I read a story, once, about a woman who had some sort of brain disease, I think it may have been a tumor but I can't remember. For a long time she was afflicted with short-term memory loss, and was unable to remember what she had just done a few minutes earlier.
During this time, everyone in her church was asked to make a goal to read and study the scriptures daily. This woman was a devout Christian, a good member of her church, and she wanted to be obedient, but she really wondered what good scripture study was going to be for her? She was unable to remember a conversation ten minutes later. Certainly, she wouldn't be able to remember anything she read. Still, she determined to follow the council.
Each day she made a point of reading her scriptures. Much of the time she was in the hospital, and she was not able to concentrate, but she persevered, even if she only managed to read one verse at a time.
“I don't think I got a thing out of reading,” she explained later. “I couldn't tell you what I read, I only knew that I had read because I made a note on a pad of paper so I would know I'd accomplished my goal.”
Gradually, a remarkable thing began to happen to this good woman. She wasn't cured of her illness immediately, but she began to be enveloped by a sense of peace. Instead of anxiety over what the future held, she was given a feeling of calm assurance that everything would be OK. And, eventually, it was. She got her short-term memory back, and was eventually was able to read and study the scriptures and learn from them, again. But during that year when they made no sense, she was being blessed just for reading them.
Sometimes obedience, just for the sake of obeying, is all we can give, but the Lord recognizes our efforts, and obedience brings blessings, often unexpected ones.
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