#42 Read all the Standard Works: 1 Nephi

I finished reading 1st Nephi for probably the 2 billionth time. I always start things from the beginning, so I've read and read and reread again this book! Mostly the 1st chapter! If I forget to read for a while (months? oops!) then I just start over.

It's a good thing there's a lot of really important stuff in this chapter, and that it is fairly easy to read and understand. If 2nd Nephi was first, I don't think anyone would make it through at all! (Not that there is anything wrong with 2nd Nephi, it is just a little bit more difficult. Someday I'll understand Isaiah stuff though...someday...).

Some of my favorite scriptures in this book are:

1 Nephi 3:7
We can always do anything and everything that the Lord asks of us. There WILL be a way.

1 Nephi 6:4-6
The whole purpose of the Book of Mormon is to bring us to Christ, so anything that we read is meant to do exactly that and it is all of worth to us today, even over 2000 years later.

1 Nephi 10:19
If we only ask and seek out the gospel, we can understand just as much as the ancient prophets and today's prophets. There is nothing hidden from us. This is very comforting to me as I often feel very overwhelmed with questions. It seems like when I study the gospel, I just uncover more questions, and very few answers overall. But I know that if I just keep at it, eventually I will understand everything.

1 Nephi 17:13
We are all in the wilderness of life, and the Lord will be our light in this wilderness. The funny thing about carrying a lantern in the woods is that it doesn't light up everything so we can see miles and miles away. All we need to see in order to stay on track is the few feet in front of us. The Lord does that for us, guiding us in the way we should go. We don't know what will happen a year or 10 years from now. We just need to follow him one step at a time and know that he will guide us to the right destination.

1 Nephi 18:3
The power of prayer. I need to do this more.

1 Nephi 18:16
I wish I could say this. I need to print this out and read it every day so I remember to stop complaining all the time!

1 Nephi 20:10
Reminds me of this story I heard a few years ago and have never forgotten:

In Malachi 3:3 it says:"He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver."

She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire.

If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy, when I see my image in it."

Author Unknown