The New Testament of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

This year's scripture study focused on the New Testament, individually, as a family, and as a church.  I read each week's assigned reading on my own and again with my family. Then we talked about it as a family, and again at church in our classes. You might say we were immersed in that book of scripture. And I am here to tell you that it was a truly sacred experience.

I've read the New Testament before. Multiple times. Especially the Gospels. I went into the year feeling like I was pretty familiar with Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and I don't feel like that perception was off. Reading the Gospels I didn't feel like I had any truly new insight, but I absolutely loved reading it with my daughters and sharing my thoughts, insights, and feelings with them. I was so grateful for "Family Home Church," as we call it, and the opportunity to bear testimony and have gospel discussions in our home. Not that we couldn't have done that before this year, but something about being given a specific directive made it happen. I loved reading and discussing the life of our Savior and Exemplar, Jesus Christ. It renewed my desire to become more like him.

But then there was the rest of the New Testament, Acts through Revelation. I know I've read it all before, but some of those stories seemed brand new to me! Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch! Ananias welcoming Saul/Paul into the church! Peter's crazy dream about taking the gospel to the Gentiles! Philemon and Onesimus! There is so much goodness and love and brotherhood to be found in these books, and I had somehow either missed it or forgotten it. But this year, these stories were emblazoned on my heart and mind, never to be forgotten. I will admit, the book of Revelation is still somewhat of a mystery to me (so we ended on a bit of a low note), but the rest of these writings were inspirational and uplifting and wonderful. Shout out to Thomas A. Wayment for his translation that helped when the Old English was less clear, and my friends (ha, I wish they were my friends) at Don't Miss This for their weekly videos to bring even more clarity.

We commemorated our completion of the New Testament with a bearing of testimony, and I'll never forget hearing my girls talk about their love of Jesus Christ. I'm so grateful for that book of scripture, and for the experiences we had this year in studying it. It takes effort to make the time for daily scripture study as a family (and some days we were less faithful than others), but it has been so worth it for us to experience spiritual growth together.

On to the Book of Mormon!