In my last post I talked about preparing for a snowstorm that was coming. My husband wouldn’t be home with us, so we prepared for all the possible scenarios, and yes, even worst-case scenarios. We gathered the snow shovels from the shed. We collected all of the things that needed to be charged; lanterns, battery banks, etc. We made sure that there was propane for our camping stove and strategically parked cars in the driveway for less shoveling after the storm. We had prepared ourselves temporally for the storm to come.

Before my husband left, we knelt together in prayer as a family. We asked The Father for safety for us all. We asked for the power to stay on so that we could stay warm. I silently prayed for my husband to be able to come home soon and not have to stay for several nights up at work. While my husband was gone, the kids and I studied our scriptures together and read about the history of the church. We were preparing spiritually.

I pondered on all of this preparation the last few days. How am I preparing for the Second Coming of the Lord? How do I balance preparing spiritually for me and my family, and also preparing temporally for us, and live life at the same time? I realized that it would seem elusive and messy unless I make a plan.

What is needed temporally to prepare for all of the tribulation to come? I need to make a list and financially prepare for this. I have seen and experienced natural disasters that are happening on a much more frequent basis. Right now, there are fires all over California. This weekend, there will be more snow with a large chance of ice and freezing which can be accompanied by power outages. The snow from this week hasn’t been able to be plowed everywhere because of the cold temperatures and the Rural communities are hardest hit. If I am prepared, I can go and help others during their tribulations. Instead of being afraid, I can be brave and sure.

A few months ago, my husband and I both felt the need to prepare for bigger disasters to come. We bought emergency food kits, water barrels, hiking backpacks for all of the kids and other items to help us incase we need to travel and stay warm. I don’t really know if we will need all of these items, but it feels really good to listen to a prompting, obey the prompting, and know that I have done what was asked of me.  

What is needed spiritually to prepare for all of the tribulation to come? That one is much easier to me. Learn of God and Jesus Christ now. Learn His gospel. Make changes to your life. Big changes. I have done this. It sounds impossible, but when I had my experiences where I was able to know that Jesus is real, that He loves me, and that He is with me, it wasn’t very hard to change. I was energized in my attempts to change into a new being for Him. I was excited to see what else I could change and now I am a person much different that I was previously.

Learn how to pray. God is so excited to hear from you. He has always been there. He has blessed you in so many ways. He wants to bless you more. He desires to have a relationship with you. He is your Father in Heaven. He is so merciful and loving. He knows of your mistakes and misdeeds. He still loves you. That is why He created a plan with a Savior. He knew that we would need a Savior to give us the gift of repentance. Don’t think that you are too far gone to be able to use this gift. That is what Satan wants you to think. It is not true.

Read the scriptures. They might seem hard to understand, but I promise that the more effort you put into them, the easier it will become for you to understand them. Pray as you study and you will have an easier time. I have had some amazing experiences reading my scriptures recently and it is so fun to see these stories in them come alive to me.

In a previous post, called Nesting, I talk about feeling the need to clean and prepare my home. This need felt bigger than it did when I was pregnant. It was a huge undertaking. The man at the donation store smiled bigger each time I showed up with more things to donate. I put many hours into this project and included the whole family. The kids weren’t super in love with all of the work and decision making to get rid of things, but in the end, we all felt really good. I feel at peace now and that urgency to prepare my home is gone. I don’t know what this means, but I am anxiously waiting to find out.

In this post, Nesting, I also talk about the parable of the Ten Virgins. If you haven’t read that post, go read it now. It shares something very exciting to me. The Second Coming of the Lord. I know that He will come again. I don’t know when that will be, but I don’t think it is as far away as people think it will be.

In my excitement for Him to come, I forget that some really hard tribulations will precede His coming. It is essential that we prepare for this. Temporal preparation, but more importantly spiritual preparation. I do not want to come face to face with my Savior and have Him tell me that I didn’t know Him. I want that wonderful reunion to be complete with a loving embrace, tears of joy, and Him telling me, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

What could you prepare right now? Is this blog post not motivating enough? There is a talk given by the Prophet, Russell M. Nelson in April of 2019. He is the current prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and I love Him dearly. This talk is called Come, Follow Me. Jesus spoke these words to the disciples. In this talk, near the end, President Nelson urges us to: “Do the spiritual work to find out for yourselves, and please do it now. Time is running out.”

I do not think it was coincidence that President Nelson gave this talk almost a year before the Covid-19 Pandemic. That was a very difficult time spiritually and temporally for most of the world. A time that we are all so happy to forget. I think that we would be wise to keep that time in mind as there are more things to come before Christ comes again.

I know these words “Time is running out” motivate my soul. How about yours?