Drinking From the Reservior

A couple of months ago my friend shared a scripture journaling idea she found online.  It was intriguing to me as it has you organize by topic to make your journaling more useful for the future. 
It was at about the same time that I was feeling inspired to read the personal revelation journal that I got from my Relief Society and began using in December 2010. 
I decided to combine experiences by actually organizing the things I'd already written into a new, organized format.  That way if I am asked to give a talk or a lesson, I'll have a quick way to find personal experiences that I can reference. 

It has been a great experience.  I am amazed at how so many of the things are just the thing I needed to read, remember, or practice that day. 

I am also amazed at how much studying I was able to do in that season.  It slowly decreased as I became pregnant and now is very minimal as I am constantly interrupted. 

It is not the first time I have had a season of abundant study, but it is the first time I seriously wrote about it.  I have no idea where the things I wrote down from other years of study are. 

Reading these journals as a part of my daily study right now is easy and quick, yet powerful.  What a treasure those experiences and insights are that I would surely have forgotten had I not written them down and then read them now. 

A couple of years ago, we had a quote on our fridge from one of the general authorities telling us we needed to have reserviors to draw from in difficult times.  It specifically mentioned spiritual reservoirs.  At that time, I was running on fumes and felt irritated by the idea there was one more thing I wasn't doing. 

I realized today that that was not a season to be filling a reservior, it was the season to drink from a reservior.
But I didn't have one to drink from.  I hadn't properly sought out and recorded the spiritual experiences I would need for that particular tough time.   

I am so thankful to be having a different experience now.  I know I am not in a season of filling reserviors right now.  I just don't have that kind of time.  But I can dip my cup each day and basically have the same reward that all of that original hard work produced without the hard work part.  Some days, I think I am getting even more from it than I originally did because my experiences since then have given me additional insight or wisdom.

Experiences like this fill me with such wonder and gratitude.  I feel so cared for by the Lord that He helped me prepare for this season.  I had no idea at the time that I would even have another baby.  I thought that the study that I was doing was purely what I needed for those days.  I never imagined how it would be blessing these days. 

I look forward to a season in the future where I will be able to study like that.  It really is wonderful. 

I'm so grateful that instead of feeling overwhelmed that I am not there, I can feel so content to be here, drinking deeply.


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