the time is at hand.

This morning I was struck by what I read in the first chapter of 3rd Nephi.

Basically, a prophet named Samuel had prophesied that in 5 years there would be signs on the American continent of Christ's birth in Bethlehem.

There was a small group of believers holding out hope for those signs. Meanwhile the scumbags of the city were planning a day that they would kill all the believers if there hadn't been any signs.

Nephi, the prophet at the time, gets wind of their plans and is devastated by the wickedness of these people. So he does the only thing he can - he prays for help from God. He bows himself down on the ground and prays the entire day.

Keep in mind that prophets had been prophesying for thousands of years about Christ's coming. Then this answer finally comes:

"Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfill all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets." (v13)

Be of good cheer. The time is at hand. Fulfill all.

That night there is no darkness and among other signs, a new star appears. Everything that had ever been prophesied about Christ's birth was fulfilled: "And it had come to pass, yea, all things, every whit, according to the words of the prophets." (v20)

I think a lot of us are hoping for the fulfillment of promised blessings in our own lives.

We can trust God to fulfill "every whit" of those blessings because he has done it without fail in the scriptures. Sometimes the timetable is lifetimes . . . but I know that God fulfills his promises.

You might be noticing a reoccurring theme in these posts. Whatever.