Jesus Christ Lightened My Burdens

By Georgia H. Nichols, Colorado, USA

With all the commotion in my life, I felt like I was drowning until I found peace from reading the Book of Mormon.

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woman afloat on a Book of Mormon on the sea

Illustration by Mariko Kowalski

One day while I was ministering to a sister in our ward, she told me she read the Book of Mormon every year. She also testified of the great blessings that this undertaking had brought her. I am grateful to that sister for her example.

Before that visit, I had read the Book of Mormon cover to cover only once, though I always studied it when preparing for teaching assignments. After my visit, I decided to follow this sister’s example. I began again with 1 Nephi and read to the end. She was right! I was blessed in many ways I recognized and, I’m sure, in other ways I did not recognize.

Not long after I had completed the Book of Mormon for the second time, my husband left our family. The seemingly impossible tasks of my new job became extremely stressful, and my son’s chronic health condition left me feeling like I was drowning.

But then I remembered reading in the Book of Mormon about how Amulon had placed great burdens upon Alma and his people. When the people prayed for help, the Lord told them He was mindful of their situation and would deliver them. Until then, He said, “I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs” (Mosiah 24:14).

I had studied that chapter in Mosiah many times before, and I had taught it many times to others in gospel classes. I believed the truth of those verses. Because I had become familiar with the teachings in the Book of Mormon, I knew that personal truth appears when I liken the scriptures to my personal circumstances.

So I began reading that chapter every day for strength and to remind myself that the Lord cared about me too. I still had to experience trials, but He did lighten my burdens.

Those verses in the Book of Mormon carried me through a time of great personal adversity, providing me with peace and a comforting knowledge that the Lord is mindful of all His children.