Come, Follow Me Insights

Magnify your Come, Follow Me study through Wilford Woodruff’s records

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Week 6: 2 Nephi 1-2

Week 5

Week 7

Week 5

Week 6: 2 Nephi 1-2

Week 7

“Free to Choose Liberty and Eternal Life, through the Great Mediator”

This Gospel makes us free. Was there ever a more free people than the Latter-day Saints are? No, there never was in any age of the world. There is not anything that will give a man joy or consolation, or any blessing temporal or spiritual, but what is within our reach as far as man in a mortal state has a right to receive. When we contemplate the gifts and blessings the Gospel of Christ has given to us, we of all men should be the most cheerful, thankful and faithful, and should honor our calling, and acknowledge the hand of our God in the mercies which we enjoy.

Letter from Olive Rose House Neeley, 14 October 1895

“It is a startling idea to think we are worshiping a God that once was in the situation that we are in ourselves,” Brigham Young stated in June of 1851. In this sermon recorded by Wilford Woodruff, President Young continued, “[He] had to pass through a probation of pain, suffering and the fall like ourselves.”¹

Jesus Christ understands what it’s like to feel pain, to feel alone, forgotten, and scared, because He has walked the path we’re on now. In spite of what He knew He would endure, Christ suffered and died for us. All because of His perfect love for us. As Nephi wrote, “And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men.”²

How blessed we are to have a Savior who came to earth and fulfilled His mission so we could return to live with Him and our families forever. “All our sufferings will exalt us in the presence of God if we endure them patiently.”³ I know that because of Him, we are never alone or forgotten. Because of Him, we can have comfort in times of trouble. Because of Him, our sufferings will be nothing compared to the joy that awaits us.

With absolutely no background in history whatsoever, no college degree to speak of, and no ancestral ties to Wilford Woodruff, Emma has enjoyed being a part of the Wilford Woodruff Papers Project and getting to read the words of a prophet of the Lord. Emma is grateful for the small part she gets to play in this effort. In her spare time, Emma enjoys gardening and spending time with her family.

Wilford Woodruff’s Related Documents & Events

Olive Rose House Neeley (letter dated October 14, 1895)

Letter from Olive Rose House Neeley, 14 October 1895

In 2 Nephi 1, Lehi takes on the prophetic mantle to warn his posterity of the consequences of sin and foresaking their inheritance. Wilford Woodruff knew the importance of prophets who lead with priesthood authority. He knew the prophet Joseph Smith personally. "We also know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, and the Bible could not have been fulfilled unless the Lord had raised up Prophets to declare the everlasting Gospel unto the children of men; he never could have brought his judg-ments upon the nations until he had raised up those Prophets who were ordained to come and warn the world. In this revelation the Lord calls upon his servants, and says, 'I, the Lord, am willing to make this known to the children of men, that I have called my servant Joseph, that the world may be left without excuse.'"

Discourse 1862-07-27

Wilford Woodruff's experience/decision to awake, and decide to more fully follow Jesus Christ and commit his life following the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Autobiography Volume 1 circa 1842-1865