I am Certain!

I was sitting in "Big Blue" the big Blue Ford truck that we drove to and from school.  I had just come back from eating lunch at my house and parked in the front row, one of the many privileges of being a teacher's daughter.  For all intents and purposes, I believe it was lightly snowing (most days it was snowing).  Something had been mulling around in my mind all day and it was there in that parking lot that it all came together for me. 

Earlier that week, our seminary teacher challenged us to "pray to know if the Book of Mormon was true."  As a note of disclosure, I must admit that this is the one and only lesson I remember learning in Seminary.  I had a lot of fun in seminary.  When the teacher was not in the room (which was the case more than it was not)  Erin, my sister, Paul Christensen, and I taught the rest of the class how to have "good clean fun."  I vaguely remember a few science experiments involving a ceiling fan and a full glass of water.  It didn't end good.  And is no excuse for any of my children, their teachers will teach them (RIGHT JARED?)

I took my teacher's challenge seriously, and I had been praying, and thinking, willing myself to get an answer.  Then, when I was least expecting it, I got it.  The impression came to mind as clearly as I was hearing it or reading it, printed for my eyes only.  "Kathryn, you already knew, you have always known it was true."  I have never forgotten what that felt like. 

I believe it was that same year, my Senior year, that I really started LOVING the Book of Mormon.  Perhaps triggered by the death of a a good high-school friend, or the uncertainty of what lie ahead of me, I turned to the Book of Mormon to find something - probably comfort or guidance.  Each night I would head downstairs a little early to go to bed.  (This was odd for anyone who knows me. I have been deathly afraid of our basement for the majority of my life, but this was different.)  As I retreated to the "cave" each night, I would write in my journal and then pull out my Book of Mormon.  I read and read!  It began as novel to me.  I became so involved in the story line, that I could not wait to see what would happen next.  I knew all the stories, I had known them forever, but now I loved them, they were personal. 

Through the years it has become so much more than a novel.  I think the secret lies in something that the Prophet Joseph Smith said, "I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth...and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by it's precepts than any other book."  With all of my heart, I believe that the Book of Mormon keeps me sane!  It keeps me headed on the path that I know I should follow, and that is true SANITY!  However my thoughts get jumbled in a day by listening to the theories of men and popularities of the day, they quickly correct themselves each morning as I sit, in the dark, open my scriptures, and find sanity. 

I am reading a book at the moment by John Moody, he is not a member of our faith, but puts something into words that I need put into words.  And I quote, " The rules of Mormonism are unbending, but they are clear, which separates the latter-day Saints from many others in these days of moral relativism and may explain and element of the religion's appeal.  Former Church President Gordon B. Hinckley, when asked about the Church's steady and significant growth, explained that the gospel of Jesus Christ offers a firm foundation in a world of shifting values.  For Mormons, right is obvious and wrong has consequences.  This provides a comforting certainty."

I can testify to that!  Certainty provides Comfort and that Certainty can be found within the pages of the Book of Mormon!  I LOVE THE BOOK OF MORMON!  I know it is true!  I have always known it was true.