Talk 11/7/09

The Love of God in My Life

I have been very fortunate in my life to be able to come to know my Heavenly Father and his Son Jesus Christ on a personal level. I have felt them so close to me at different times in my life that I really start to wonder what I’m doing wrong in my life when they aren’t so close to me. The path to obtaining that relationship is nothing any more special than anyone else’s story except for the fact that it is mine. Many here, I’m sure, have had similar experiences like mine, so I hope that the stories I’ve chosen to share help you to remember the defining moments that you have had with the Savior in your life.

1. One of the first times that I ever felt the loving arms of my Heavenly Father around me was after reading an Ensign article about a dad that prayed over his son every morning at 4 a.m. before he left for work. I wondered how anyone could love another person so much as to pray over them. The Spirit seemed to hug me and say, “That’s how I love you.”(16 years old)

2. Wisdom Teeth Blessing (19 years old). The night before I had my wisdom teeth taken out my father gave me a blessing that my mouth wouldn’t bleed too much and that my mouth would heal quickly. But the major pain came when I had a reaction to the pain medication, threw up excessively and came down with a high fever.

For two days I fought the sickness and wrestled with it until I barely had the ability to move or fight any further. My father and brother in law came down to me lying on the floor in front of the wood-burning stove and gave me a blessing to heal the nausea and fever. My daddy then picked me up and carried me to my bed, but the pain was so bad that I thought that death was the only way out. I prayed and told my Heavenly Father that if he wanted me to suffer such pain, I would do it for him. I would do whatever he wanted me to do if it was his will. Immediately, the pain and the sickness seemed to lift off of my body and float heavenward. I felt like I had passed some sort of test of obedience and loyalty! The relief I felt was so freeing that I praised my Heavenly Father. The next morning my dad was shocked to see me up and walking around ready to go to work.

3. MTC Blessing –

4. I went on a mission to learn to love others and came home at peace knowing that that miracle had happened.

5. After a spiritually traumatizing divorce which started because of the fiery darts of the adversary penetrating to the core of decency and respect for marriage, I had a dream that made me think that I saw a bright outline or image of the face of the Savior. It was as if his face were burning with fire, but it was the bright light of the Love of God shining through his Son . . . at me. Then he smiled . . . at me. And he didn’t have to say anything, I just knew in my mind and felt in my heart that He loved me and he wanted me to know it. He wanted me to know that he knew the pain that I felt as a result of the deception, lying and cheating that broke the spine of an everlasting covenant. But along with that came the reassuring feeling that everything was going to be ok for me and my two year old son because He made it alright and He had been and would always be there to lift me up as I lifted my son and myself up to face the world alone.

The image faded away and I was left calm and strengthened to face the challenges of single-motherhood.

I’ve already found the Love of God in my life and had so many experiences with it. I have taken it for granted and forgotten to practice it, though, when times are prosperous.

The question is, how do we possess that same love of God, maintain it and practice it more and more each day? We have to practice it or it disintegrates. Making a list of things that we can do to serve others around us helps, but for me it is a daily battle over thinking of self to thinking of others. No, it is a minute-by-minute battle. I have to constantly remind myself to make the right decisions as the Savior would have me.

Marriage and family are great places to start. Since gaining a second chance of having a husband, I have had the opportunity many times to stop thinking of myself and think of him. As I think of him or do things for him, I find that my son and I also benefit. For example, I didn’t cook much when it was just my son and I. I would throw on some spaghetti and call it good. My husband requires his kids to each a few carrots and apples at each meal. It’s easy and they like it if they dip it into some ranch dressing. He also gives them vitamins which I started to do with my son because of his example. My laziness in motherhood has diminished as I follow his example and practice what I have learned.

Also concerning marriage, it is so precious and so fragile, and divorce is so painful and long lasting, that I don’t want to go through that again. Nor do I want to be part of the problem that I go through it again and selfishness is the first thing that puts a wedge between a couple. The absolute hard part is to keep putting the other person first when it seems like your partner is being selfish. I don’t get it right every time, but the times that I just shut my mouth and continue serving with love are the times I feel better about myself and my husband.

When we achieve our goals and live within our value systems, we become more confident and loving towards ourselves. When we feel love for ourselves, we have the strength and desire to show love to others. When we act on the desire to show love to others we then complete the cycle of the love of God.

It’s not just his love for us that is so amazing, it’s the fact that we as his children have the power and ability to feel that love and share it with others. We don’t have time to worry about embarrassment or shyness. We are at war with Satan and the more love we spread the more hearts will turn to our Heavenly Father with faith and hope and generations will be blessed.

How blessed we are to know and feel through the Holy Ghost the love of the Master and his Father. How privileged we are to have that love and to be able to go out and share it with others in big ways and in little ways. What a responsibility we have to share that love to those who are not worthy to feel the comfort of the Holy Ghost or the Love of the Father because of sin or lack of faith. We can do it brothers and sisters. We have to. We need the help of each other to get back to our Heavenly Father together. We need each other.