Study

As of today, Brady has been home for 1 month! :) I can't believe it.
Everything is going great, and we're still in love :) We're both getting ready for school in the Spring and Brady is still looking for a job. But we're happy.

Now, onto my post.
Study.
Studying.
Studying.
Funny word that is.

I'm not going to talk about studying as in school studying, but as in scripture, gospel, etc. study. I've always felt like i've struggled with this. I watch everyone around me "study" the scriptures and it's just like, how? How do you study? I know to pray before and after, I know to write down notes, I know to highlight things and ask questions. Cause i've done all of that before, and maybe I'm just trying to look for a better "study" instead of looking at how I'm already studying.

"It would be impossible to learn the lessons the scriptures contain by reading them only one time through or studying selected verses in a class." - Julie B. Beck

I've read the Book of Mormon multiple times, I've read D&C about 2 or 3 times, and I only read the Bible when I was in high school, and I'm scared to tackle that again, even though I really want to. I feel like I always just read the BOM instead of actually reading it. Ever since I did the Read With Me Challenge with my friend Becca, I've always felt like I can keep tackling the Book of Mormon in any way. That was a great challenge and I'll always remember it as one of the best readings of the BOM, EVER. It helped me so much when I was in such a crazy position in my life at the time. And Becca is seriously such an inspiration. Her love for this book is AMAZING. I've really never seen someone love this book, (and express it) so much in my whole life. And I'm not just saying that because I'm focusing on her, I really love how much dedication she has to this book. Her testimony strengthens me and I know that I could use that example to lift and strengthen myself. She's mastered reading the book at least a billion times but we got to talking about creating another BOM challenge, something exciting like the RWM challenge, but I couldn't really think of anything. I've got a few in mind but I feel like I'm still waiting for the correct challenge to start. I really wanna start the BOM with a goal in mind instead of just reading it.

Before Brady left he got me this HUGE Book of Mormon for my birthday :) And I absolutely love it! So I think I'm going to use that, also the Red Headed Hostess has AMAZING journals!!! I have a chapters journal, topics journal and the names of Christ journal. They're all about 13$ each and they're so wonderful. I wish I had the time and patience to make my journals look like hers though.. Anyway, I think I'm going to use this wonderfully HUGE BOM and my chapters journal, alongside this and just figure out what to study as I read along. I've come up with a few ideas that I've gathered from others and just some personal goals I have for myself:

• Read 18 pages a day, and read three times in three months.
• Read it 3 times before the end of the year.
• Read it and when you come across (insert word/topic here) write down your feelings about it or what that chapter taught you on that (word/topic).
• Label each page with a topic of the chapter.
• Learn to truly pray about what I'm reading and what I don't understand, etc.
• Journal everything in a way I will understand, with no expectations of "studying and/or learning" perfectly. I will learn how Heavenly Father intends me to learn, and I need to not set such a high expectation that I must know everything.
• Continue to attend Institute.
• Color code words and/or verses/topics
• Highlight my favorite verses, take notes and give my Book of Mormon to someone.

Basically I'm all over the place with this, but I'm really excited. Some of my future goals for the new year and myself is to study the Book of Mormon better, journal better (and blogging) and really learn to develop the habit and relationship of turning to the Gospel first priority, instead of right before bed. I just recently read a post from a sweet friend of mine, and she mentioned that she woke up every single morning at 6:00 to read her scriptures, to make sure she stayed close to God every single day, and she knew she couldn't make it through the day unless she had done so. I felt the spirit when I read those words, testify to me that it's true. If I just take even 15 minutes, 30 minutes or an hour of my day to focus on my relationship with my Heavenly Father and to learn more of the scriptures, I will be blessed. And I've known that my whole life, but I love when the Spirit testifies something you already know. It's just like, the Spirit just keeps on reminding me of positive promises and blessings I'll receive if I do so.

Anyway, this post is a lot longer than expected but I'm just really excited about my goals and I wanted to share with everyone how wonderful and happy I feel about this new goal I have to read the Book of Mormon however I end up reading it. I love reading the Book of Mormon every single time with a brand new book. So maybe I'll start reading them, and then giving them away to people, or just add them to my shelf of BOM's.

Also you should read it too :)
Wanna read it with me? That's okay too :)
Want to learn more of the BOM? Just go here :)



(P.S. This is my 500th post. Whaaa???)