My Reasons

Following the death of President Thomas S. Monson, I felt remarkably impressed to delve into the scriptures more. While I am not the best at scripture study, I want to be better. This I owe in part to President Monson's talk in April 2017 about the importance of the Book of Mormon. Following the airing of the special message for members of the church announcing President Nelson's leadership on BYU-TV, they aired two of President Nelson's recent talks. One of which was his talk from General Conference last April entitled: Drawing the Power of Jesus Christ into Our Lives. I was touched as I listened to his counsel about studying the life of Christ. I felt overwhelming inspiration to follow this counsel. Here is the talk if you would like to watch it:

Drawing the Power of Jesus Christ into Our Lives

So I decided that I wanted to study the life of Christ. I went to work creating a file with all of the entries from the Topical Guide of the Bible. I included a copy of the quote from President Nelson's talk along with a copy of the Living Christ with Christ's picture behind it. (I found it online, but could not find anyone to attribute it too, my apologies to the creator.) I decided that the work I put into it, should be shared. So here is the PDF file for A Study of Christ.

I went on to consider how I wanted to progress in my study. As I contemplated the printed scriptures vs. online scriptures, and then my own printed scriptures, I realized, that I wanted a fresh set of scriptures to include in my study. I want to create a highlighting system to organize my thoughts as I study Christ and the Book of Mormon this year. So I ordered new scriptures, engraved with my name. The last set of scriptures I own is from December 2001. My mother bought me new scriptures without my name on them. "You never know how quickly that can change", she had said. 2 weeks later, I met my now husband. We were married in June of 2002. So I have not had a name on my scriptures for 16 years now. I was ready for Jaidi Clayton to be engraved on a nice new set of scriptures.

I also ordered a new scripture case and marking pencils. While I have not yet figured out all of my color coding, I think I have chosen Green for my study of Christ. I am not sure where that color choice came from. I have used a lot of red and blue in scriptures in the past, and I want to do it a little different this time.

My scriptures arrive tomorrow. Today and tomorrow I am hoping to get my Study of Christ booklet printed and spiral bound. From there, I will work hard to make my way through the more than 2200 listings of scriptures. I cannot wait to study Him and the influence he had on those around him. It includes all scriptures from the Old and New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price.

As I have made these decisions, I have felt impressed to share my study with the world. While I do not count myself as one who is an eloquent speaker, writer or thinker, I do want to share the insights I discover.

I have found inspiration in this quote from President Nelson's talk:

"When you reach up for the Lord’s power in your life with the same intensity that a drowning person has when grasping and gasping for air, power from Jesus Christ will be yours. When the Savior knows you truly want to reach up to Him—when He can feel that the greatest desire of your heart is to draw His power into your life—you will be led by the Holy Ghost to know exactly what you should do."

I want to draw on that power, I want to have it in my life. So I will reach up for the Lord's power in my life, by studying His life as much as I can.

Resources I am including in my study:

PDF file of A Study of Christ
The Living Christ
Jesus The Christ by: James E. Talmage