Hey friends,
Okay, we're going to get started on the study group. I am planning to moderate and we'll do New Testament a couple of days (the Gospel Doctrine Student Study Guide) and the Book of Mormon a few days. I haven't set out an exact schedule yet, but I will.
Before we start, though, I hope you'll all take 10 minutes to either listen to or read and ponder Elder Richard G. Scott's talk from the Saturday morning session of General Conference. It is a wonderful opener to our new era of discipleship!
http://media2.ldscdn.org/assets/general-conference/october-2011-general-conference/2011-10-1010-elder-richard-g-scott-64k-eng.mp3 - Listen
http://lds.org/general-conference/watch/2011/10?lang=eng&vid=1194709735001&cid=3http://lds.org/general-conference/watch/2011/10?lang=eng&vid=1194709735001&cid=3 -- Watch
The read link is not available yet, but will be soon. After you've listened or watched, leave a comment and share something you learned or a quote you liked or a scripture you've memorized that has blessed your life.
11 comments:
I'll share a scripture that I've memorized that I think of on an almost daily basis that blesses my life.
Moses 1:39, "For behold, this is my work and my glory: to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."
This scripture is simple, I know, but it gives me perspective for any and every trial and challenge and frustrating moment. God put me here. His entire purpose, work, and glory is to ensure that I return home to Him and have eternal life. Therefore, ANY situation I face, any challenge before me is Divinely orchestrated to give me the best opportunity to return to Him. It may be for learning, it may be for refining, it may be to deepen my faith, it may be to give me an opportunity to prove my love and loyalty, but EVERY moment of my life is a gift from God with the intention of bringing me back to Him.
I cannot tell you how often this simple scripture has brought my daily challenges into focus and allowed me to see Heavenly Father's plan with more clarity. I love it.
"Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great."
D&C 64:33
I repeat this to myself every time I get discouraged (every day?) and probably not enough. What I love about it is the fact that most of the time, it can apply to everything about life:
*Learning an instrument well
*Cleaning a home
*Raising children
*Gaining an education
*Learning anything, frankly
*Gaining/keeping a testimony
Out of small things... it's the daily stuff. I admit I'm not very good at it all (who is?) but this scripture gives me so much hope. Soooooo much hope.
I typed you a long message and then it deleted it. My scripture was Helaman 5:12. I love how it tells you exactly who to rely on! I love that it give you hope so that you can gain your faith. It's just a STRONG scripture.
This talk really made me think about having our family memorize scriptures together, too. It's a habit I had fallen out of for many years, and just recently started to get back to, but by myself. Anyway, we started memorizing the 2nd half of the 13th Article of Faith this week. In a couple days, they had it! I know they won't all be this easy, so I worry about being consistent when it's hard. I do know it will be worth sticking with, though.
Julie P, I totally agree! I once memorized the Proclamation to the Family and it was so awesome. I have since forgotten it (of course...), but wondered if it would be a cool thing to do over a year with my kids.
Also, listening to the talk made me think it might be cool to have a "scripture of the week" on here that we would all work on memorizing together.
Cheryl, I LOVE that scripture and the application of it you gave. So awesome. I need to remember that when my girls are practicing piano.
Nicole (Crabtree Family is Nicole, everyone), I love that Helaman scripture. I love "direct orders" from the Lord and that scripture definitely lays it out!
Elder Scott's testimony is awesome: "This has been an experience that has increased my testimony of this divine work and strengthened in me a desire to be more familiar with its pages to distill from these scriptures turths to be used in my service to the Lord. I love this book. I testify with my soul that it is true, that it was prepared for the blessing of the House of Israel, and all of it component parts spread throughout the world. All who will study its message in humility, in fath believing in Jesus Christ, will know of its truthfulness and will find a treasure to lead them to greater happiness, peace, and attainment in this life. I testify by all that is sacred, this book is true. "
So we'll be looking for spiritual treasure and blessing in our lives.
I wrote many notes as I watched this talk again. I don't know that I have ever memorized a scripture. I can't bring one to mind. I think that I will start though, and do a FHE lesson based on this talk.
The thing I loved the most about this talk is his testimony of the scriptures. He is 100% sure and there is no doubt in his words.
Elder Scott said "The scriptures are like little packets of light that illuminate ones mind and gives place to guidence and inspiration from on high"
I love this quote, it goes hand in hand with one of my favorite scriptures from John 12:35 "..Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you; for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth."
The words from this verse and Elder Scott's talk help me to remember how important it is to read the scriptures on a daily basis. We need the "little packets of light" that the scriptures will give us so that we are not walking in darkness.
I need to work on my "filing cabinet" of memorized scriptures. I've seen my husband, who has a gift for memorizing, pull out any scripture that is pertinant to a situation at hand and I am amazed each time. I think the more scriptures we have memorized, the more we are comfortable sharing the gospel because we can recall a certain scripture to answer a question or encourage an investigator. We can also help others find peace at a moment of unrest with a comforting scripture. I loved his comments on the Old Testament. We've been studying those stories with our kids for FHE, and I forgot how much I really enjoyed them.
Ang, you're a good memorizer, aren't you? I can't imagine you not being one....
I memorized all the scripture mastery scripture in high school, a bunch on my mission, and even memorized the Family Proclamation when I had just my two girls...before the real craziness of motherhood had hit. I have since forgotten 95% of what I once had memorized, but Elder Scott's talk really got me thinking about how important it is to have some of those verses on recall. Moses 1:39 is honestly my total recall scripture - I think about it or quote it at least once a day...We all need to do a better job building up our filing cabinet, don't we?!
Monica, I LOVE that imagery of "little packets of light" and the scripture you referenced it with. Profound!
One of the scriptures that is in my brain that I refer to often is 1 Ne 1:20. When Pres. Hinckley invited us to read the BoM, I marked a few themes that I wanted to keep an eye out for. Using this scripture from Nephi, I wanted to watch for patterns of deliverance. I wanted to see if Nephi really did what he said he would do. And oh, wow. I was blown away by all he wrote about, and by how that theme was everywhere in the book. I am going through again and writing some of those synonyms for deliverance in my journal. I think that ties into Moroni's promise. When he says to ponder, he uses 'it' rather than the plural. The way I read it, he's not inviting us to ponder "these things" per se, but to ponder something very specific -- how merciful God has been. So watching for tender mercies (deliverance in all its forms) in the BoM has been and continues to be an amazing things for me.
-Michelle
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