Would you get in the boat?

"And it came to pass that the Lord
God caused that there should be a
furious wind blow upon the face of
the waters, towards the promised
land; and thus they were tossed
upon the waves of the sea before the
wind."

Is part of our problem for finding happiness and peace that we forget we have to experience failure and sorrow?

 I am learning more and more that I am a perfectionist. I do not pride myself on this, for it has proven to be quite burdensome. I know it is impossible to achieve perfection in this world, yet I allow myself to become hurt and even annoyed when a part of life does not work out. My parents would quickly admit that this was not how I was growing up. I'm sure they worried that I would never take anything seriously or that I would permanently adopt the phrase, "Oh well. It will all work out somehow." For example, I recently went through a few of my baby boxes while home for the holidays. As I was rummaging through the many papers and mediocre artwork, I came across my report cards. I was surprised to see the similar remarks my teachers shared. Apparently, I did a lot of day dreaming. I found it a challenge to focus long enough to complete an assignment. I don't remember having this problem, but then again that does make sense since I obviously never listened. When I got my first cell phone, I never had it with me. I lost it multiple times and at one point, I could not access my voicemail because I forgot the password. I used to not care how much money I had (or did not have) in my bank account. I became quite the procrastinator with school work and other responsibilities. Fast forward to today and I would die of a heart attack living in so much chaos. But at some point in my life, I changed. You could say I matured. Almost to a fault. As a perfectionist, I take everything so seriously, and I plan for every possible outcome of an event. This type of meticulous planning causes me to feel entitled to the result I want. Because I worked so tirelessly to put into place a course of action, I often assume there is no other choice but for it to work out.
 I know I have said it before, but living in Utah has caused a lot of pain, sorrow, and confusion in my life. NONE of my plans worked out. I was forced to improvise to the point of exhaustion. I was not comfortable living in utter darkness. For the first time ever, I lost faith in God and in my testimony. I questioned everything I ever believed. I found myself experiencing empathy for Joseph Smith when he uttered those heartbreaking words, "Oh God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place?"
I choose to believe that although this was a challenging time for me, the Lord prepared me when he called me to be a seminary teacher. This call was a shock to my system, but nevertheless, I accepted the assignment, and for three months, I studied, prayed, planned lessons, and became familiar with the stories in the Book of Mormon. During the dark days in Utah, I remembered reading the story of the Brother of Jared. In short, he lived in a wicked world and prayed to the Lord to be saved along with his family. He was told to leave his land into the wilderness and eventually was inspired to build vessels to travel across the ocean to their promised land. There are so many lessons to be learned from the Brother of Jared, but the lesson about the ships on the water is most memorable for me. The Lord promises the people that if they follow his exact directions on how to build the barges, and to prepare carefully for food and drink, they would be able to travel across the ocean and arrive safely in the promised land. But there was a problem with the architecture of the boats; there was no sail or rowing capabilities. The Lord instructed them to build the vessels "tight like unto a dish", unable to see what was happening on the outside. So how did they navigate through the waters?
"And it came to pass that the Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters, towards the promised land; and thus they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind."
Other than stones that were given light by the literal hand of God, the Brother of Jared and his people were unable to witness what was going on, therefore, unable to do anything themselves to try and control the situation. The story continues, "And it came to pass that they were many times buried in the depths of the sea, because of the mountain waves which broke upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind." Can you imagine being in this situation!? Not many of us can survive in small, dark, confined spaces, let alone while traveling through monstrous storms on the open seas. The lesson to be had here is that when we follow the Lord's direction, the only thing we can do is have faith. Unfortunately,  a side effect of choosing to live in faith is the feeling of living in darkness. Not total darkness, however. Just enough light to see where our next step will lead, but not enough light to see the entire path.
What I love about this particular story is that the only way their ships could "sail" was from the wind of the tempests. I don't believe the Lord is magic; he cannot do something without reason. I also believe the Lord uses what we know. In other words, He could not direct the ships on the water without there being a way for them to do so. He made the terrible tempests occur in order for the ships to sail across the waters.
How is this relateable to our lives?
Life cannot be simple. If it were simple, we would have no need for the gospel or Christ and His Atonement. And without the need of either of these things, we would not be able to live with Heavely Father. We could not reach our fullest potential. So remember the next time you are feeling as though you are being tossed and turned on the waves of the ocean that it is Heavenly Father who is guiding you. Remember if you feel a lack of direction, that you are headed to the promised land.

If you knew this would be the outcome of your voyage, would you still get in the boat?