By Way of Introduction...

                I’ve already written a couple of entries to this blog, but I didn’t want to publish it to my friends until I’d written an introductory explanation of what I’m doing.  I’m not going to take it personally if no one reads this blog, because I’m writing it primarily for me.  If someone else reads it and somehow benefits—that’s even better.  J  But it originally came to be as a tool for me in my personal scripture study.

                Over the summer, I was pondering what I can do to improve my study habits.  On my mission there was always more to study than there was time to study it in, and now it’s sometimes hard to decide how to fill my daily goal of 30 minutes with something really meaningful.  I noticed that usually I would just read something I’d read countless times before in the same way I’d always read it, and learn nothing besides the same things I always learned.  I knew from experience that there was a better way, and that my study could come to mean so much more to me than that.  I decided it was time to start putting more effort into my study, and direct that time more purposefully and intentionally.

                I admire my dad for his study habits.  He always seems to be learning something new and real from the scriptures.  I noticed that he had compiled several study projects.  Most recently, for example, he published a declaration of his beliefs about Jesus Christ for all of his friends to see.  He searched out scriptures that defined the attributes of the Christ that he believed in, and wrote segments about each of these attributes.  When he was done with this project, he had a beautiful, printed, finished product to show for it—something he could keep, share, and refer to forever after.  What a valuable resource he had created!

                Pondering this study technique, I approached Dad one day and asked him about his scripture study projects.  He showed me some I’d seen before and a bunch I didn’t even know about.  He had created his own detailed harmony of the gospels’ descriptions of the last week of Christ’s life.  He had written about various specific topical studies, examining all of the resources available to him to learn about these things in depth.

                I was inspired.  I began to talk to Dad about how I could try this study method and how it could be beneficial to me.  I loved the idea of working hard with an end in mind, and creating a study tool that I would want to keep and refer back to throughout my life.  I brainstormed a few projects and got to work.

                The first project I undertook was a chart of the people, places, and events of the Book of Mormon.  I realized I had read it dozens of times but still didn’t have the big picture in my head of how all the stories fit together.  This project is still in progress.  I’m very excited about how it’s going so far—it challenges me and has already helped me to better understand the book that I love so much.

                This could then be called the second of my study projects.  About a year ago I felt prompted to start a list of the scriptures that had really come to mean something to me.  I titled the list “Soul Treasures”, because these scriptures had at different points in my life spoken to my soul, playing a part in my personal development and often providing beautiful answers to my prayers.  Some of these stories are in my journal, but I liked the idea of writing about each of them specifically, and describing what I’ve learned from these sacred experiences.  I hope that if you decide to take the time to read them, you can understand a little better why I am what I am, and how much my faith really means to me.  Thanks for checking it out!

Ether 12:27

Ether 12:27 has been one of my favorite scriptures for as long as I can remember.  I always thought it was such a comforting message that it’s okay that we’re weak and we have imperfections, because Christ has the power to strengthen us and help us to become strong individuals.  I loved the promise that my weaknesses could actually become my strengths.

It wasn’t until my mission, however, that I came to understand that there was much more to the scripture than that.  As a new missionary, I became more acutely aware of my weaknesses than I’d ever been before.  At first it was little things, like my inability to live the schedule perfectly or my fear of contacting people on the streets.  But as time went on and I progressed as a missionary, I noticed that I was having more and more painful realizations of what my weaknesses were.  Some of these faults were things I had never noticed, that seemed to me to be serious defects in my personality and personal progress.  I was surprised—I was on a mission.  I felt closer to God than I’d ever been.  Why at this time was I feeling less than positive about the quality of person I was?

Then I re-read this favorite scripture, and suddenly saw a whole new level of meaning.

“If men come unto me, I will show unto them their weakness.”

I’d read that line a hundred times, and even pondered the Lord’s ability to show us our weaknesses.  But it wasn’t until I came to Christ more fully than I ever had—dedicating all of my time, effort, and heart to Him for a year and a half—that I gained personal experience of what it meant.  Of course I was seeing weaknesses I’d never seen before.  I had never been so close to the Savior!

This realization brought me great comfort.  I wasn’t a worse person than I’d been in the past.  The fact that I was noticing these defects in myself was a good thing.  And an exciting thing.  It meant not that I was doing something wrong, but that I was doing something right.  Christ was showing me my weaknesses so that He could make them become my strengths.  I tried to humble myself and work on these things, and God was as good as His word.  He did help me turn those defects into strengths.

Since that realization, it hasn’t been nearly as discouraging when I’ve noticed something weak in myself.  Really, it’s a very good sign—it means I’m coming to Christ!  And it means that I’m on the verge of a breakthrough if I allow Christ to change me and help me to become strong in Him.