Personal Scripture Study
Come Follow Me 2022: The Old Testament
Before I share some of my personal favorite scripture study tools I am going to try to offer a bit of perspective for others because all too often I receive messages of guilt from mother’s who feel like they aren’t doing enough. Without writing out my life history, I hope no one ever looks at us and think we have it all together because that is far from the truth. We all go through ebbs and flows! Always remember social media is one-dimensional. Truthfully, I am not sure I love spending the time typing my thoughts out - but I’ve chosen to try to do that more walking into 2022 to try to give others a more three-dimensional view, offer more detail, and just simply try to be more helpful. As I am typing this I can think of a long list of things I wish I could share to comfort those who feel inadequate or disappointed in their efforts at home. But, please remember, above all, you have been chosen and called to do this. You are enough. It is within divine order that mother’s are the nurtures of the home and family. Nurturing means, “to care for and encourage the growth or development of.” The Lord would not call you to teach your children if you weren’t capable of doing so. Yet, supporting the growth of our children may lack depth if we do not in turn take care of ourselves and nurture our own thoughts and testimonies. On this note, I’d highly recommend listening to the newly released podcast, Fortify, by Shannon Foster - specifically Episode 5: You First.
Favorite Study Tools
The Old Testament Journal Edition by Line Upon Line: I LOVE these scriptures so much and get a lot of questions on whether to get the journal edition or the study edition. The journal edition is the largest of the two and costs the most. It is printed in larger font and has the most room to record in the margins. There are no footnotes in the journal version. The study edition is smaller, has smaller text, is spiral bound, and contains footnotes. I prefer the journal edition, but it will just be a personal preference. The biggest difference for people seem to be whether or not you need the footnotes. I have a quad that I’ve had since forever, but I have grown so much by being able to write my immediate thoughts down in the margins of the study editions. They have helped me tremendously with personal revelation because as I write something down - I often have to refer back to it at a later time to understand the whole picture. And having it right there in context with the scripture can be really helpful. I also often record thoughts and impressions from church related articles. When I do need my footnotes it isn’t uncommon for me to have the scriptures pulled up on my desktop computer or have my quad nearby. All of these things can be done in the study edition too - it’ll just depend on if you feel you need more space or the footnotes nearby. (As as side note, I have previously purchased Worthy Written Word’s scripture tabs for my journal editions, but this year I opted against it because the OT volumes come in a book sleeve and I was worried they wouldn’t fit. However, I think these are a great option if you have journal editions from other places like Deseret Book.)
Scripture Study Stickers by Line Upon Line: On the topic of LUL, The Old Testament Imagery scripture stickers are the ones I picked up for myself this year. I actually let my twins choose which ones they wanted and in order to model for them - I snagged the same ones so we could do these together.
Don’t Miss This Podcast/YouTube: I used to love to sit down and watch this with my husband - often on Sundays, but our nightly routines have recently changed and that has been hard for us to do (more on this below). So, I have been listening to this more during the days while I am doing other household chores. I never get as much out of the content when I do it this way (because I am not recording thoughts, pausing to ponder or study, ect.), but in this phase of life I am at - with children home 24/7 - this has been something I’ve had to be okay with to listen to every week. I am hoping I’ll have time to sit down and bounce between this and some of my other favorite resources (below).
Don’t Miss This Tip-Ins: Eva Timothy art definitely speaks to me so these were a must-have for me this year! They are a new product you can glue-in to your scriptures as we work through the OT and the artwork is beautiful. (I personally prefer to use washi tape instead of glue).
Don’t Miss This Word A Week Posters: We used these every week during our study of the Doctrine and Covenants and will be definitely pulling from them again this year. I love having something in my home to rotate each week and really keep eye on what we’re studying. Sometimes I study the words in depth and sometimes they’re just there as a gentle reminder to do and be better and keep the scriptures and what we’re learning at the forefront of my mind. These are the wooden hanging poster frames we use.
Red Headed Hostess Study Guide and Study Notes: RHH offers two products for adults to aid in their study. The first is a spiral bound study guide. I hadn’t planned to pick this up, because, historically, I know it is difficult for me to sit down and fill these books out. I bought a Don’t Miss This one last year and didn’t get very far into it :) But, this year my twins are old enough that I want to periodically allow time for us to work in our notebooks together and I thought it would be fun to have one for me to record in at the same time. The second help she has are scripture study notes included in her weekly subscription kits. I LOVE these notes and come out feeling like I really understand what is going on in the scriptures. I tried printing the notes out last year and that didn’t last, but when I knew I could sit down and study I’d just pull the PDFs up on my desktop with my scriptures right next to me and read and record as I work through them. I’d print off the notes I need - there are often glue ins or notes to stick in your scriptures which I would print out. Again, its challenging for me to sit down and study as long as I’d like and these can easily take me a few hours to go through, but I am hoping to utilize them even more this year.
Come, Follow Me for Individuals and Families: The first year I really dove into scripture study (after CFM was released), this is all I used. I would often spend hours a week beginning with the prompts and I’d start in one place and completely end in another. I still love this tool and will utilize the Spirit to bounce back and forth between this, Don’t Miss This and RHH materials or wherever else He may lead me each week. I keep this and CFM for Primary saved on my website browser for quick reference. I also LOVE the spiral bound version of CFM for Individuals and Families. The artwork is stunning (great for art study and such a good tool) and the text is big and it lays flat which is so nice! But, it is something I’ve only been able to find in-store at Desert Book so if you’re local to Utah you can check those out.
Favorite Scripture Study Accessories: These are my favorite highlighters and these are my favorite pens to use in the LUL scriptures. And these are my favorite colored pencils. I only use markers and highlighters in my LUL editions and the colored pencils in both those and my quad. I just bounce back and forth and use whatever I want. Sometimes I highlight, sometimes I underline, sometimes I use pencils to color in over the words. I don’t draw very well so I rarely do that, but I know a lot of people who love to express themselves that way. I have watercolor pencils because you can use those in the LUL scriptures with water, but we don’t do that very often. I just think they look cute in our scripture caddy. These are some of the washi tapes we have. I have all these organized in our scripture caddy.
Leafy Tree Tops Day Planner: Last, I am adding my written day planner in this section, because I LOVE it. It isn’t really a study tool, but I do use it to jot down things or notes I want to convey to my family during the week and it’s very helpful for organizing my thoughts especially when I have a lot going on. (I also rely on it to plan our homeschool and my day-to-day life.) I customize it with horizontal columns (the one with lines), LDS content, Monday start, 12 months, spiral bound, and for 2022 I got the 8.5x11 size. There is a whole section on organizing gospel study and scripture reading logs.
For a more detailed look into these items, please visit my Instagram OT Personal Study Story Highlight.
Routine
Again, I hope this goes without saying, but this is just is what is working for me right now. It changes all the time. One thing that is pretty consistent is that I love to do my personal study a week ahead of the CFM schedule so I am more prepared to guide my family. Over the last few years it has worked best for me to do any type of scripture study at night after my kids are in bed. My husband and I would start our week watching the Don’t Miss This episode on Sunday nights (a week ahead of schedule). Then, during the week nights I would work through CFM and RHH notes.
However, this year I am flip flopping that routine because my two year old is beginning the transition to no naps which has heavily effected and will probably continue to effect my night routines for the next few months. Between his needs and areas I need to focus on studying for our homeschool, I have needed to simplify what I am using, rotate materials, and rely heavier on the Spirit to guide me to what I need to focus on each week. So walking into 2022 I hope to do all of my sit-down scripture study for CFM on the Sunday afternoon prior to a new week of the CFM schedule. I am going to aim to start with the CFM curriculum or the RHH notes and then listen to Don’t Miss This during the week. This way my husband is usually around to help and my kids are often pre-occupied in other things - the whole day is just a lot more laid back. Sometimes I feel like this isn’t ideal because there are a lot of distractions and some weeks I am not nearly as consistent as I would like to be (family gatherings or kids often disrupt this routine), but I am really holding onto the fact that it is a really good thing for my children to see me in the scriptures and to fill up my cup - even if its just a little - so I can be better for them. And, at the very least, I know we are really consistent at family study with my kids during the week so I squeeze in some personal study and am always learning right along side my children as well. That is one of the best parts about homeschooling, right?