Get A Grip

Good evening sisters! I so wish I had a video camera in Relief Society to capture the terrific role play that was performed. I know you are not supposed to take video/pictures in the chapel, but it's ok in the relief society room right? Anyhow, sadly I don't.

Sister Holly Beck gave a fabulous lesson she titled Get A Grip. A grip on the iron rod that is. She started by having someone holding to the rod despite the mists of darkness, devil, and other worldly distractions.

What is the iron rod? In this lesson, it was the scriptures. She referenced 2 talks:

Hold-on by Ann M. Dibb from October 2009 conference

My-soul-delighteth-in-the-scriptures by Julie B. Beck from April 2004 conference

She related the story Ann Dibb started her talk with:

A number of years ago, a one-inch article in my local newspaper caught my attention, and I have remembered it ever since: “Four people were killed and seven workers were rescued after clinging for more than an hour to the underside of a 125-foot-high [38-m] bridge in St. Catharines, Ontario, [Canada,] after the scaffolding they were working on collapsed” (“News Capsules,” Deseret News, June 9, 1993, A2).
I was, and I continue to be, fascinated by this brief story. Shortly after reading this account, I called a family friend who lived in St. Catharines. She explained that the workers had been painting the Garden City Skyway bridge for about a year and were two weeks short of completing the project when the accident happened. After the accident, officials were asked why these men did not have any safety equipment. The answer was simple: they had the equipment; they just chose not to wear it. After the scaffolding gave way, the survivors held on to a one-inch (2.5-cm) lip of steel girder and stood on an eight-inch (20-cm) ledge of steel for over an hour until rescue teams could reach them. One survivor related that as he clung to the bridge, he thought a lot about his family. He said, “I just thank the Lord for me being here today. … It was pretty scary, I tell you” (in Rick Bogacz, “Skyway Horror,” Standard, June 9, 1993).

We have the safety equipment (scriptures) but are we using them? The scriptures are there for us and will help us draw strength. We must actively study the scriptures. It is not enough to just have them in our home or to skim them. We must hold fast to them and study them, making them apart of our everyday life.

These are ways our fellow sisters in relief society study their scriptures.

1. Prayer, pray to find the answers you are searching for
2. Journals and thoughts, keep track of your insights and feelings
3. Read it as a story
4. Study/read by subject. Use the topical guide
5. Figure out who is writing/speaking and familiarize your self with the people
6. Mark for different members of the Godhead
7. Study personally for you. Cross reference. Look up definitions of words
8. Schedule/set a time to read. Make it a priority
9. Mark every reference in the Book of Mormon to Christ
10. Color code your markings. ei - pink = love, green = facts/history
11. Study the scriptures along with the Preach my Gospel manual

Make the resolve to study the scriptures! Do so today, this week. Strengthen your desire to study them.