Sometimes feeling is believing

Sometimes reading the scriptures is like meeting an old woman in Poland.
That's my point, and I will explain it, I promise.
There are plenty of times when reading the scriptures is a bit of a struggle. I'm pretty fluent in English, but there are words and sentence structures and concepts that don't translate well for me. After reading it the fourth of fifth time I have to let it go. Sometimes I will read it out loud to see if that helps. Sometimes I will try out the footnotes. Sometimes if I write it out in cursive it helps my brain to process it, but that's a slow process with limited results. (Still worth the effort though!) And sometimes I have to take a deep breath and move on to the next verse. Or the next chapter.
I have to believe I still get the blessings, even in my confusion.
So one day I was walking down the street in Ludz, in Poland, and I found a lovely big church to take pictures of. The lighting was slanting just right in the afternoon, and the building was magnificent and old. This little old lady walked up to me and said something in Polish that I could not begin to understand. I smiled and spoke in an English that she probably couldn't understand. I said: I'm so sorry my dear, but I don't speak Polish. Her reply was a quaint laugh with a kiss on my cheek. Then we went our separate ways. I know she was a sweet person, and I know she was saying something kind. I was still blessed by having her step into my life for a small moment. I feel like my efforts are blessed and the peace can still come even when reading words that don't make much sense.
Like Hebrews 6. I read it and re-read it. Honestly, I don't know if it's me right now, or the way it's written. Or both. I've been trying to focus, there are a lot of dogs in the neighborhood and they are all sending messages like it's the movie 101 Dalmations being filmed out there. I found something to cling to, in those verses. It says: lay hold upon the hope set before us: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul. I found the buried treasure. That's beautiful to me. That is something I can keep in my heart. It's the kind of inspiration that keeps me reading day after day.
If you need more peace, more strength,more purpose, more guidance, more joy, or more hope, or more "More" - then I invite you to read. One way I love to read is to consider a question that I have, and then open up the scriptures and start reading on whatever page is before me. The answers can be found throughout the scriptures. Sometimes the answer is to read many chapters. Sometimes the answer is to ask a better question.
The trick is that the scriptures really can tell us whatever we want to hear. They are fully open to personal interpretation. So many religions and people use the very same Bible, for example. But some preach a God of wrath, and use guilt, and watch out for the multitude of ways you can bring damnation upon yourself from this demanding God. Others preach of a God of love, a Heavenly Father. And all of the myriad of opinions between the two extremes.
As for me, I took the test, I read it and I paid attention to how it made me feel. Because spiritual things aren't just words on a page. It's a relationship between me and my God. When it's particularly (wait, did I spell that right? maybe I should try a different word...) hard for me to grasp what's going on, I pray for help. Sometimes the help is a simple feeling of peace. I don't have to understand all of Isaiah. I just need to keep trying.
Today I have a theme. Angels. That is some very interesting stuff! Who/what are they? Are they offspring of God? They are heavenly messengers, speaking of love, comfort, warning, admonition, and more. Is there a hierarchy among them? I think so, Michael is called an Archangel. Do some angels have bodies of flesh and bones while others are spirits?
Ah, the questions I didn't even think to ask, until now. I like reading things that give me new questions, and a reason to seek answers.