Maybe...

the scriptures really are the source of answers for everything.

I know I am behind on blogging, but who isn't?  But, I wanted to record this while I am thinking about it.  In June I was struggling with trying to come up with a way to help Adrian.  There were a lot of issues I was thinking about and praying a lot for a way to help him learn to help himself.  At the same time I re-committed myself to the effort of daily personal scripture study.  About a week into my own personal study a possible solution came to my mind.  It wasn't something that I read, but just the fact that I was reading.  I realized that I was turning to the scriptures for answers...so, why wasn't I teaching Adrian the same thing?  I knew that I had to make personal scripture study a part of his own life.  I sat Adrian down and explained to him what my thoughts were and bore my testimony to him about the scriptures and then challenged him to read along with me.  At first it was a little bit of a challenge to get him to read everyday, but pretty soon he was asking if it would be okay if he read longer than the 15 minutes of "required" time.  Umm, of course!  He has been reading The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ since the middle of June.

For those of you who have not read this book of scripture it is a companion to the Bible and is a record of a family that left Jerusalem about 600 B.C. and made their way to what we now know as the American continent.  It is divided into books just like the Bible: 1st and 2nd Nephi, Jacob, Enos, Jarom, Omni, Words of Mormon, Mosiah, Alma, Helaman, 3rd and 4th Nephi, Mormon, Ether, and Moroni.  For the most part you can read these scriptures like a story, but there is woven throughout a common theme.  The people are humble followers of Jesus Christ and receive many blessings.  Then as they get richer they become more prideful and there are consequences that follow (usually involving war, but sometimes famine and other plagues).  The whole time the people are constantly being taught the gospel of Jesus Christ and the way to live a Christ-like life in order to find joy.  One prophet, Nephi, teaches "Adam fell that men might be and men are that they might have joy." (2 Ne. 2:25)  My hope has been that as Adrian reads he will find the answers that will provide him with a means of gaining true happiness in life.  I think it's working.

I have noticed a change in Adrian over the last several months.  He is happier and seems more confident in his knowledge of the gospel.  There are still some rough moments, but they seem fewer and farther in between.  Also, I think some of it really is starting to sink in.  His prayers are the most obvious difference to me.  He prays expressing true and heartfelt gratitude for the gospel, temples, prophets, scriptures, families, missionaries, etc. all on his own.  I sense in him a real desire to know for himself what is true and right.  And he is starting to ask some really cool questions.  The best one so far has to be:

"Mom, why is it that people forget the Lord, their God, when their first parents were made by Him and they saw Him?"

He asked me this question randomly in the middle of the day a few weeks ago and it led to a really good conversation about agency and faith.  (And I am so serious that he asked me the question exactly like that, it was kind of funny!)

I know that Heavenly Father loves us and that he has inspired prophets from the beginning to record scripture for such a time as this.  I really do believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly and the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.  I am so grateful that not only can I find peace and answers in those books, but that my children can as well.