The Truth and the Answers

I have always loved and appreciated "eternal truth", as I like to call it, especially as it is found in the scriptures and in the teachings of the leaders of the church.  I eat it up, I can't get enough of it, and over the past few years of my life during which I've experienced some excruciating personal trials, I have come to appreciate eternal truth even more deeply.  During this time, I have worked hard to establish a very focused sit-down-and-study-intently habit of immersing myself daily in this eternal truth.  I don't share this to brag, but more as an expression of gratitude for what it's yielded and how it's gotten me through some tough times and has helped me come out stronger than before!  I highly recommend it if you're struggling because along with prayer, I fully believe that saying that goes "when we pray, we talk to God.  When we study the scriptures, God is talking to us"!  I can identify 100% with what Elder Richard G. Scott said in his October 2011 general conference address when he said that "(the scriptures) can become stalwart friends that are not limited by geography or calendar.  They are always available when needed.  Their use provides a foundation of truth that can be awakened by the Holy Ghost.  Learning, pondering, searching, and memorizing scriptures is like filling a filing cabinet with friends, values, and truths that can be called upon anytime, anywhere in the world."  I really like how he compared the scriptures to having treasured friends! Since around 2008 when this intensified need to lean on the scriptures and the words of church leaders for comfort first became very apparent, this is exactly how I have felt about many touching passages and talks I've come across (and subsequently saved on my computer) - like friends I can call on for reminders, insights, and comfort.

I also really liked the italicized statement above.  As I was listening to a talk in the car recently, I began to beat myself up slightly, as we often do when we think we're failing at something, about how the nature of my habit of immersing myself in truth has changed over the last couple of years as the nature of my daily routine has changed (I find myself driving all over the place for work now, which cuts into that sit-down gospel study time I used to have, so most days I usually listen to the scriptures or to inspirational talks on my iPhone - works great, but is not always as focused as it used to be with actual pages in front of me).  As I began lamenting this, however, my mind also gave my heart some credit as I realized my habit of seeking eternal truth is still very much intact, and it seemed to me that this is no small thing for which to be thankful.  I also felt comfort in knowing that if I continue with these good habits, that the answers to troubling questions and difficult situations will come to me as needed, through the Spirit, and because of this "foundation of truth" that I have established through my diligent study.

And THAT is a very long introduction to the main thing I wanted to say!  As I was having these thoughts, what we are always taught about how all of the answers are supposedly found "in" the scriptures made sense to me in a new and powerful way!  It isn't so much that there will be a scriptural passage or even a general conference talk that explicitly answers each and every of life's tough questions (although that happens all the time!), but that in immersing ourselves in the scriptures, we associate ourselves with this eternal truth, almost attaching ourselves to it, which opens the door to more eternal truth that can be revealed to us, and sometimes THAT is the specific answer that we are looking for - personal answers that are, again, "awakened by the Holy Ghost".  In my experience, sometimes these answers could never ever be found in the scriptures anyway, because they are feelings and impressions without words in existence to adequately express them, transferred between the Holy Ghost and our own spirits, that guide us to know or do whatever it is that is necessary at the time.

As I thought further on all of this, it seemed to me that repeated, conscientious study of the gospel accumulates over time and leads to our hearts, minds and understandings becoming linked to the tight and fully interconnected web of eternal truth, which truth really is one interconnected whole!  And if we continue on, not only studying and learning this way, but also putting what we learn into action and living our lives accordingly, we will "at last, by the very force of association, make the light and power and wisdom of God (our) own (Elder D. Todd Christofferson, "Allegiance to God")."  That's my angle, anyway, on how I hope to conquer life and become who I feel I was meant to become, and I will go to the grave claiming that there is both great power and also all the answers "in" the scriptures if we'll but turn to those "friends" often and cling to them continually :).