This is a post about how I read the Book of Mormon and some things I am learning. I don’t think my way is better than your way, but it works for me.
For personal study, I try to read a certain amount of time each day. I focus on one topic as I make one complete reading of the Book of Mormon. I don’t mark my scriptures much, but I read with paper and pen in hand to take notes on the topic. I write on loose leaf paper, folded in my scriptures, and when I finish the Book of Mormon, I staple the note pages together and use the notes when I need them. My notes include quotes from the Book of Mormon, but more often, the notes expand beyond the words on the page and reflect what I think the Spirit is teaching me. Over the years, my topics have ranged from the gathering of Israel to qualities of the Savior, and strategies for facing family challenges to forgiving others, and more.
Currently, my focus is, “What does the Book of Mormon teach about mental health?” Holy hand cramps, Batman, there is a lot about mental health in 1 Nephi.
A few of the mental health tips I have gained this week from Nephi:
Keep a record of goodness in your life. (1 Nephi 1:1)
Acknowledge the goodness of your parents above their flaws. (1 Nephi 1:1)
Create things with your hands. (1 Nephi 1:17)
Show courage in your beliefs. (1 Nephi 1:18)
Find evidence that God delivers us and write about it. (1 Nephi 1:20)
Did he mention that murmuring is a bad idea? (everywhere)
Be community minded. It’s not all about you. (1 Nephi 1:5)
Understand you won’t always know what to do, but you can trust that the Spirit will lead you if you are obedient. Also, keep moving even if you don’t know how to proceed. (1 Nephi 4:6-7)
Understand that sometimes it’s necessary to go through really unpleasant things. The difficulty you are facing now may be essential, and may help countless others. (1 Nephi 4:13)
Identify when you have misplaced blame for your own crisis on a loved one, and identify poor logic in your thinking. Be humble, apologize, and share what you have learned. (1 Nephi 5:2-6)
Seek out your genealogy. It will fill you with the Spirit. (1 Nephi 5:14-17)
Search, make use of resources the Lord has provided to inform you and help you. Hint: they are not just the scriptures. (1 Nephi 5:21)
Create goals and value statements, identifying your righteous purposes and live by them. (1 Nephi 6:4-6)
Press forward through the mist, and hold on to your faith. (1 Nephi 8:24)
Nurture humility, practice awe in God’s greatness, and proclaim truth. (1 Nephi 10:8)
All of us have things to overcome, including mental health challenges, and God has prepared a way for each of us. (1 Nephi 10:18)
When you don’t understand something, or why something has happened, push forward in your mind the knowledge that God loves his children. (1 Nephi 11:17)
The Atonement of Christ is necessary in a journey to better mental health. Don’t forget that one fruit of the Atonement of Christ is joy. (1 Nephi 11:22-23)
Believe that angels minister to you, and prepare you for healing in Christ. (1 Nephi 11:30-31)
No one escapes mists in which the devil seeks to tempt, blind, and harden. No one escapes some degree of misery, but having an overriding perspective that good will triumph can be helpful. (1 Nephi 12:17-18)
We don’t draw up the contract of how we will be acceptable to God. Crippling perfectionism, and dependence on self mastery alone cannot save us. We must look to the words of Christ to know the terms by which he helps us and saves us. (1 Nephi 13:41)
I don’t think Nephi set out to write about mental health, and if you look up the references to what I have written, you will see that the scriptures that inspired these thoughts are not really about mental health. But that’s the beauty of the Book of Mormon. It is a means to receive revelation for what we need right now.
What have you learned from the Book of Mormon recently? It doesn’t have to be about mental health. Truly, I would love to hear from you.