I have not updated my blog in a while. Okay, almost 3 years. Many things have happened, we’ve been blessed
to have another beautiful little girl, and we are in Arizona, and we are very
happy. One other new item is that I am
going back to school. I chose to use the
pathway program through the LDS church education system, and part of my class
is to write about what I am learning, and share it on a website or a blog for others
to read. If you would like more information
feel free to contact me!
This week in my religion
class we are reading in 1st Nephi chapters 15-22. There is a lot that happens in those chapters,
and it helped me tremendously to use the institute student manual, but here is what
I took from this week’s readings. In 1st
Nephi chapter 19: 21-24 Nephi explains why he is writing and recording all of
these things of a spiritual nature. He
is writing to his people in an effort to persuade them to follow Christ, and
remember Him.
In verse 23 Nephi says after trying to persuade his people to
believe in Christ WHY he is reading them the books of Moses and Isaiah.
“For I did liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be
for our profit and learning.”
This is the meat and
potatoes of what I learned from the readings this week. I am not supposed to go through the motions
of reading and robotically recite what I read.
I am meant to read, and then think how this can help me in my life. I am to ponder on the things that I have
read, and learn from them. Whether that
be following a righteous example, or a cautionary tale about Laman and Lemuel,
and how to avoid their downfall. I think the thing that I loved most about this
is something I wasn’t expecting. Later in
chapter 20 Nephi talks about the ‘furnace of afflictions’. I loved his example of how he had suffered
many tribulations and afflictions, and yet still through all of it he expressed
his gratitude to the Lord for the things he did have. If we liken these scriptures to ourselves,
the way I see it is this:
Nephi went through some
hard stuff. I have been through some
hard stuff. I know everyone has. If I apply Nephi’s example to my life I gain
an understanding of a few things:
