Catching up (Genesis 1-45)

Sorry I have not updated yet. Like I said before, this is kind of a work in progress and I need a better reminder to post what I have learned on here.

I am doing well in my reading. I am still behind, but I am slowing working on catching back up.  Sometimes, though, I am enjoying what I am reading so much, that I slow down and then it makes it hard for me to read more than I'm supposed to each day.

I have had several "aha" moments, so I'm going to catch you up on what's been going on:

First of all, the creation is amazing!  I've thought this for a very long time, but it was so much fun to read about it in Genesis.  God loves us so much and wanted to give us a beautiful place to live. He wanted there to be a variety of plants and animals on the earth for us to enjoy and study.  I think about my own goals for working in medicine, and how God's greatest creation (us), fascinates me. I love watching how the body works, repairs itself, and even how things can go wrong.  That's just my interest.  Other people love animals, plants, geology, space, the ocean, and so on.  If God had not created all these things for us, where would all the fun be??  I would not enjoy my job and probably neither would you!  This world is so amazing!!!

Also, I love in Genesis 3 when we learn that Satan will have some power over us.  But, if you read verse 15 it says, "It (meaning us) shall bruise thy (Satan's) head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." I kind of imagine it like this... Satan was given a small measure of ability to hurt us, but we have the greater power to overcome him.  Basically, I imagine that if Satan can "bruise my heel", that means he can trip me.  Maybe make me stumble a bit as I am walking down the path.  I may even fall a few times if I trip too hard.  BUT... I can bruise Satan's head. Even though I may stumble, if I use my testimony, faith, and sometimes sheer determination, I can conquer Satan's temptations and either pick myself up or just not completely fall.  Essentially, we are told that we will hold the greater power!!  We need to recognize that.  We should NOT give Satan more power than he was already given.

Fast forward to Genesis 12. Here we learn about about how Abram (soon to be Abraham) will become a great nation.  The part that stood out to me he most is when we learn that "in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." (verse 3) We know that Abram was promised to have seed beyond number. And we also know that his seed were given special blessings and covenants. But, the cool part, at least to me, is that the whole world will be blessed because of his seed.  To me (and perhaps this is an interpretation according to me), that means that even if I was not a direct descendant of Abram (Abraham), I can still be blessed!!  Therefore, I can still partake of the same blessings and covenants because earlier in that verse Abram was told, " I will bless them that bless thee." How cool is that!!  I can be blessed as though I was a part of Abram's seed.  Maybe I already am.  He has a lot of descendants, but just in case, it doesn't matter.  I am still given that opportunity to be blessed when I follow God's commandments!

Quick thought from Genesis 17 verse 1. "I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect." When I first read this, on this day I was struggling with feelings of inadequacy and perhaps a little low self-esteem. Then, of course, when I read this verse I thought, "Now I have to be perfect  in order to fully walk before God!"  This is not what I think we were supposed to learn from this verse. When you look in the footnote for the word "perfect" it says "Integrity".  This made me think... In order to walk before God perfectly, that didn't quite mean that I have to BE perfect, but that I need to act with integrity. I need to remember that I am a daughter of God and I should act and FEEL as such.  When I strive to live with integrity, then I am doing my part to walk before God.

Oh, best aha moment from Genesis yet, comes from Genesis 18:14, "Is any thing too hard for the Lord?" So, without going into too much detail, there were some things going on in my life that were not going as I was hoping.  This made me stressed and I started to have negative thoughts about myself and my life.  Thinking thoughts such as, "This thing is never going to happen"... "I guess I'm just not meant to have this"... "Why does this thing never seem to work out"... "This is too hard".... then I read, "Is any thing too hard for the Lord?"  BOOM!!!  Spiritual slap in the face!!  I was not having too much faith in that moment and trusting in the promises given to me by Heavenly Father.  Now, this does not exactly mean that what I was hoping for will happen.  It still may not. But, in that moment I was doubting the ability of God to bless me in a certain way I wanted to be blessed in.  Right then I was reminded that nothing is impossible for God.  If he wants something to happen (and I might add and thinks it's a good thing to happen) then he will make it happen.  That doesn't always mean that if I have enough faith that I will always get my way.  In fact, often I don't.  That is because Heavenly Father knows best.  He knows what I need and when I need it.  He knows what I need to experience and learn. I should not think that since some thing in not happening, well then, it just must be too hard to actually make happen.  FALSE!  So trust in the Lord and "wait for good things to come (Elder Holland).

As already talked about previously, Genesis 22:18 reaffirms that "all the nations of the earth [shall] be blessed because thou (Abraham) hast obeyed my voice."  Go Abraham.  'Nuff said.

Interesting lesson learned from Esau in Genesis 27:38.  As a refresher, Esau is talking to Isaac to receive a blessing from him, but Jacob has already taken this blessing and now Esau  feels like he is left out.  Isaac has explained that he has already given away this great blessing, but the Esau says in verse 38, "Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice and wept."  This reminds me of my prayers often to Heavenly Father. Some times I see others around me and see all the blessings that they have received that I want.  And I feel like Esau-- left out.  And this, at times, makes me too cry out to my Father for just one blessing.  I know that just because some one else has received a blessing that I want, does not mean that I can't receive it too.  It's not like God has this big bag of blessing and once he has given all of them out, then there are no more for anyone else.  We can all receive the exact same blessing if that is what Heavenly Father wants for us.  I guess the thing I learned from Esau is that some times it is ok to feel a little left out.  I think that is normal and a part of the human experience.  I think that what we are to hopefully remember is that if the blessing we seek is a righteous blessing and we will use that blessing to help and serve others, that we will one day be blessed with it.  Some seem to get it faster than others.  That also does not mean that you have been forgotten about or that God loves that other person more than you.  It just means it's not the perfect timing yet for you.  This is the hardest thing I struggle with.  Having an eternal perspective.  I know God loves me.  And I know that He wants to bless me!  I just have to remember the times I thought I wanted a certain blessing right then and there, but I had to wait and how much better that was in the end.  God does really have perfect timing!!!

Last thought comes from Genesis 39:9.  Here Joseph is talking to Potiphar's wife when she is trying to seduce him.  I love this verse because it is a good reminder when I am having the internal battles of temptation.  Joseph says, "How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?"  Whoa!!!  Powerful!!! I some times remember this verse when I have a battle in my head.  It kind of goes something like this... "Oh, this thing sounds kind of fun-- you know you shouldn't do that-- but everyone else is-- but you feel bad after you do it-- no one will even care or judge me-- you'll care and judge yourself-- I think I can deal with that-- HOW CAN YOU DO THIS GREAT WICKEDNESS AND SIN AGAINST GOD?????-- Oh, you've got a point there...."  Now I don't always win this battle, but I try to use this as my trump card.  Once that gets thrown out there, how can I be bad any more?!?!  That just sucks all the fun out of being bad (haha just kidding being bad is not fun).  So whenever you (or I) feel like temptation is winning that internal battle we always play just remember this verse and you'' never want to do bad again (or at least this one bad thing)!

I know that was a lot, but I'm glad I got caught up and refreshed my memory on all that I have been learning.  You can learn a lot from the scriptures.  Go figure ;)

Getting Started!

Hello all!

I have decided that I want to read the entire LDS standard works this calendar year.  I know what you all are thinking, "Boy, that's a huge task!" Yes.. it is. Whenever I tell people this, they look at me like I'm crazy or that all I want to do is read scriptures all day.  While I love the scriptures, I don't want to read them all day.  However, I did the math (cause I'm good at that) and I calculated that I only need to read 4.3 chapters a day to read the entire Standard Works in 365 days (and this year is a leap year, so technically I have 366 days, but I'll give myself a day break maybe).

My plan is to read 5 chapters a day when I am reading the Old and New Testaments. This hopefully will give me a head start for when I get to Doctrine and Covenants and The Book of Mormon. Some of those chapters can get a little long.  Then I only have to read 4 of those chapters.  My schedule will look like this:  I will begin with the Bible, then go onto the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price.  I would like to finish the year with reading The Book of Mormon. I know it's a bit out of the typical order, but I really wanted to end with The Book of Mormon.

My hope in having this blog, is to record the thoughts, feelings, impressions, and knowledge that I gain along this journey.  I know that most of this will be for my own benefit, and not necessarily meant for others.  After all, this is my own personal journey and I am going to be learning things that are needed in my life with the things that I am going through.  I hope, though, that some things that I may say will also touch others and help them to learn too.

This is going to be a long journey and I don't know if I will post everyday, but more when I feel the prompting that I need to.  Unfortunately, I am already behind in my reading (opps!) and I hope to catch up in the next few days.  This is going to be fun to try to make this goal happen, but I think even if I don't finish by the end of the year, I will have done more than I ever have before.  And that, after all, is where success comes from. Being better than I was last year.

So come along with me!

P.S. My grammar is atrocious, so please forgive me if I make these mistakes.  I am a science person, not English.. haha