I love this quote from President Monson that appears on the wall at the seminary building where my son attends. It makes me smile every time I walk by it.  It comes from Pres. Monson’s talk in the most recent General Conference, April 2017. I’ve had a few experiences that have meshed together to make me committed to follow his admonition and read from the Book of Mormon every day.

1. I learned from my Veggie Gal friend Becky Edwards to do a “Prayer Sandwich.” This is where you commune with God according to a formula that looks like a sandwich. You begin with prayer that has a written question for God. So you write down your question in your journal. That’s like the “bread.” Then you do a “filling” of reading the scriptures immediately after you ask the question, then you end with a prayer, the final slice of “bread” with your journal open and your pen right by you as you pray. Then you write down any impressions you get. Becky gave a challenge to ask a question of God every day using this “Prayer Sandwich.”
2. I listened to Elder Devn J. Cornish give his BYU-I keynote commencement speech about putting the desire to please God above every other standard, rule, desire, or goal we have for our life.
3. The above two elements combined in my mind to frequently use as my question for God, “What can I do today, God, that would please Thee the most?” and then to read in the Book of Mormon to get the answer, since reading this holy book will bring us nearer to God than any other book, according to Joseph Smith. (History of the Church, 4:461)

I’ve had some wonderful experiences the past few weeks using that question in my prayer sandwich and reading from the Book of Mormon. I have been able to find lost items, start to repair a damaged relationship, and feel protection. I have felt tons of hope! I challenge you to do the same! Blessings will flow to you, as promised by Pres. Monson in the quote.

Here is an example of a woman who got an amazing blessing of losing her cigarette addiction by reading the Book of Mormon, told by Pres. Hinckley in Chapter 16 of the Teachings of President Gordon B. Hinckley manual:

Let me tell you [another] story about the Book of Mormon. I heard a man who was a banker in California tell this story. He said his secretary smoked, constantly smoked. She was addicted to smoking. She could not set it aside. She said to him one day, “How can I stop smoking?”

He reached down in his desk and took out a copy of the Book of Mormon and handed it to her. He said, “Now, you read this.”

She said, “All right, I’ll read it.”

She came back a couple of days later and said, “I’ve read 200 pages, and I didn’t see the word smoking anywhere. I didn’t see the word tobacco anywhere. I saw nothing that referred to it.”

He said, “Keep reading.”

So she came back another couple of days later and said, “I’ve read 200 more pages—no mention of smoking, no mention of nicotine, no mention of anything associated with tobacco.”

He said, “Keep reading.”

She came back three or four days later. She said, “I’ve read the entire book. I didn’t see tobacco anywhere; I didn’t see smoking anywhere. But,” she said, “there has come into my heart as a result of reading that book some influence, some power, that has taken from me the desire to smoke, and it is wonderful.”

Wow! That is amazing, I love that story! It shows how anyone can benefit from reading it. So, like President Monson, I plead with you to read it every day. Read for at least 5 minutes. You will get protection, power to resist temptation, answers, doubt and fear will go away, and you will have the help of angels. I know this true and I testify it is so in the name of Jesus Christ.