of these dog-piles of chaos and trials before?!
Health trials, emotional trials, physical trials, anxiety-inducing trials…
I was just a mess.
I knew I was in survival mode.
But I later realized that I was also in “spiritual survival mode”.
This was NOT the time of my life for lengthy scripture study sessions, devotional podcasts, and abundantly reaching out to serve others.
I was overdrawing from my personal spiritual bank account.
I was taking out a whole lot more emotional strength than I was putting in at the time.
And I think this is how it should be when these crazy moments hit.
I needed to draw on every ounce of spiritual testimony and peace that I had already found in order to keep my head above water.
A few months later, after my life calmed down a bit, I realized I needed to kick my spiritual preparation into gear again.
Captain Moroni teaches us something interesting about strengthening weak places in times of peace:
“In their weakest fortifications he did place the greater number of men; and thus he did fortify and strengthen the land which was possessed by the Nephites.” (Alma 48:9)
There wasn’t any contention going on at the time.
But Captain Moroni was spending time, energy, and resources to prepare for a future battle that he knew would happen.
You can’t really fortify during an attack.
It’s all about the preparation beforehand.
And if you are in a time of (relative) spiritual peace, then we know some sort of battle will come our way at some point.
It’s all about loading as many spiritual experiences, scriptural inspiration, and powerful prayer into our spiritual bank account so that when the chaotic parts of life come, there’s a fortress ready to handle the wear and tear.
It is essential to strengthen ourselves in times of peace.
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black
