Thank you for participating in the Scripture Reading Challenge!
On behalf of Deseret Book, congratulations on successfully completing the Scripture Reading Challenge! Deseret Book will send each qualifying participant an email containing a unique code and link that can be used as credit toward a purchase on DeseretBook.com. Emails will be sent on or before September 30, 2010.
The True Story Behind The Scripture Reading Challenge
2 Nephi 3:19 And the words which he shall write shall be the words which are
expedient in my wisdom should go forth unto the fruit of thy loins. And it shall be
as if the fruit of thy loins had cried unto them from the dust; for I know their faith.
Several months ago, I found myself weighed down by the world that we lived in. I was struggling to see past the Goliath's surrounding me and my little family. One morning I was talking to my sister about my state of mind and she said to me,
"Turn it off."
"What?" I responded.
She said, "Turn it off!", after a short pause she continued. "Angela, turn off the noise! Turn off the news. Turn off every outlet that is pulling you down."
My response to that was. "Chelsy, if I turn it off then how will I know what to protect my family against. I need to stay informed."
She looked at me with a glint in her eye and said, "Then start choosing your information sources better. Everything you need to know is in the scriptures. Every warning. Every sign. Every symbol. If you are reading your scriptures you will be prepared. You don't need a media outlet to warn you. You need to be tuned in to Heavenly Father's radio tower."
At that moment a light went on in my heart that screamed. "EVERYONE NEEDS TO BE TUNED INTO HEAVENLY FATHERS RADIO TOWER". Yes, I know that we are taught this principle from the time we are children, but for me it hit like it never had before.
We live in the last days. No one knows the time or the place. But, we all know that we need to be living today as though today is the time and the place. I realized that the only way that I could be living that way was if I was tuned into Heavenly Father's radio tower. I further understood that tuning into his tower was not as easy as turning a dial. I needed to turn to the scriptures. I further felt that I needed to get the message out. I felt an intense desire to not only ratchet up my scripture reading but that I needed to do everything that I could to help others to do the same thing. This moment was the birth of the Summer Scripture Reading Challenge. That day I decided to not only challenge myself to read the scriptures, but I wanted to invite as many people as I possibly could to join me.
The following week I started working on scripture reading charts and started collecting ideas on how to implement my plan. In the beginning, I hoped that I would be able to rally a few hundred people to join the challenge. However, I placed my will in Heavenly Fathers hands. I prayed to Him with the promise that I would do the work to organize the challenge. But I told Him that I needed Him to bring me the children. I took my first step into the darkness and miracles started to happen. During the following weeks I began to put together charts, set up my website so that it could distribute downloads, set up goals and try to come up with incentives that would motivate participants. Throughout this time, each time I hit a road block, Heavenly Father provided a solution. The two biggest road blocks were the need for exceptional art that would inspire the children and the need for incentives that would motivate the children. Yet, both were resolved as Heavenly Father brought people into my life that were uniquely qualified to solve each problem.
Since the Summer Scripture Reading Challenge was announced we have had over 10,000 charts downloaded in 10 languages. And the stories started pouring in. Parents began to email me with sweet things that their children said and faith promoting experiences that their families were having. As these messages began pouring in, I realized that the miracles that had occurred in my life to get the challenge started were only the beginning of the story and that the true story was happening in households all over the world.
Share Your Challenge Experience
We want to collect "the rest of the story"! We want to hear your experiences and cute things that happened during the scripture reading challenge. These faith promoting experiences can be a source of inspiration for all of us to continue in our work of sharing the gospel in our families. Please share your experiences and we will post them on Scriptures 4 Kids for everyone to enjoy.
We want everything!
- Cute things that your children have said.
- Faith promoting moments and experiences
- Even share your long stories about how the scripture challenge has impacted your life
You can email your story, images or anything relevant to your submission to
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or you can use the form below.
You can type you story in the text box below or you can type it up in a Word or text document and attach it. If you have any images that you would like included with your stories please feel free to attach a jpg or jpeg image. Your story, experience or thought will be published in a blog format.
|
