Who Do You Think They're Talking To?

As I read 2 Nephi 27 today, my thoughts wandered through history and eventually brought me back to a very personal moment.

Verse 25 speaks of people whose fear of God is "taught by the precepts of men." That phrase made me think about centuries when religious leaders kept the scriptures out of the hands of ordinary people. I thought about men like George Whitefield, who spent his life teaching people about Jesus Christ and His love for all of God's children. Not some of His children. All of them.

The more I pondered, the more I saw the hand of the Lord moving through history. The Reformation, the spread of literacy, the freedoms that emerged in the New World—these things didn't happen by accident. The Lord was preparing the way for truth to spread throughout the earth.

And what truth was He preparing the world to receive?

The Book of Mormon.

It contains the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and because of it, countless lives have been changed—including mine.

I have read the Book of Mormon many times, more than I can count since switching to electronic scriptures. Yet each time I read it, I learn something new. A verse that seemed ordinary before suddenly shines with meaning. A familiar story teaches a lesson I needed that very day. The book is inexhaustible because the Spirit teaches us according to our needs.

Now that I'm serving as an ordinance worker in the temple, I've discovered yet another layer. As I read, I find myself connecting dots to temple passages and temple teachings. When those connections appear, I feel that familiar excitement all over again. The truth was there all along—I simply wasn't ready to see it before. The Book of Mormon continues to unfold as my understanding grows, and I marvel at how the Lord teaches us line upon line, according to our capacity to receive.

For many years, I heard Church leaders encourage us to read the Book of Mormon. Then one day, while making my bed after conference, a simple thought stopped me in my tracks.

"Who do you think they're talking to, Connie?"

The answer was obvious.

Me.

Not the people around me. Not someone who needed it more. Me.

So I started again, this time with greater purpose. I wasn't reading simply to finish chapters. I wanted to learn from its pages and hear what the Lord was trying to teach me.

That small moment became a tender mercy that changed my life.

Since then, Heavenly Father has placed people in my path who have helped me grow. One of them was my dear friend Floy Harley. We became temple buddies, and I treasured her spiritual insights. She had a gift for seeing truth and sharing it in a way that strengthened my faith.

As I look back, I realize that the Lord prepared the world to receive the Book of Mormon, but He also prepared me to receive it. Through prophets, teachers, friends, and quiet promptings, He patiently led me to a deeper love of His word.

I still have much to learn. That's one reason I keep returning to the Book of Mormon. Every reading teaches me something new about the Savior and His gospel.

And every so often, I still hear that question:

"Who do you think they're talking to?"

The answer is always the same.

Me.