Come Unto Christ

Our Relief Society has given us a "Come Unto Christ" challenge to read the Book of Mormon by the end of September. They gave us these little "kits," with the time-line schedule, 3 colored pencils and the instructions to color when Christ is speaking, adjectives that describe Christ, and all the different names that Christ has. I've sadly never dived into one of these challenges before and finished..but I am dedicated this time. It came at such a perfect time and I have loved it so far. Having to do the highlighting definitely makes you re-read each verse so many times to make sure you caught it all, and I am understanding and learning so much more. Our Bishop talked about how this won't just bless us personally, but how it will bless those around us. I have been so on edge and cranky lately and it was affecting my patience with Chris and our kids and I couldn't seem to get out of the rut. I wasn't doing anything wrong in my life, but I wasn't pouring my heart into the things that we should be doing each day. There's a difference when we pray and read our scriptures just to say we did, or when we pour our heart into them because we want to be close to our Savior and we crave that strength and spirit that comes into our lives. This challenge takes a lot of time because it's anywhere from 3-5 chapters a day...but the sacrifice to wake up earlier or stay up later to read has already blessed me so much the past couple weeks. My patience level has increased and I'm just all around more happy. One of the biggest things I noticed after having Mason, was that with 2 kids taking all my attention - my relationship with Chris was suffering. Mostly my fault - but as we've focused more on praying together, individually, and as a family morning and night and reading scriptures and the Ensign together...we've been blessed with more time together that we somehow hadn't been able to find before. Marriage is all about selflessness and serving each other. It's about each partner putting Christ first and then everything else just falls into place. We just can't be the parents and spouses we need to be on our own...we need His help. Satan is too powerful and wants to destroy families. It makes us so sad the more we see loved ones losing their marriages. In every case, they had stopped going to church, stopped praying, reading scriptures..etc. You just can't afford to stop those things. I have a testimony of these "small" things that we HAVE to do each day..because they aren't small things. They are the big things that keep us strong and keep the spirit in our lives each day. I'm not strong enough to to be a mother and wife on my own. I need my Savior in my life.... in my home and in my marriage. I am so grateful for this challenge and the for the way it has helped me "Come Unto Christ" more in my life. I love Him and have felt Him closer these past couple weeks, and am so grateful for the Book of Mormon for helping me strengthen my relationship with Him. I have been blessed, my marriage and home have been blessed. I am so grateful for my Savior and that through Him I can repent each day for my many weaknesses and try a little harder each day to be more like Him.