My Talk on Scriptures

I gave a talk today. I like giving talks to prepare and learn but I don't like giving them because public speaking isn't my thing. I actually gave the talk in sign language. I have come a long ways but, of course, I still have a long ways to go.

Here's my talk: 

We know the story of about Joseph Smith and the scripture James 1:5 “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.” Joseph Smith read the scripture and it stood out to him. He thought about it and pondered it. He was confused about “which church to join” and decided to apply it and “ask”. The first vision happened. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith. He was told to join none of the churches.

Have you ever thought about how Joseph was raised? About his home life and environment? His family was familiar with the scriptures and read them. They believed in God and some of them had joined a church. After angel Moroni visited with Joseph, he talked to his dad about his visions. His dad believed him and said it was of God.

What kind of environment do we have in our homes? Do we read the scriptures? Do we study them? Are we reading together as families and having personal scripture study?

When my boys lost their hearing, we had to consider a different way of reading scriptures. We don’t “read” them as a family, we watch them. We watch the ASL scripture stories. The kids are sometimes distracted but we do it anyway. Why? 

It’s important to read the scriptures. Elder Hales said, ““When we want to speak to God, we pray. And when we want him to speak to us, we search the scriptures.” According to Elder Hales, scriptures are just as important as prayer!

A few months ago, I had an experience like this with the scriptures. I was frustrated with a situation and thought about it and thought about it. One day, while reading with my son, the story hit me in a very personal way. People will do things we don’t like or agree with but we need to recognize they don’t know all the details in our lives. It really stood out to me and I got that message clearly. I knew Heavenly Father knew I was bothered about the situation but this scripture gave me peace and “taught” me how to respond to my frustrations.

There are both  good examples and bad examples in the scriptures that we can learn from. We can be like Nephi and be willing to go and do or like his brothers and murmur and complain. After reading our scriptures, Brayden and I ask “what can I learn? How can I apply it?” We read about the 24 Lamanite daughters that were abducted. The Lamanite king and his people were angry and started a battle with the Nephites and a lot of people died. If the king had investigated and sought out the truth, there might not have been a war. We learned it’s important to search out details and not react with hasty decisions.

We have scripture journals where we read and sketch out scripture stories. It’s great because it helps the scriptures “come to life”. Brenlee, my two year old, likes to get her little scriptures and sit with us on the couch. One day, we were preparing to read and she wanted a turn. She opened her scriptures and said, “Heavenly Father love me!” She’s right. Heavenly Father does love us and he gave us scriptures to learn more about him and how to become better people.

I’m not perfect in reading my scriptures. My family isn’t perfect in reading our scriptures. We don’t read every day but we keep trying. I know the scriptures can bring us closer to Heavenly Father. The scriptures are like food for our spirits. Remember, scripture reading is equally important as praying.  Joseph Smith’s First Vision started with scriptures. A scripture stood out to him and then he applied that scripture and prayed for an answer.

I’m thankful for scriptures. I’m thankful for the people that lived years ago and their interactions with God that influence me today. I’ve shared before but when my boys lost their hearing, I was concerned about teaching them the gospel. My favorite scripture and the first one I memorize was 1Nephi 3:7. The Lord did and will provide a way for us to accomplish the things he wants us to. This branch and the ASL scripture stories are that way provided to my family and I’m thankful.  In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen

Fasting and Goals

Fasting has always been a little hard for me. I have to prepare for it (drink a lot of water beforehand) or I really struggle. I think a lot of it is attitude as well. I was talking to the two oldest about how we'd like them to start participating in fasting. Brielle said, "that's hard!" She's right, it is hard but we can and should do hard things. I've sort of had a block, like her, and said it's hard.

Today I had a different experience with fasting. Today I focused on redirecting that temporal discomfort. When I felt uncomfortable or hungry, I thought about fasting and I thought about the Lord. My fast had a purpose and I thought about it over and over again as I felt some of the physical effects of fasting.

Prayer is important. Fasting is a more sincere way (I'm willing to sacrifice) to pray. It is ironic that while you feel more physical weak, you feel more spiritually strong. I think that's the point of fasting. You put off the temporal and focus on the spiritual.

I felt more away of our spiritual needs. Our body signals to let us know when we're hungry and thirsty. What about our spirit? We need spiritual nourishment too.

Today I shared my testimony and signed it. I was thrilled to have an interpreter compliment my signing. It has improved. I'm still not where I want to be but I've improved. I thought about goals and how one of the main reasons, our purpose for coming to this earth, is to improve. We're here to become like our Savior. Those are big shoes to fill but it's important not to give up. We make goals but we don't always keep them. We have to constantly recommit and try again.

I was thinking about Bryce and his example. He lost the ability to walk. He completely lost the ability and could take no more than a step and collapse. It was painful to see. His decline was extreme and has and is taking time to recover. The thing I love about Bryce is he's a fighter. He doesn't know CAN'T. He went from a walker to a step and falling. Then two steps and falling. Then a few steps. Now, he's starting to run. He's still highly unstable but he's so much better and stronger. What if he quit? He never would have progressed to where he is today.

We need to be the same way. So, we didn't read our scriptures today. We don't need a new year to start over. We have a new day--every day. We start fresh. We can begin again. We can plead with the Lord to help us overcome some of our hardest challenges. We can apply his atonement to help us become like him. It's a process. It's a life long process. Whatever our goals, I hope we'll continue to press forward. I hope we'll embrace hard things and let them do what they're meant to do and grow us. I hope we'll set the same goal we did three years ago that we haven't quit mastered but maybe take a different approach. Maybe this time, with the Lord's help, we can get it or make small improvements.