a testimony.

Today I finished reading the Book of Mormon!  Tyler and I set a goal in February to finish reading it individually before Rylee Girl came.  Tyler finished it a month ago.  I was in 3rd Nephi a week before she was born.  The plan was to finish reading it with my feet up on the couch while eating my little heart out in those last days I had off work before she was born.  

But the little miss had a different plan and came five days earlier than expected!  So I've slowly been pushing through the last bit over the past few months.  I had a goal to really read it this time around.  No skimming over the "Nephi begat so and so and he begat so and so..." and to only read when I was awake and alert.  That in itself was not working in my favor with a new baby!  

I can honestly say that in this reading, I gained more and learned more from the Book of Mormon than I ever have.  Reading it in just shy of 7 months is one of the fastest increments I've ever read it in.  The stories seemed to flow better since I didn't just read one chapter at a time or read by topics that I was studying.

I learned something about myself too.  I learned that even though I may not be able to understand deep doctrine or be able to expound on even the most basic principles, I can feel in my heart the truthfulness of what I read.  That one of my gifts of the spirit that Moroni talks about is to know the truthfulness of the gospel and to let it fill my entire body.  That after it fills my entire body and has nowhere else to go, it start pouring out in the form of tears. Even though I may not say great words over a pulpit or write an inspiring book that thousands will read, I have the power and gift to feel the spirit testify to me that the Church of Jesus Christ is true.  It is real and true and here on the earth today.  

Not only did I finish the Book of Mormon, but before I closed it, I did what Moroni exhorts us to do in Moroni 10:3-5.  After reading the words in the Book of Mormon and pondering over them, I knelt next to my favorite red chair I brought home from my classroom.  Then I asked my Heavenly Father with a sincere heart, with real intent, and faith in Christ, if it was true and to reconfirm my testimony of the Book of Mormon.  

And He did.  And because He knows me and what way the spirit impacts me the most, He sent a confirmation throughout my entire body that said that it's still true.  It will never change.  Then in the loving way that only a parent can, He added on more blessings to reconfirm that many of my past sins have been forgiven.  To not dwell on things that have been forgiven and by Him, forgotten.  To let those things help me and strengthen me.

To those who might read this, now or even future generations, I want you to know that I have a testimony.  I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has been restored to the earth today!  That a 14-year-old boy saw God the Father and Jesus Christ in a grove of trees and was led by them to restore the church to its fulness today.  That there is a living prophet, Thomas S. Monson who guides and directs us.  And I know, I KNOW that the Book of Mormon is true.  I've read it.  I've prayed about it.  And without a shred of doubt, I know it's true!

{Technically this little girl read it all the way through too... She listened to me read most of it out loud to her.  This look she's giving and those little hands are saying "There's good stuff in this book, guys.  Read it!"}