Success is Mine!!!

I officially completed the Book of Mormon March Madness challenge today! It may have been one of the toughest, most emotional, and most rewarding challenges I've ever taken on! With all the traveling I did this month, I got behind several times. In fact, the aftermath of Spring Break left me 5 days behind which at roughly 17 pages a day left me with approximately 40 chapters in Alma plus most of the book of Helaman to catch up on. Despite my setbacks, I finished a day early.
Reading such large chunks of the book at a time was a real blessing. It provided context for everything I was reading and things made so much more sense and I felt the Spirit very strongly. I've read the Book of Mormon several times but this time was different. It seemed so much more powerful and emotional than I had ever realized it being. I learned so much!
Some of the blessings and the lessons that I learned from this challenge are:
1. I finally understand why Nephi included all of the Isaiah chapters in 2nd Nephi. Reading them all at once provided the context and the message Nephi was trying to send by including them.
2. Abinadi is a stud! I already knew this but this time it really hit me. He let King Noah and his priest know what was up with no consideration of his own life being in jeopardy because the Lord had commanded him to cry repentance to the people. I never really appreciated how awesome he was!
3. The conversion story of the Anti-Nephi-Lehis really affected me this time around. I cried a little when they made their covenant never to use their weapons of war again. And to remove all temptation they buried them. When the Lamanites started to kill them without them fighting back made me bawl.
4. Captain Moroni and his Title of Liberty made me cry again. He kept rallying his people and reminding them of how the Lord would help them be victorious in the end when they were fighting for the right reasons.
5. I have always loved the war chapters in Alma and the story of the 2000 Stripling Warriors but I found that I was super emotional reading it this time. I loved reading about how Helaman was so concerned about his 'sons' after every battle. It made me think of how the First Presidency and the Twelve are concerned for our welfare in this day in age. But I loved how brave, faithful, and obedient the 2000 were even more. They were fighting for the right reasons and they knew that the Lord would protect them because their mothers had taught them that He would.
6. I can't even begin to explain the emotion that surfaced reading Mormon's and Moroni's accounts. I'm pretty sure that I hit every emotion on the spectrum during my last few days of reading but I came out with a whole new appreciation for what they went through. I love the words of council and caution that they give us. I love Moroni 10!
Overall, this challenge was amazing! Hard but amazing! I can't wait to do it next year and see what else I learn!