Brigham Young University (BYU) is operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often mistakenly called the “Mormon Church.” As part of their undergraduate coursework, BYU students take multiple semesters of spiritually uplifting, stimulating religion classes.
In this series (see below), students enrolled in scripture study classes have shared their thoughts, insights, and reflections on the Book of Mormon. We invite you to take a look at their epiphanies and discoveries as they delve into the scriptures.
In publishing these, we fulfill their desire to speak to all of us of the relevance, power and beauty of the Book of Mormon, a second witness of Jesus Christ and complement to the Bible. The Book of Mormon includes the religious history of a group of Israelites who settled in ancient America. (The names they use are those of prophets who taught the Book of Mormon peoples to look forward to the coming of Christ—Nephi, Lehi, Alma, Helaman, and other unfamiliar names. We hope those names will become more familiar to you as you read their inspiring words and feel the relevance and divinity of their messages.)
Let us know if you’d like to receive your own digital copy of the Book of Mormon, and/or if these messages encourage and assist you spiritually as well.
About Mormons: What It’s Like
This week for my Book of Mormon class I was reading in the book of Helaman (a prophet who lived in ancient America), and I came across this beautiful verse. It’s found in Helaman 10:4 and reads, “Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments.” Being a Mormon is a lot like this verse.
First and foremost, as a Mormon I know that Heavenly Father knows my name. Just as He addressed Nephi by his first name, I know he could do the same to me, Katie. This imbues my life with a sense of incomprehensible love. I have a Heavenly Father who knows not only my name but every thought, emotion, triumph or pain I feel each day. Secondly, being a Mormon is like that word in the middle of the verse, “unwearyingness.” We are encouraged to study our scriptures, pray, attend the temple, serve, love our families, participate in missionary work and help our communities. At times that can feel overwhelming and it would be easy to just stop and begin to coast. However, this word, this idea of unwearyingness is who we are. Day in and day out we are striving to act increasingly like our ultimate example, our Savior Jesus Christ.
I was so inspired by this idea that I put a piece of paper over my mirror with that single word—unwearyingness—written on it. I have worked hard to be consistent in the way I study the scriptures, pray and serve. But more importantly I have tried to be consistently joyful about those things, because I want to show my love to Heavenly Father. In return, I have felt His Spirit with me more consistently. I have received personal revelation on how to better help those whom I visit teach in specific ways. I have received help from the Lord in knowing how to progress in a relationship. I have received courage from the Lord in speaking honestly with my parents about my life at school. I know that each of these blessings came, because I was willing to follow the example of Nephi and perform my duties without a hint of weariness.
If these reflections helped you or you have any questions, I would love to hear from you.
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