Cindy: 0:05

Hello friends. And welcome back to Primarily Scripture. I'm your host, Cindy Young. And today I've got my friend Paisley here with me. Paisley is almost 15. She's in high school. She loves to dance and I'm super excited to have her here. Tell me about scripture study for you. What do the scriptures mean to you?

Paisley: 0:22

Um, recently I've learned to cherish the scriptures a little bit more. Seminary has definitely helped me to appreciate them more, and I've been getting a lot better about daily scripture study, and it's been a big blessing.

Cindy: 0:36

Awesome. That's so cool. So here on Primarily Scripture, we follow the Come Follow Me curriculum, and I make free worksheets every week. You can go on to the website, PrimarilyScripture.com, and find these for free, no strings attached. This week we are in Doctrine and Covenants Section 2, and also Joseph Smith History, the part where it talks about Moroni coming and visiting him, and I love these verses. But the point of Primarily Scripture isn't for me to just read everything to you and tell you what I found. The point is to help you know how to study yourself. So Paisley and I will do some studying today and you can take these tips and go do your own study. Paisley, what do you want to look at today? Was there something that stood out?

Paisley: 1:20

Definitely, I think we should do the star: "what lesson can I learn from this phrase?"

Cindy: 1:27

Oh, awesome. Okay, the second page of the worksheet packet has spots to make notes in the margins around the verses. This is one way that I love to study my scriptures. As I read, I write in my margins. So, she's looking at Joseph Smith History, chapter one, verse 52. And there's a little part of it that's underlined that goes over to a prompt bubble on the side that says, what lesson can I learn? Paisley, will you read verse 52 real quick so that our listeners can know what we're talking about?

Paisley: 1:56

Yes."Having removed the earth, I obtained a lever, which I got fixed under the edge of the stone, and with a little exertion raised it up. I looked in, and there indeed did I behold the plates, the Urim and Thummim, and the breastplate, as stated by the messenger."

Cindy: 2:15

Awesome. So this is Joseph Smith. He's been visited by Moroni. Moroni has shown him where to go to get the plates. And he went and he looked and yes, it is there. That's the story. And sometimes we think there's not much I can learn from this, it's just telling the story. He went. There was dirt up on the rocks and he kind of moved it out of the way and opened it and looked in. So how do we take a story like that and now turn it into teaching us something? Any ideas?

Paisley: 2:43

What I like to do sometimes is I find things about the story, like, I like to find details, like how he, you know, he had to find the lever, he had to put it under the stone, he had to use exertion to raise it up, and I think the way that that can be applied to us is that even though he was doing what the Lord asked, he still had to put in his part to get the plates, and finding little things like that can help us relate to it.

Cindy: 3:10

Yes, definitely, looking at the details and thinking about the lesson that you learn. Okay, so I'm going to grab something and write a note there. When we write in the margins of our scriptures, there's not usually a lot of room. What few words could we write that would convey the lesson that this teaches?

Paisley: 3:27

Maybe just "put in the work."

Cindy: 3:30

I love that. That's a great one. Put in the work.

Paisley: 3:33

I think that if there's something that I might not want to do or seems like a burden, putting in the work and, um, making an effort to do it with a smile can be a big help.

Cindy: 3:45

Yeah, definitely. Some days we just don't want to get on our knees and say our prayers. Some days we just don't want to open up our scriptures or do our chores or do our homework or whatever else, right? You might have a calling in your class at church, anything like that. I love, love, love, love, if you look on page 3 of the worksheet packet, it looks like this for our viewers. There are different places to journal about different things. And at the top it says, messages for me. This is a spot where I love to look for specific messages for me and my life, today. So, like, is there anything going on in your life right now that the message the Lord might want you to learn is to put in the work? Does that apply to your life at all?

Paisley: 4:30

For me personally could be sometimes I don't like having to stretch for dance because I just want to watch TV or I just want to take a nap. But putting in that work to get more flexible, it helps me do those harder dance moves and tricks that will help me get bigger parts.

Cindy: 4:47

So the messages for you that you find in the scriptures aren't always'you need to go say your prayers,' right? It's not always a spiritual message. It can be something that feels a little more temporal. Go ahead and put in that work. It's going to be worth it. I love that.

Paisley: 5:03

Because God knows our circumstances even if it's not just spiritual. He knows what we do here on earth with our bodies, not just our spirits.

Cindy: 5:12

Right. Definitely. I love that. Okay. So for Paisley, under messages for me, she might put down, put in the work for dance. It'll be worth it. Something like that. There have been times when I have found messages like this and found a little phrase, like put in the work, and I write it in the side and then I close my scriptures and put it away. And then at another time, sometimes years later, I'm going through a trial. I'm struggling with something, and I'm like, what can I do? And I pick up my scriptures, and I open up, and guess what? Right there in the margin, there's a phrase like, put in the work, and the spirit touches my heart and says, that's what you need. Right there. And it's like, oh, there's an answer in the scriptures, but it's my own handwriting. It's the lesson that I learned. But I learned it back then so that I could apply it now. Does that make sense? So making those notes and highlighting your scriptures isn't just about today. It's about blessing, the rest of your life. So I would definitely encourage you to mark and write those notes and my favorite is in paper scriptures because then I can just flip open and find those little messages at random times. It's been such a blessing to me.

Paisley: 6:24

Yeah.

Cindy: 6:25

Awesome. Okay, is there anything else you want to talk about in this?

Paisley: 6:29

I think I want to talk about on this same page "How I found Jesus" because, um, I think maybe it can be hard for us sometimes to find Jesus in a scripture where Jesus isn't physically there.

Cindy: 6:42

Yes, On that third worksheet, the journal page, there's another spot to write down how we found Jesus. So for instance, this verse that we just read, Joseph Smith removed the earth, he found the lever, he put forth the work, and he looked in and saw the gold plates and the Urim and Thummim. Where's Jesus in that verse? It doesn't say anything about Jesus Christ.

Paisley: 7:05

I think, same with, um, finding messages for ourselves. We have to look deeper in the details that, you know, maybe Joseph Smith didn't want to put in all that work to get the plates, maybe he's, you know, he had chores on the farm, maybe he didn't really want to do it, but maybe Jesus gave him the endurance and maybe even the courage if he was scared to do it to help him find them.

Cindy: 7:29

Yeah, actually, when Moroni came and visited Joseph Smith, it took up all night. All night long. Joseph got zero sleep that night. And then he went to work on the farm with his dad, and he couldn't do anything. His dad sent him back to the house, like, all right, you must be sick or something. Go home. And Joseph couldn't even get over the fence, he was so weak. He fell down, Moroni visited him again, told him, go tell your dad what's going on, right? And his dad said, okay, go and do what you've got to do. This is from God. He's that weak. He can't do anything. And now he's removing the earth and getting a lever and he's lifting up, he's prying open this huge heavy stone?! Where did that strength come from? He was too weak to do anything, right? I think that you're exactly right, that that strength could come from Jesus Christ. All right, so what should we write under how I found Jesus?

Paisley: 8:25

You could just put Jesus gives strength.

Cindy: 8:29

Oh, yes. Very simple and something that can be applied in many different ways, right? To Joseph Smith, to me, to you, in our hard times, Jesus gives us strength, even when we don't think we have any left. Love that. Awesome. Okay, there are so many things that we can find in here and there are a lot of questions on these worksheets to guide you through your study, but it would be even better if you came up with your own questions as you studied, because asking the questions and taking that time to ponder is really what's going to get that spirit into your heart. That's how you have your own experiences. I can tell you all about my experiences in the scriptures, how I have a testimony. And you might feel the spirit and it might help you, but that's not going to be a strong enough testimony to get you through all the trials that are coming in the last days. So you, each of our listeners, should go read, study, and especially ponder these things so that you can have your own experiences. That's how you build your own testimony. Paisley, thank you so much for being here with me today. This has been fantastic. And friends, thanks for being here with us. Please go read your scriptures. I will see you next time. Bye bye!

Paisley: 9:45

Bye.

Cindy: 9:47

Thanks for tuning in to Primarily Scripture with Cindy Young. Don't forget you can subscribe to the newsletter and download free worksheets on the website PrimarilyScripture.com And if you like the channel, be sure to subscribe, like, share, and leave a review. See you next time!