Please hear me out on this issue. My name is Annie. I do not know the names of those I speak for, I only know that they woke me up this morning, and I need to speak for them.
Recently, I have fallen in love with everything in Alma chapter 60. Please liken the words unto your own life, and let the spirit soften your heart as you read these verses.
5 But behold, great has been the slaughter among our people; yea, thousands have fallen by the sword, while it might have otherwise been if ye had rendered unto our armies sufficient strength and succor for them. Yea, great has been your neglect towards us.
6 And now behold, we desire to know the cause of this exceedingly great neglect; yea, we desire to know the cause of your thoughtless state.
7 Can you think to sit upon your thrones in a state of thoughtless stupor, while your enemies are spreading the work of death around you? Yea, while they are murdering thousands of your brethren
8 Yea, even they who have looked up to you for protection, yea, have placed you in a situation that ye might have succored them, yea, ye might have sent armies unto them, to have strengthened them, and have saved thousands of them from falling by the sword.
9 But behold, this is not all—ye have withheld your provisions from them, insomuch that many have fought and bled out their lives because of their great desires which they had for the welfare of this people; yea, and this they have done when they were about to perish with hunger, because of your exceedingly great neglect towards them.
10 And now, my beloved brethren—for ye ought to be beloved; yea, and ye ought to have stirred yourselves more diligently for the welfare and the freedom of this people; but behold, ye have neglected them insomuch that the blood of thousands shall come upon your heads for vengeance; yea, for known unto God were all their cries, and all their sufferings
11 Behold, could ye suppose that ye could sit upon your thrones, and because of the exceeding goodness of God ye could do nothing and he would deliver you? Behold, if ye have supposed this ye have supposed in vain.
12 Do ye suppose that, because so many of your brethren have been killed it is because of their wickedness? I say unto you, if ye have supposed this ye have supposed in vain; for I say unto you, there are many who have fallen by the sword; and behold it is to your condemnation;
13 For the Lord suffereth the righteous to be slain that his justice and judgment may come upon the wicked; therefore ye need not suppose that the righteous are lost because they are slain; but behold, they do enter into the rest of the Lord their God.
14 And now behold, I say unto you, I fear exceedingly that the judgments of God will come upon this people, because of their exceeding slothfulness, yea, even the slothfulness of our government, and their exceedingly great neglect towards their brethren, yea, towards those who have been slain.
We have been given the land, the riches, and the comfort we have so that we may assist those in need. We simply are and always have been stewards of God’s wealth. Though we need to be careful about offering this wealth to those who have already before taken advantage and are slothful with our gift, we have no reason to deny those who clearly need love and comfort- especially our brothers and sisters.
3 Nephi 12- 43 And behold it is written also, that thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy;
44 But behold I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who despitefully use you and persecute you;
45 That ye may be the children of your Father who is in heaven; for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good.
I would add that these are in fact not our enemies, but our neighbors! What would the Savior do, and what would he have us do? Did he not love everyone, even those who were not of the same place as him? Was he not a refugee himself? How would we all feel if one of those refugees that we rejected was the Savior himself?
I truly believe that we cannot become poor by giving to others, because the more we give, the more we are given. Heavenly Father will always multiply the blessings of those who are wise stewards of their wealth. If we would only trust in the Lord and his commandments and obey his call to love others as ourselves, we would be more and more like the people of Enoch, and more like our Savior.
I promise that if we do his will with full confidence of heart in his abilities, we will be protected from those who would and are conspiring against us. We need not fear, nor do we need to withhold the good given right of mercy from those who seemingly have none, especially not from our brothers and sisters.
1 Nephi 3:7- And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.
The Lord will provide a way, we only need ask him.
Love is truly the only way to overcome the wiles of Satan’s lies; love and trust for our Father in Heaven, and love for all of our dear brothers and sisters. It doesn’t matter where we come from, how we’ve lived, the language we speak, or the amount of wealth we have been made stewards over. God does not look upon man and see our differences in rank as a means to judge his love for us. Our Savior’s atonement was not conditional on our geographical position, and nor should our love and generosity be so. True love is and always will be unearned, undeserved, and unconditional. Though we are not fully capable of such intangible and pure affection, our bothers and sisters do indeed deserve all of the love that we can muster.
Remember, God is on our side, and so are these refugees. They are fighting the same fight we face each day of our lives. The only enemy we have is our own human vices, and the workers of Satan. If this is the case, then when we deny human kindness and mercy, who are we really fighting against? Surely if we banded together, exercising love with all of the strength of heart, no force on earth could harm our mutual cause, nor would our Father abandon us. Love is his answer, and it should be ours as well.
All my love,
Annie
There is Sunshine 