And Thus It Is

I would first like to say that I am going out of town tomorrow and most likely will not have internet access for a week.  I know you will all miss this blog desperately, so I wanted to prepare you for the lack of posts. :)

1 Nephi 22:31 says "...if  ye shall be obedient to the commandments, and endure to the end, ye shall be saved at the last day.  And thus it is.  Amen."

I love that phrase--"And thus it is."  I have never really noticed it before, but it hit me today as I read it.  Today, it suddenly was significant and that is what I love about reading the scriptures.

Today, it felt like Nephi saying:  'This is the truth.'  'This is the way it is.'  It doesn't matter if the person next to you believes it's true or not.  It doesn't matter what others say and do.  It is true.

It is true that Christ was born on this earth of a divine Father and mortal mother. He lived and taught eternal truths.  He gave us commandments.  He willingly submitted to the Father and atoned for your sins and mine.  He was crucified and laid down his life that he could take it up again as a resurrected being.  These things are true and nothing can ever change that.

No words, mocking looks, or opinions.  No judgements from others thinking you are old fashion for saying so, can ever have the slightest power to erase these truths.  And, some day, everyone will know it.

I'm thankful I know it now.  I hope I can have more courage to share it.

1 Nephi 18

Have any of you ever noticed that Laman and Lemuel didn't stay home?

I mean, I wonder sometimes why they didn't.  Maybe back then it was more required to do what your father said?  I don't know.  I realized one day while reading along in 1Nephi that if I didn't know any better, I'd have guessed that at some point Laman and Lemuel would just refuse to go on.  It makes me think sometimes, am I on the journey, but I'm so busy whining that I'm not learning what I should?

It makes me think of the parable of the Ten Virgins...How they are all members of Christ's church, but some are foolish and some are wise.  Laman and Lemuel did go on the journey, as I have agreed to embark on my journey of church membership, motherhood, etc. and so I hope that I can shoulder what is asked of me as Nephi takes on all that is asked of him.  I am in awe that he and his family built a ship when they have never done anything like that before.  They do it because they trust in the Lord.  Even Laman and Lemuel get their act together and help.

"And it came to pass that they did worship the Lord, and did go forth with me; and we did work timbers of curious workmanship.  And the Lord did show me from time to time after what manner I should work the timbers of the ship.

Now I, Nephi, did not work the timbers after the manner which was learned by men, neither did I build the ship after the manner of men; but I built it after the manner which the Lord had shown unto me; wherefore, it was not after the manner of men."  1 Nephi 18:1-2  

Sometimes I look around my house and think, "What am I doing?  Are my actions in keeping with what I think is most important in life?"  Sometimes the answer is no.  I am more in keeping with what the world would say is important.  I think I need to build my ship not after the manner of men, but I need to pray and ask for help to build it how the Lord would have me do so.  That way, I'll know it will float.

Build a Ship

In 1 Nephi 17, Nephi is instruct by the Lord to build a ship.  His brothers, not surprisingly, make fun of him as he prepares to do so.  In answer to them, Nephi reminds them of the story of Moses. and then in 1 Nephi 17:51 he says:

"And now, if the Lord has such great power, and has wrought so many miracles among the children of men, how is it that he cannot instruct me, that I should build a ship?"

I find it so interesting how Nephi and other Book of Mormon prophets hold as strongly to the scriptural example of Moses and the Lord's dealings with him as I do to their example.

It is now my turn to live my life here on earth and strive for that faith with which Nephi was blessed.  If the Lord has guided Nephi to build a ship and seen his family safely to the promised land, then I tell myself as Nephi told his brothers:  How is it that he cannot instruct me to raise my family in righteous even among all the wickedness that surrounds us?  Of course he can, I just need to listen.

Grace

I was reading in the Ensign today.  I guess I should have included that in my list of sources that I really like for studying the gospel, but the truth is, some months all I read is the visiting teaching message.  I tend to read some of the New Era and Friend too as I try to steer the kids toward articles that apply to them, but really I don't read as much of the church magazines as I'd like.

There is a wonderful article in the April 2012 issue by Elder Bednar called The Atonement and the Journey of Mortality.  It talks a lot about grace.  The concept of grace can be a hard one to fully comprehend and I need to study it more, but I smiled to myself when he said that whenever he reads the word "grace," in his mind he inserts "enabling and strengthening power."  I do something very similar except I use the Bible Dictionary definition (of sorts) and I substitute "divine help or strength."  It really helps me understand what the scripture is trying to say.  Elder Bednar goes on to make an awesome point about a story of Nephi.  He points out that when Nephi is bound by his brothers he does not pray just to get out of the situation, he says:

"O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea, even give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound." 1 Nephi 7:17

Nephi was given the strength that he needed.  We can be given strength too.  I know we truly can.

1 Nephi 15:11

When I was in highschool, I made my first attempt at a scripture journal.  I had decided to study faith.  It seemed to me at the time that having more faith would assuage some of the anxiety I felt concerning pressures at school and worry for my future.  I had read that faith and doubt can't exist together, but I couldn't seem to will away my doubts that all would be well.  So, I figured, I needed more faith.  But how to get more faith?  That was the question.

I looked up scriptures on faith.  I studied Joseph Smith's Lectures on Faith.  I came to understand a little more about what faith is, but I stopped studying before I found the answer to my question because I figured I didn't have the materials I needed (like maybe a whole library of church books) nor did I have access to the people who would know something like that (maybe a General Authority, or at least a Stake President).  I knew I had grown from my studies, but in the end, I felt I had a bigger question than the one I had started with.  How does one go about studying the gospel?

Since then I have gained a strong testimony of simplicity in gospel study.  Heavenly Father really does tell us what we need to do.  Why do we try so often to complicate things?  The Holy Ghost is our best teacher, the scriptures our guide, and prayer our chance to converse one on one with our Father in Heaven.

Still, the thought often flits through my mind, "I wish I could ask the Bishop about that."  Then, I have to remind myself that I don't have to ask the Bishop, I have direct access to to Heaven through prayer.  I have learned so many things from having that conversation with myself.  I just have to give one example because I get excited every time I think about it.  Last year, I was studying the New Testament and loving it, until I got to the writings of Paul.  I seriously paused and flipped pages back and forth one morning thinking, what is he talking about?  Did I miss something?  It turns out that, yes, I had missed something.  Long ago, I had stopped using the Bible Dictionary feeling that it didn't really have anything good in there (this was probably about the same time I decided the answers must all be in books written by other people that I didn't own).  I kept reading, even though I was totally lost, and I kept a prayer in my heart that I might understand.  Soon after, I flipped to the Bible Dictionary and found an entry entitled the Pauline Epistles.  Laaaaa (imagine light beams shining on the page)...Clarity!  It turns out the writings of Paul were arranged, not in chronological order, but by length.  Just that information was incredibly helpful, but then the Bible Dictionary goes on to explain a ton of other things.  It became my guide to Paul's writings, and I learned a valuable lesson.  Our standard works contain a lot of help for us, if we simply learn to use them.

Some other invaluable sources for studying the gospel are General Conference talks and whatever book we are currently studying in Relief Society and Priesthood meeting.  Through all these things I finally learned the answer to my question about faith and many, many other answers as well.  I was reminded of all of this as I read 1 Nephi 15 because now I can see the answer to that old question in places where I never noticed it before.  Like in 1 Nephi 15:11:

"...If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you."

Do you see it in there?  The answer, tucked between two commas as if it could be left out of the sentence and it really wouldn't matter?  Obedience.  That's how you gain more faith.  By being obedient.

Peace and Joy

I used to think as I struggled to learn the gospel and keep Heavenly Father's commandments that my rewards and punishments awaited me in the time beyond this life.  That is true.  The scriptures do say that this life is the time that we need to prepare to meet God.  But I have come to see, as I read the scriptures and listen to the brothren speak at General Conference, that we can experience the peace and joy spoken of right here and now.  We can also experience pain and suffering for not choosing to follow our Father in Heaven's counsel.

The concept might seem obvious to you, but to me, a person who was labeled "worrywart" by the tender age of five, the concept that we can have peace in this life was somewhat unbelievable at first.  Now, I do see that holding in my mind the things which Heavenly Father tells us are most precious can bring me peace amidst the comings and goings of my most hectic days.  I am so grateful for this lesson from a real and loving Father.

1 Nephi 11

I love when Nephi explains Lehi's vision of the Tree of Life.  One of the reasons I love it is because it can capture the attention of children.  Many things in the scriptures are hard for kids to grasp, but most kids I teach pay close attention when I talk about the Tree of Life.  It has definitely caught Isaac's attention recently.  I think everyone who will read this blog knows that Isaac is my eight year old who has Down syndrome, and therefore has trouble sometimes following along during the Primary class I teach which includes him and five other cute kids.  But since we talked about the Tree of Life, he brings it up at most Family Home Evenings.  It is precious.

Thinking along these lines, I just want to say that yesterday all my kids paid attention during scripture reading AND contributed to the discussion!  It is especially amazing to me because we weren't studying any of the 'kid scriptures' like the Tree of Life, the stripling warriors, or Ammon defending the king's sheep.  We were studying 2 Nephi 15---an Isaiah chapter that compares Israel to a vineyard!  I was pretty much in awe and would like to accept no credit for this small miracle.  I don't think I was doing anything different than I do other days.  I honestly feel like it was a tender mercy from the Lord.  I really needed that.

I suppose I'm sharing this because I would like to bear my testimony that family scripture reading is worth all the effort even though some of the time it might not seem like it.  So many times the little ones are cuddled next to me, staring into space while Evan yawns through his turn at reading so that we can barely understand him.  Kimball is staring at the clock, nervous that I will go over time and make him late for school.  When Kimball was my only child, we studied from the Book of Mormon stories book that has all the pictures.  As he got older, we flipped through my scriptures and read 'kid scriptures' that captured his attention, but now we just read straight through and sometimes I feel bad the little ones don't get as much personalized attention.  So yesterday meant a lot to me.

We only got halfway through chapter 15 and ended with verse 20:

"Wo unto them that call evil good, and good evil..."

A very important scripture for our day.  It was great to talk to the kids, to hear Kimball and Evan's contributions to the conversation and take Josie and Isaac's comments and relate them back to the topic at hand no matter how far out there they were, and really they weren't too far off.  It was fun because Josie talked about staying on Jesus' path and not Satan's.  Isaac brought up the "Nephites" and the "Tree of Life."  Actual things from the scriptures!  I could see that EVERYONE felt like a part of a real gospel discussion.  Yes, today I am very thankful for 'kid scriptures,' like 1 Nephi 11 that bring gospel discussion within everyone's reach.

1 Nephi 9

I have always like 1 Nephi chapter nine.  I used to like it because it was short enough to get through during the five minutes I had to squish scripture study into my hectic day.  I also liked the fact that it was straight forward and easy to understand as it talks about the how Nephi wrote two sets of plates, the large plates (for secular history) and the small plates (for sacred things).  Recently, I have come to love chapter nine.  When I read it early this year, I wrote in my scripture journal:  "This chapter is wonderful!  It always seems as if I can actually feel my bucket of faith filling up when I read it."

I love verses 5 & 6 (I added the italics):

"Wherefore, the Lord hath commanded me to make these plates for a wise purpose in him, which purpose I know not.

But the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning; wherefore, he prepareth a way to accomplish all his works among the children of men; for behold, he hath all power unto the fulfilling of all his words.  And thus it is.  Amen."

Nephi has such faith.  He did not receive the instruction to make two separate plates, but then dismiss such a thing as illogical just because he could not see the logic.  He trusted Heavenly Father; he made the plates and began to write.

Nephi is shown a ton of stuff about the future as 1 Nephi progresses, and I'm sure that, by the end of it all, he understood exactly why he needed to make these two records, but when he began it was simply out of obedience.

Sometimes it is so hard to understand what the Lord would have us do.  I am at a time like that in my life right now, where choices abound, and I'm not seeing one clear path.  But at least I do know that each day I can do my best to obey His commandments and maybe as I go along everything will become clearer.

Pondering Nephi's Brothers

I was thinking how I wrote that reading the scriptures 15 or 20 pages really helped me to learn more.  It is odd that the reverse is also true.  Pondering on one chapter or verse for a few days also helps me learn more.  I have been thinking about Laman and Lemuel and how they saw an angel multiple times, yet they still couldn't muster the faith to keep the commandments.  Why?

My husband said something the other day that I think is true.  He said that Laman and Lemuel were so mad about leaving Jerusalem and all their stuff it blinded them from things.  Anger can do that to people.  It can blind us and make it so we don't see truth that is standing right in front of us.  Pride, too, is dangerous that way.  Laman and Lemuel were too proud to accept their younger brother, Nephi, as a leader.

This brings me to Sam.  He was also Nephi's older brother and yet in 1 Nephi 2:17 Nephi says that when he told Sam what the Spirit had told him, Sam "believed in my words."  We are not all prophets and it is good and necessary to have faith enough to believe in the words of those who are our leaders.

Forgiveness

One of the reasons Nephi is my hero is 1 Nephi 7:21.  The chapter seven summary states Laman and Lemuel “bind [Nephi] with cords and plan his destruction.”  He cords are loosened according to his faith, and they eventually plead with him for forgiveness.  Then, in 1 Nephi 7:21 he states (in part) “…I did frankly forgive them all that they had done...”

It humbles me. It reminds me.  It gives me hope.

1 Nephi 7

I always think it is hilarious that Laman and Lemuel don't make a peep when they are asked to go back to Jerusalem and bring back Ishmael's family so they can take the daughters of Ishmael to wife.  It's like the only time they do anything without murmuring.  The daughters of Ishmael must have been pretty. :)

They do start murmuring on the way back though, in fact, in 1 Nephi 7:6 it says they 'rebel' along with some of Ishmael's family and want to return to Jerusalem.  Nephi tries to talk to them.  Among other things, he reminds them how the Lord helped them get the plates of brass from Laban.  I like verse 12 when Nephi says:

"Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him?  Wherefore, let us be faithful to him."

It reminds me of our family scripture, chosen because I love it and, because of its length, it is easy for little ones to memorize.  Philippians 4:13 states:

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ can help us accomplish things that seem too hard.  The Spirit can help us find meaning in things that seem too tedious to bear but are part of our responsibilities (like laundry).  They can help us with things that are huge, like selling a house for the first time and things that are small like how to discipline a child that won't sit up and share the couch during family home evening without losing the spirit.

I know I received help yesterday as I listened to Elder Richard G. Scott's talk from Oct. 2011 General Conference.  It is called The Power of Scripture and in it Elder Scott says:

"The scriptures provide the strength of authority to our declarations when they are cited correctly."

It made me feel silly for worrying that I had no business discussing the scriptures in this blog as I sometimes do.  I guess I just need to be careful and seek the spirit as I always try to do in studying the scriptures.  Elder Scott also had another quote that caught my attention because it reaffirmed what I had written about last week, about the scriptures helping with comfort and confidence.  He says,

"Scriptures can calm an agitated soul, giving peace, hope, and a restoration of confidence in one’s ability to overcome the challenges of life."

Today I feel very grateful for the modern day revelation we receive through the General Conference addresses as well as the standard works.

Zoram

The past few days, I have added to my scripture study by reading chapter 5 in the Teachings of the Presidents of the Church:  George Albert Smith.  The lesson was on priesthood authority.  It has some great things in there that I plan to talk to Kimball about because he will be turning 14 next month and becoming a teacher.  I enjoyed reading it except that I kept feeling a little odd about this blog in that I have absolutely no authority to be declaring anything about the scriptures.  I just love them and want to share back and forth, with people that I respect, ideas and thoughts on what we read.  So, I just want to make plenty sure that everyone knows this blog is simply stuff that would normally stay within the pages of my scripture journal and possibly be shared during family scripture reading.  I hope I never offend or confuse you, but if I do please blow it off with the thought that I just don't know what I'm talking about. :)

I am aware that the priesthood authority discussed in that chapter refers mainly to officiating in ordinences and giving blessings and I am not doing that, but still, it makes me feel better to get that off my chest.

O.K. moving on...I want to talk about Zoram, the servant of Laban.

In 1 Nephi chapter 4, Nephi slays Laban and then, pretending to be Laban, gets Zoram to bring him the plates of brass and accompany him outside the walls of the city to where his brothers are waiting.  At which point, Zoram tries to run, but is detained by Nephi.  Later on in the Book of Mormon, the Zoramites stir up a lot of trouble and they are pretty angry about how their ancestor was was treated by Nephi.  But, reading the account of Zoram in first and second Nephi, we see that he was "a true friend" to Nephi and was blessed by Lehi because of that (2 Nephi 1:30-32).  While outside the city walls of Jerusalem, Nephi told Zoram that if he came with them into the wilderness that he would be a servant no more, but a free man.  Then in 1 Nephi 16:7 we read that "...Zoram took the eldest daughter of Ishmael to wife."  So, it looks to me like Zoram got over his initial rough handling and was loyal to Nephi throughout his life.  I think it is sad that the Zoramites later twist what happened and use it to turn people against the Nephites.

1 Nephi 3

Nephi is my hero.  His faith buoys my faith.  This is the chapter that contains the famous "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded..." scripture. (1Nephi 3:7)  I love this scripture, but it is not what I'm going to focus on today.

At the end of 1 Nephi chapter 3, Laman and Lemuel 'smite' their younger brothers with a rod because, basically, they are mad about how things had turned out at Laban's house and then an angel of the Lord appears.  He speaks to them about how Nephi has been chosen to be a ruler over them and then goes on to say, at the end of verse 29: "Behold ye shall go up to Jerusalem again, and the Lord will deliver Laban into your hands."

The chapter ends with this:

"And after the angel had spoken unto us, he departed.  And after the angel had departed, Laman and Lemuel again began to murmur, saying:  How is it possible that the Lord will deliver Laban into our hands?  Behold, he is a mighty man, and he can command fifty, yea, even he can slay fifty; then why not us?" (1Nephi 3:30-31)

This verse has always caused me to think--"Wow, I can't believe Laman and Lemuel didn't believe the angel!"  Their lack of faith astounded me as much as Nephi's great faith amazed me.  But, the last few times I have read the Book of Mormon, I have begun to see myself in Laman and Lemuel.  Not that I agree with them, or that I have stopped hoping I can be more like Nephi, but still, I see little similarities that cause me to stop and think.  Like with this scripture--I think that maybe Laman and Lemuel had a hard time seeing themselves as instruments in the Lord's hands.  If the angel had said, "I will deliver the plates of brass to you.  Wait here."  I'm sure they would have believed the angel capable of keeping his word.  But they lacked the faith that Heavenly Father could do good through them, therefore, He couldn't.

There have been times in my life that I have had great confidence that I could to perform those tasks which I have been assigned such as mothering, visiting teaching, and serving in my calling.  And there have been other times when I feel as though I can't accomplish anything, or at least not do it well.  I need to remember when those feelings come that much of the time it is not my skill set, or time management that is causing me the greatest difficulty.  It is probably that I am lacking in faith and I should trust that the Lord will help me as He has repeatedly said that He would.  It is then that I need to both pray harder and work harder believing that assistance will come as I go along.

1 Nephi 2:1

Does everyone remember the year President Hinckley challenged us to read the Book of Mormon between October General Conference and the end of the year?  That was an awesome experience.  I'd never read the Book of Mormon that fast, or even close to that fast before.  I made up a schedule for my reading, but despite my best intentions, I never could stick to it.  I'd get behind and have to pull a marathon reading of 15 or 20 pages at a time.  I loved reading the Book of Mormon in big chunks like that.  I understood it sooo much better than I ever had before.  You can follow it like a real book that way.  The characters and relationships between people and places become so much clearer.

Anyway, all of that was simply to lead up to me saying that this blog will not be a chapter by chapter kind of thing.  I set aside an hour each day for scripture study and read to where ever I can.  Might I say that most mornings I do not end up with an hour to study, I just keep the hour between 5am and 6am in my mind as 'scripture study time' because whenever I put aside 15 minutes it somehow dwindles down to 5 minutes, and I end up frustrated.  Many, many mornings my hour is cut short by one thing or another.  I don't set an alarm.  I just naturally wake up early, so sometimes I over sleep, or my sweet children rise earlier than they should (especially Isaac), and I put aside my scriptures to snuggle because I have already been able to study for at least 20 minutes or so.  I enjoy that one on one time, so it all works out.

Today, one of the scriptures that jumped out at me was 1 Nephi 2:1, the part that reads:

"Blessed art thou Lehi, because of the things which thou hast done; and because thou hast been faithful and declared unto this people the things which I commanded thee, behold, they seek to take away they life."

I noticed how Lehi did as the Lord commanded and yet the people didn't welcome him with open arms and repent, they wanted to kill him.  I imagine that if I were Lehi, I would feel like I had failed.  And probably, being me, I would feel like someone else could have done a much better job.  Yet, the Lord is happy with Lehi because he did what Heavenly Father wanted him to do.  He says that Lehi is 'blessed.'  This is why the scriptures bring me peace.  They constantly remind me that even though things aren't perfect with my life, it doesn't mean I have failed.  If I can just remember what is most important, do my best, and repent when I make mistakes, which is often, then Heavenly Father will be happy with me too.  And so, shouldn't I be happy with myself?

A Brief Explanation

Right before the table of contents in the Book of Mormon, there is a page titled A Brief Explanation about The Book of Mormon.  A seemingly boring page that I think is very helpful to our understanding of what we are reading.

I can't tell you how long it took me to comprehend (or how often I remind my kids as well as Primary kids that I teach) that the Book of Ether, which is placed near the very end of the Book of Mormon chronologically takes place first.  It is a record of a people, the Jaredites, that were brought to the Americas at the time of the Tower of Babel who war until they wipe themselves out.  It is placed near the end because the Plates of Ether were found by people in the days of King Mosiah and kept with the records until Moroni abridged them (yes, Moroni abridged the the Plates of Ether, not Mormon which is one of the cool factoids contained on that "brief explanation" page that I used to skip all the time).  The page also discusses the large and small plates of Nephi along with Mormon's role in the abridgement of the Book of Mormon.

The last record of metal plates listed as part of the Book of Mormon are the ones I always forget about being a contributing factor.  I don't know how I forget about The Brass Plates.  I love the story of Nephi and his brothers returning to Jeruselum to obtain them.  The Plates of Brass are often quoted from and commented on, giving us additional insight into biblical prophets like Isaiah.  Although I must admit, even with Jacob's comments on Isaiah it can still be very confusing.  My favorite is when prophets quote from books of scriptures that were in the Brass Plates, but are not in the Bible, like Zenos.  It is so cool to think how many writings are out there that we don't even know about.

That's about all I have to say on that often ignored page, but I have one more brief explanation to give.  In writing this blog, my main worry is that I will ramble and bore people, so I really am attempting to keep each post concise.  Please forgive me when I fail.

I also fear I will write about things that only apply to me.  I will try not to do that but the scriptures stories really can teach us things that apply very specifically to our own lives and studying my scriptures is often more about need than habit.  If I find that I'm feeling depressed, anxious, stressed, if I can't sleep, or find my temper is shorter than usual I try to remind myself to turn to the scriptures.  As you can guess, that leads me to them pretty much every day, so I started picking them up early in the morning, before anyone else in the house was awake, but sometimes I may not get to them until right before bed.  Although I usually fall asleep quickly if I do that, not because they are boring, but because they are peaceful.  They bring me peace.

Protected

So soon I have arrived at a point in this blog where I wonder if what I have to share will apply to anyone else.  I hope it will.  I know one of the amazing things about prayerfully studying the scriptures is that Heavenly Father can teach you things you need to know through the Holy Ghost using words that were written down long ago.  It's one reason you can read the same thing over and over again and come away with something different than you have ever thought of before.

I love the testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith placed in the front of The Book of Mormon.  It is so interesting to me.  But, after my most current reading of it, what stands out the most to me when I look over it now is an impression I got that has almost nothing to do with what the text is meant to convey.  A passage speaking about a charge Joseph was given concerning the gold plates makes me think of my responsibility towards my children.

"...I should be responsible for them; that if I should let them go carelessly, or through any neglect of mine, I should be cut off; but that if I would use all my endeavors to preserve them...they should be protected."

Joseph goes on to say that "every stratagem that could be invented was resorted to" for the purpose of getting the plates from him.  It is sometimes how I feel about my children.  So many things pull their attention, both good and not so good things, that sometimes it feels like a real struggle to teach them those things which are so vital for them to know.  Like learning to listen to the Holy Ghost, learning to love the scriptures, and learning to value Heavenly Father's opinion of them above all others.  I know that these are the things that can protect them as they grow up and leave home, and I hope that my imperfect attempts at family scripture reading, family prayer, and family home evening will be enough for me to say that I did not let them go carelessly, and that they therefore will be protected.

Good Stuff

When I was younger and would start to read the Book of Mormon (which I did many more times than I finished it), I would turn to 1 Nephi 1 and begin by reading about Nephi's "goodly parents."  By doing so, I was skipping lots of good stuff.  The title page, the introduction, and the testimonies of the witnesses that Heavenly Father provided for us.  These things provide clarity about what exactly the Book of Mormon is.

So, what is the Book of Mormon?  The short answer is in the subtitle:  Another Testament of Jesus Christ.  Isn't it truly marvelous that so many people gave so much to provide us with this treasure?  More words regarding our Savior...priceless.

A very clear answer to the above question is provided in the introduction:  "The Book of Mormon is a volume of holy scripture comparable to the Bible.  It is a record of God's dealings with the ancient inhabitants of the Americas and contains, as does the Bible, the fulness of the everlasting gospel."

I have had a handful of conversations about the Book of Mormon with people that are not familiar with anything concerning the book, and it occurs to me that if I had memorized those few sentences perhaps I wouldn't have felt that I was stumbling around for a concise, yet full explanation.  Perhaps it is time to remedy that.

This year, our bishop has asked us to read the Book of Mormon as a family.  As we began this endeavor, Kimball, my thirteen year old, asked me why the book began with the testimony of three witnesses and then eight more witnesses were added.  Why those numbers?  I didn't know.  I added it as an afterthought to my morning prayers that day.  The next morning as we began to read the Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith, I realized (for the first time ever) that with Joseph Smith's testimony added, it brought the total number of witnesses to twelve.  Twelve is a number that made sense...kind of like the twelve apostles.  It was an answer to my prayers, and I was grateful to be able to point it out to Kimball and explain to him that I had prayed about it.

I'm sure there are some out there thinking, "Duh, Ambra.  Kinda slow with the math, aren't you?"  Yes, and this is a good time to point out that I do not claim to be breaking any new ground with this blog.  Sometimes, many times actually, the things I learn from the scriptures are things that are not even new to me.  They are things that it seems I have to learn over and over again.  They are things I'm sure many of you already know.  I hope we can have fun exploring and re-discovering these things together.

My Testimony

I have been learning from the Book of Mormon most of my life.  I still remember the day my family finished reading the Book of Mormon together when I was young, maybe eight or nine years old.  We had worked at it for some time and it felt like quite an accomplishment.  Through that reading, I learned some of the more adventurous stories, and I became familiar with how to say the different names and places, but I didn't gain a testimony of it's truthfulness because, well, I didn't pray and ask if it was true.  I simply knew that when we read together it brought a good feeling into our home.

Moroni 10:4-5 says:

"And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.  And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things."

When I was fourteen, I read the Book of Mormon again.  I attended seminary five days a week and studied it.  I prayed and found that it is true.  This is the basis of my testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  If I ever waiver in my beliefs, I can reach out my hand and find my testimony of the Book of Mormon there, solid and strong like the iron rod in Lehi's dream.  I can delve into it's pages and take a break from the rhetoric of the world.  I can rejuvenate myself with truth.

I know it is true and, therefore, I know Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.  I know Jesus and Heavenly Father are real.  I know that they love me.  I know that the Bible is a wonderful book given to us by our Heavenly Father, and I know that if I hold fast to the truths found in the scriptures, I can live with Him again when the wonders and trials of my mortal life come to a close.  I am immensely grateful for this knowledge and so I want to share it with you.

Most days, I open my scriptures and read and learn.  Then, I write a snippet about what I learned that day in a small notebook that I keep with my scriptures.  Right now, I'm reading the Book of Mormon, and I'm planning to share those snippets on this blog.  My hope is that you will learn along with me.  I would love to read any thoughts or insights that you have.  Maybe you are a silent blog reader and that's fine too.  I'm just excited to share some of the joy and comfort I have gained through the Book of Mormon.