“Read. Apply. Repeat,” New Era, October 2016, 13
Read. Apply. Repeat.
I’ve tried studying the scriptures lots of different ways—by number of verses or pages, by time, front to back, and by topic. And I’ve been blessed in different ways no matter how I’ve studied.
But one challenge changed me.
A quorum adviser gave everyone a small notebook with simple instructions:
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Don’t worry about how much you read or how long you read. Just read until something seems important to you.
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Think about why it’s important.
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Decide what you will do that day because of what you learned, and do it.
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Use the notebook to write down what you read, what you learned, and what you did. We’ll talk about what happened on Sunday.
Connecting what I read with what I do has been amazing. I didn’t realize it was so simple. As I acted on the principles I learned, I began to recognize how Heavenly Father used the scriptures and the Holy Ghost to point out specific things He wanted me to know and do. I learned that He was there, that He loved me, and that He was speaking to me.
I still study the scriptures in a variety of ways, including occasionally just being happy I got a few verses in before falling exhausted into bed. But now, no matter how I study that day, I try to ask, “What will I do today because of what I learned?”