Studying

When I finished the Book of Mormon I decided to start over but take my time on it. Sometimes during Hannah's naps I will get on the computer and go to LDS.org and read my scriptures on there. As I was getting on today I saw an option called Study Helps. I figured hey why not? I clicked and there is an option called Guide to the Scriptures. In here you can click on a letter and look for a topic. I clicked on Patience and the first thing I read was this,

"Calm endurance; the ability to endure affliction, insult, or injury without complaint or retaliation."

Then it continues on with a bunch of scriptures all about patience. You can click on show references and it has other words that you can click and go to.

One of the scriptures I read while under the topic Patience was D&C 67:13

"Ye are not able to abide the presence of God now, neither the ministering of angels; wherefore, ^acontinue in patience until ye are ^bperfected."

What a huge roll patience has in our lives. I know I am not perfect when it comes to patience, but I have made an effort to continue to get better.

I am so grateful for all the resources we have to become closer to our Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ. Also to make us stronger and better in our lives. We are very lucky to have Prophet Thomas S. Monson as our Prophet to lead and guide us through this world as the Lord would have him do. He is a true Prophet and loves each of us dearly. I know the Book of Mormon is true, and we can learn so much from the scriptures if we take the time to study and learn from them. Which it is so neat that we have resources such as this one on the LDS.org website to help us with that. I love the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and I am very happy to be a member of the true church!

Faith, Hope and Charity

For my continued study of the Book of Mormon I decided to take a totally different approach than I've taken the last three months. I had been trying to read the entire book fairly quickly, about six pages a day, underlining verses that stood out, finishing it in 90 days. It was very rewarding and gave me a great perspective of the chronology and story of the book. My new approach is to take some time and ponder and cross reference just a few verses a day selected from the ones I underlined. And I'm starting in Moroni chapter 10 and working my way back to the beginning.

There's a lot of talk in the last few chapters of the Book of Mormon about faith, hope and charity. I've learned that to have faith means to truly believe that the Lord will come through for us and answer our righteous desires - whether it has to do with challenges our kids are having, problems we are having - just having complete and total confidence in Him and His promises.

Regarding hope, I've learned that if we have faith, then we can hope for better things to come, and that if we don't have that hope we are likely in despair and despair cometh because of iniquity.

And I've learned that charity is the purest, noblest kind of love there is and if we don't feel it we should pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart that we may be filled with this love.

I'm working on increasing my faith by cultivating that attitude of total trust and confidence in the Lord and increasing my charity by praying for it with all energy of heart.

Confidence in the Lord

I didn't want to start over from the beginning of the Book of Mormon right now so I just got out a CD from the middle the other day and started listening to it. I ended up in Alma listening to the story of Ammon and Lamoni. After Lamoni's conversion, Ammon told Lamoni that he had to go to the land of Middoni to rescue his brethren who were in prison. When Lamoni asked Ammon how he know his brethren were in prison, Ammon responded, "No one hath told me, save it be God." I thought about how spiritually confident Ammon was to recognize the voice of the Spirit and to act on it without questioning. In my own mind, I sometimes question or doubt when I receive an answer, trying to think of why it is not reasonable or wondering if it is just something I have created in my mind. I think that Ammon must have had much practice in both hearing the voice of the Spirit and in acting upon it in order to have developed the faith and confidence to know when he was being directed by God and to be able to separate those promptings from his own thoughts and fears and doubts.

1 Nephi 12

It amazes me as I have been starting in 1 Nephi again that even though I just read I am picking up new insights again. It is truly is remarkable how the Lord works and that the Book of Mormon everyday can teach us something new.

In 1 Nephi 12: 17 it says,

"And the ^amists of darkness are the temptations of the devil, which ^bblindeth the eyes, and hardeneth the hearts of the children of men, and leadeth them away into ^cbroad roads, that they perish and are lost"

I love this part of the vision. How it is referring to the mist of darkness being the temptations of the devil. In our lives if we aren't doing what we are suppose to we have that mist as well. We are a lot more stressed, overwhelmed, unsure on things. I know that when i am not reading my scriptures I am a lot more edgy and feel a lot more stress. I know that if I have contention in my life it is the spirit of the devil and I can't focus fully on what I need to.....I have mist covering my way a little.

Peer Pressure

A while ago I read about Abinidi and wicked king Noah. As it often is, something new stood out about that scripture account and I have been pondering about it for the past week. King Noah did not want to kill Abinidi after hearing him out, but his priests (with the exception of Alma), gave him such a hard time that he decided to go through with it anyway. Because King Noah sucomed to peer pressure and commanded that Abinidi should suffer death by fire, Abinidi told the wicked king that he would be hunted and burned too, which eventually came to pass.

I thought of my past experiences and some of the times that I have been "burned" because I ignored a bad feeling, or put myself in a bad situation, because I was afraid of hurting someones feelings or telling them no. I also think of the many times that I have been blessed because I have stuck to my standards. I am thankful for the gospel and I have a testimony that I am blessed as I make good choices.

Why Keep Studying The Book of Mormon

Listening to conference a couple weeks ago I was very impressed with a statement Elder Bednar made about The Book of Mormon. I waited until the text of the talk came out on the internet to share it with you. Part of the talk explains why the Book of Mormon is so powerful and why we need to keep reading it. He listed several ways for families to protect their children in these wicked time. The very first one he listed was to read the Book of Mormon as a family. Quoting from his talk here was his reasoning.

"The Book of Mormon is the most correct of any book on earth because it centers upon the Truth even Jesus Christ, and restores the plain and precious things that have been taken away from the true gospel. The unique combination of these two factors—a focus on the Savior and the plainness of the teachings—powerfully invites the confirming witness of the third member of the Godhead, even the Holy Ghost. Consequently, the Book of Mormon speaks to the spirit and to the heart of the reader like no other volume of scripture.

The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that abiding by the precepts found in the Book of Mormon would help us “get nearer to God” than any other book. Regular reading of and talking about the Book of Mormon invite the power to resist temptation and to produce feelings of love within our families. And discussions about the doctrines and principles in the Book of Mormon provide opportunities for parents to observe their children, to listen to them, to learn from them, and to teach them.

Youth of all ages, even infants, can and do respond to the distinctive spirit of the Book of Mormon. Children may not understand all of the words and stories, but they certainly can feel the “familiar spirit” described by Isaiah."

There were several things that impressed me about his statement - one was that even infants just listening to the Book of Mormon feel its power. The other is the apostolic promise that regular reading of and talking about the Book of Mormon (which is just what this blog does) gives us more power to fight temptation and power to produce more feelings of love in our families. And who doesn't need that!

I had been thinking about suggesting that as you complete this reading of the Book of Mormon you write in the this blog about your insights into other standard works. But after Elder Bednar's talk I would like to challenge you (at least for a while longer) to continue to use this blog to do what Elder Bednar suggests - continue to talk about the Book of Mormon. Even if your study includes the other standard works, let's keep including some study of the Book of Mormon. You may want to start reading it again, perhaps with a more specific focus on a particular doctrine. Maybe you want to study a certain topic from the topical guide. Maybe you just want to randomly open the book and read whatever chapter it falls open to. As for me, I think I discuss more in depth some of the verses I underlined.

I hope you will all accept my challenge to keep writing in this blog from time to time (my goal will be weekly) and uplift the rest of us with your insights and feelings about what you are reading in the Book of Mormon.

I will finish the Book of Mormon challenge this week. I am happy to meet my goal but a little sad to lose this part of my daily routine. I hope that everyone will take Julia's suggestion that we keep the blog going. At the end of the Book of Mormon, many of the prophets are saying their goodbyes and giving their last words of advice. I think that if I were in a position to give my last advice to my friends and family, it would be similar. I would say the following:

*Wickedness never was happiness.

*When you do good, you feel good. When you do bad, you feel bad.

*You can not overestimate the importance of the ordinances and covenants you enter into.

*The Word of God is the iron rod. Hold onto it. Don't let go.

*The family is the most important organization in the Plan of Salvation. It is essential to our salvation and it will always be under attack.

*Repent daily. Don't put it off.

*Heavenly Father is anxious to bless us. He loves us more than we will ever know.

*Look for chances to serve other people. How we treated people will be the most important factor on the judgement day.

*The Spirit of the Lord cannot dwell where there is evil or contention.

*Faith and fear cannot exist in the same person at the same time. Replace your fear with faith.

*Go to the temple.

*Follow the Prophet.

These are some of the most important things I have learned from my study of The Book of Mormon. I will be trying for the rest of my life to remember and implement these ideas.

Always Abounding in Good Works

There are certain phrases in the Book of Mormon that stand out to me and have great meaning in just a few words. Ever since I heard Elder Bednar's talk on the "tender mercies of the Lord" I feel compelled to ponder some of these phrases to get their full meaning and find out how they can help me change my life for the better. One of those phrases that appears a few time in the scriptures is "always abounding in good works." I underlined it in Ether 12:4.

As I thought about it, it occurred to me that this is a goal I need to work toward more. I felt it meant more than just doing what is right, that somehow it meant being proactive and going out of my way to help others- not just occasionally but always. But I was still having trouble really nailing down the full meaning - I knew what "always" meant, but I was a little hazy on the definition of "abounding." And I wasn't sure if I totally comprehended the extent of the meaning of "good works."

So I went to LDS.org and searched talks that mentioned that phrase. I found the following portion of a short talk by Elder Faust that gave me exactly the answers I was looking for. Here's what he said and how he defined the terms.

Abounding

Abounding—having in large numbers or great quantity

Good Works

How can your life be “always abounding in good works”? Here are a few ideas:

• Pray for opportunities to serve others, and then look for those opportunities.

• Write in your journal each day the things you did that were kind, helpful, or spiritually uplifting.

• On a Sunday, make a list of good things you think you could accomplish that week. Put the list where you can see it every day to remind yourself of your goals, and then review the list on the following Sunday to see how you did.

Good Works

“When faith springs up in the heart, good works will follow, and good works will increase that pure faith within them.”

President Brigham Young (1801–77), Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young (1997), 57.

There was my answer. To implement the scripture in my life I need to pray for opportunities to serve, write down those experiences, and make weekly goals of good things I can accomplish in the coming week. I plan to do that and would challenge you to do the same.

"And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded , for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."

Jeff and I have decided to read one verse or a few verses from the New Testament and from the Book of Mormon each day. As I was reading in the Book of Mormon and reading in 1 Nephi I came across I think a very popular scripture for a lot of people. The line that really stood out to me this time was "for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them..." The reason it stood out was because over the last couple weeks Hannah has been struggling with naps really bad, I thought I couldn't do it and that I was done. Now I know this is not a commandment but I know that Heavenly Father does not give us anything he knows we can not handle, even if sometimes we don't think we can handle it, he will help us through it and a weakness can become a strength. Every person I have talked to or book I have read has said kids need naps until 3 or 4 years of age. Now every kid is different so I almost thought she was done with naps until at night she was very grouchy and before lunch she would rub her eyes and you could just tell she was tired. So finally I broke down (almost giving up) and called my sister that has struggled a little with naps with her son. She said both of her kids went through a stage where they tried to refuse naps. She knew they were still tired and needed naps so she figured out why they were struggling and worked with them. With her son it was because he missed her and would rather be with her than sleeping. They introduced Mr. Bear to give him something to comfort him during naps. With her daughter she just needed something to relax her so she gave her books and then she would fall asleep on her own.

Today I was also reading a talk from the General Young Women Meeting by Mary N Cook ( http://www.lds.org/library/display/0,4945,2298-1-426-39,00.html )

In this talk there is a story of them taking some of their grandchildren to Timpanogos Cave National Monument. There was a 9 year old and 6 year old. She was a little worried how the 6 year old would do. Before reaching their destination the 6 year old sat down and said, "I give up! I can’t go any farther!" They sat down and came up with a plan. The plan helped the 6 year old and they accomplished the goal. In there is a line that says, "Have you ever been afraid and discouraged as you’ve faced a challenge that seemed far beyond your ability? Have you ever wanted to give up?" This immediately made me think of yesterday when i broke down and said I couldn't do nap times anymore, and that I didn't know what to do anymore. After talking to my sister and getting a little extra hope again I decided that after dinner last night I would start a fast to help with naps and getting them figured out quickly. The Lord truly does work miracles. I knew I couldn't do this all on my own anymore and needed his help. I had faith and knew if anyone could figure Hannah's naps it would be me telling myself we could do it and turning to the Lord for help. Today as I laid Hannah down for her nap I made sure she knew I loved her and when she woke up we could play. I told her that baby doll would be with her and she could cuddle with her. I left and didn't hear anything from her. 4 or 5 minutes later she started screaming. I went in didn't talk to her or make eye contact with her (so she didn't think it was time to play or talk) I laid her back down gave her baby doll and blankets and left the room. She was fine and went to sleep for 50 minutes but woke up screaming and still sounding very tired. I went in did the same thing where I laid her back down. She cried right at first but settled down and now is still sleeping and it is 2:42 (I lay her down at 1). Much better than 30 minute naps!

Sorry this has become pretty lengthly but I know without a doubt that if we ask and have faith the Lord will be there to help and guide us. He knows our hearts and he knows what we can handle and where he needs to help, but we have to ask first!