Beat the Bishop Challenge

Bishop Smith challenged us to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. Then he told us we could Beat the Bishop if we read more, and told us how many pages we'd have to read each day to finish all the standard works by the end of the year. I know I could read the Book of Mormon by then, but All the scriptures?

My first thought was, "That's so much. I don't know if I could do it."

My second thought was, somewhat facetious, "Ann, just what in your life could you NOT give up to do this?"

So I made my plan and I started reading. I am at Deuteronomy 11 as of this morning. I've been reading for 8 days. That's a total of 271 pages in 8 days.

It's been really interesting reading about Moses and the children of Israel. Even after 40 years wandering in the wilderness and all the miracles they had seen the people still didn't have faith. Every little thing would get them complaining again. "Oh, no! We're thirsty. We should have stayed in Egypt where we always had enough to drink."

How often do I do that? In my eating alone?

How often do I think about the good old days when I never worried about eating the right foods?

How often do I feel sorry for myself because I need to eat this way for health and can't be part of the world?

This is the hard part of the journey. I am wandering around in the wilderness of processed, high-fat junk food. I'm seeing blessings here and there, but my faith is still weak. Time will make it stronger, and I need to keep my thoughts on the blessings He has given me from eating this way and be grateful for the healthy food I have so abundantly.

The speaker at church yesterday talked about the law of the harvest. He said we forget we need to plant so we can harvest. I am planting right now with every grain of rice I eat. When I choose to eat wrong I am ripping the seeds back out of the ground.

He said we would get 100 fold return on our efforts. So far:
1. Discomfort during exercise is gone.
2. More energy and endurance.
3. My heart supplements have been cut in half.
4. My hormone supplements have been cut in half.