It was a problem that the brother of Jared ran into, wondering how he was going to light the ships. Certainly they couldn't put in windows, they would drown, and they couldn't use fire for obvious reasons. But they couldn't just ride for who knows how long with no light. There had to be a simple solution, and the brother of Jared, being a faithful man, knew exactly where to go: He went to the Lord. Unfortunately for b.o.J. (for short), the Lord wasn't about to hand him the answer. How often have we run into this? A problem that we just can't figure out, but obviously the Lord can... but then He very kindly tells you, "Nah". That's what b.o.J. had, and rather than just giving up, and losing faith, he decides to try to figure it out himself. Well, after an undisclosed amount of time (probably a while), b.o.J. decides to try to meet God halfway. If He won't just magically solve the problem, I'll show effort to try to fix it, and ask him to magically fix what I got. So, b.o.J. hikes up a mountain, and moltens rocks. Basically, he makes some big, glass balls. They're clear and shiny, and could easily (if sprinkled with fairy dust, or something like that) light their journey. So, after this, b.o.J. goes again to his Heavenly Father, and says, "Hey! I know you said you wanted me to figure it out, but I'm still kinda struggling... But I got these rocks!" I'm sure God may have chuckled a bit, but was nonetheless appreciative of the effort b.o.J. put into it. Not only was he willing to do the work, but he showed great faith by asking the Lord to just touch the stones, knowing that that would be enough. So, the Lord rewarded b.o.J. according to his faith, and in so doing, the glass stones he had were lit up for the journey.
We'll all run into problems in life where we can't possibly see the solution to. It seems like the only way to fix it would be with magic, and unfortunately (very unfortunately), we don't have Harry Potter around to fix it all for us. Rather, we have our faith. We need to be willing to solve our own problems, because God isn't going to just sit back and zap everything into perfection. Sometimes, He'll make it easy for us, and a prayer will suffice. Other times, He'll want us to show some effort on our parts. And still other times, we're in a situation we need to be in, and will just have to grin and bear. The Lord will reward us if we show forth faith and are obedient. If at first, we don't receive an answer to our prayer, or a logical solution to our problem, don't be discouraged. Work towards the goal. Do whatever you can do to solve the problem, and have faith. Let me repeat: HAVE FAITH. Then will the Lord bless you in a (sometimes) magical way. I know this from personal experience. But, I had faith, and I did all I could, and just when it seemed like there was no hope, BOOM! Magical answer! The Lord likes to keep us on our toes, sometimes. Don't become discouraged. Simply "press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope" (2 Nephi 31:20).
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