Scripture Power

I don't know if this is really blog worthy or not, but it's a big deal for us, so i'm giving it it's own post.

We have been chipping away at our goal of reading the book of Mormon as a family for over a year. 

We got this awesome "Book of Mormon for Latter Day Saint Families" for Christmas in 2016.
We started reading it in January 2017. But we made SLOW progress. We started over more than once and still made SLOW progress. 

Well we really buckled down in 2018. We were reading more nights than not and the kids were helping by reading too. Now that half our kids can read, they like to help.

But then at the end of September of this year, at our Stake conference, our Stake president challenged us to read the book of Mormon by the end of the year. A few weeks later, the prophet, President Nelson, gave the sisters in the church the same challenge. It felt inspired and after listening to General conference, I felt inspired. So we re-doubled our efforts and we really started to make progress reading the Book of Mormon as a family. 

It was amazing to hear the kids retell the stories in their own words, to have them remember details and ask questions. It was incredible to watch as our kids digested the scriptures and figured out real life applications. Our kids are young but it was happening. 

When the Stake President issued the challenge, he also promised blessings and I am telling you- those blessings were evident in our home. We were all thinking about the scriptures and the gospel more often. We were better at saying our prayers and I just know the spirit was there in greater abundance.

And guess what? We finished the Book of Mormon before January 1st, just like we were asked. We finished it tonight- December 31st. But we finished it, nonetheless. 

It was incredibly rewarding as a latter-day saint parent to be able to finish a challenge like this. 

Sadly, this was our first time to make it all the way through the book of Mormon. It wasn't easy. We really had to try and make a conscious effort to make it a priority. Sometimes we would listen on the way to school or on a long drive. Sometimes we let the kids read and it took three times as long. Sometimes we only read a few verses, but we diligently pushed and we were able to complete the challenge and finish the book of Mormon as a family for the very first time. I'm proud of us.
I'm excited to start it again with the kids and I am grateful for the blessings we have felt while working on this challenge. I'm just so very grateful for the gospel and all the blessings that come from living a gospel centered life. 

Now we are ready to start the new year off right!!