The Book of Mormon 2018

Despite my wonderings if I was going to get through The Book of Mormon before January with, as Mark said in our recent couple prayer, "So much in motion all under one roof," :) ...I miraculously did. I could not have timed it better than to close this beautiful book once more on Christmas morning. <3 What a beautiful way to personally celebrate Christmas!

Our prophet said, "As impossible as [reading The Book of Mormon] may seem with all you are trying to manage in your life, if you will accept this invitation with full purpose of heart, the Lord will help you find a way to achieve it." That was me. Yes, I was already reading my scriptures regularly, but to read The Book of Mormon cover to cover and still manage everything seemed beyond impossible!...yet, just as he promised, my Savior helped me find small pockets of time. I read most mornings, but I also began opening my Book of Mormon on sleepless nights. I read in airports and while traveling. I traded yard work and housework for my Book of Mormon. I turned to it when the kids were playing independently. I even started putting it in my purse whenever I went out so I could read while waiting to pick up the kids, waiting for meetings to start, or even at long stoplights. I still cannot articulate how miraculous it is that I was able to have the time to do it with an already bursting schedule!

And that is just the beginning of this experience for me! President Nelson told us to not only read, but to read looking for references of our Savior AND to turn and teach those we love by deliberately speaking more of Christ. He promised we would draw closer to Him and that we would notice changes and even miracles. Although I have read The Book of Mormon countless times, I have never taken this approach before. I was delighted to learn so much about my Savior, especially in noticing and differentiating between which verses were speaking of Heavenly Father and which verses were speaking of Jesus Christ (or who was actually speaking). I'm not sure what kind of miracles our prophet meant, and maybe, like my discoveries thanks to many of you of the all-around personal nature of this challenge, these miracles will be different for each one of us. I, personally, have been surprised to witness long hoped for miracles unfolding in my life right now. Is it directly related to my desire to follow the prophet? I think that is part of why my life is happening how it is right now, and I am so very grateful.

I had forgotten that the following paragraph was in President Nelson's talk until tonight, and it ties in so beautifully to my own experience. "This morning the announcement was made regarding the new Sunday schedule and home-centered, Church-supported curriculum. You, my dear sisters, are a key to the success of this new, balanced, and coordinated gospel-teaching effort." I believe accepting his invitation to read The Book of Mormon has given me a taste of how to direct my personal study and assist in my family's study of the new Come, Follow Me guide. Just like with this invitation to read The Book of Mormon, every individual, couple, and family will need to personally tailor the Come, Follow Me guide to their needs (and, I would add, flex around times and seasons in their lives). Each one of us will need to figure out what works for us. "My right" won't necessarily be "your right." Since I have a young family and many demands and commitments for my time also outside of my home, I am going to need to take a big bite out of my studies in the morning, but will still need to chip away at it throughout the day. I don't anticipate it will be possible for me to study as I need to all in one sitting each day. I also learned that it can be so very easy to beat myself up with guilt if I "fall behind schedule" or if I'm not approaching my study like somebody else. I am anticipating that I will need to follow the same pattern with Come, Follow Me as I learned with The Book of Mormon challenge here as well. I learned how marvelous it is to have a constant and fresh well to draw from as I seek to parent my children every day (a surprising added bonus of reading in so many chunks throughout the day). I cannot count how many times in the past 3 months I have been able to open my Book of Mormon and share verses or passages from my personal study with my children that helped them understand their own lives in that moment.

President Nelson also said this, "Please teach those whom you love what you are learning from the scriptures. Teach them how to turn to the Savior for His healing and cleansing power when they sin. And teach them how to draw upon His strengthening power every day of their lives." That is the essence of how we minister in parenting. <3 The Book of Mormon is one of the greatest tools we have available to do that for our children, and as we begin our transition to a more home-centered gospel experience, I love these words recently shared at our regional conference quoted from President Packer, "As it has been since the beginning, the adversary would divide us, break us up, and if he can, destroy us. But the Lord said, 'Lift up your hearts and rejoice, and gird up your loins, and take upon you my whole armor, that ye may be able to withstand the evil day, … taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked' (D&C 27:15, 17; emphasis added). The ministry of the prophets and apostles leads them ever and always to the home and the family. That shield of faith is not produced in a factory but at home in a cottage industry...This shield of faith is not manufactured on an assembly line, only handmade in a cottage industry." We have been given some amazing starting points to help personally shape a shield of faith for each individual child (and I would say whether those children live in our own homes or not, we can still have a great influence in individually preparing the rising generation to stand up and be who they were always meant to be as warriors of light at this critical time in earth's history---we need teachers, grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends, neighbors).

I found the books of 3 Nephi and Ether to be particularly delicious to me this time through. In this profound summary of my Book of Mormon experience, Christ speaks perfectly of His Divine mission when he told the Nephites, "And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil---And for this cause have I been lifted up; therefore, according to the power of the Father I will draw all men unto me, that they may be judged according to their works...And no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore, nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end" (3 Nephi 27:14-15, 19).

I am grateful for my Savior, and the ways that I have found Him even more deeply in my life through the tender experiences of the past few months in The Book of Mormon. I stand witness that He will draw us unto Him and Heavenly Father as we reach out to Him. He will teach us what we need to know for our own personal lives and circumstances. He will guide our footsteps day by day. We don't have to work in our own strength. We can choose to allow Him to be in us and work through us. We can bask in His love---not just His love for us collectively, but also personally. May God bless you wherever you are in accepting our prophet's invitation to read The Book of Mormon.