I love being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I joined back in 1964 after a long struggle with faith. I had loved the Savior ever since I could remember, but the church of my youth deserted me as it moved into the intellect movement of the 60's. Without spiritual guidance, I fell away. The Lord distinguished between the words of my mouth and the longing of my heart. He knew that I wanted to believe and so he sent a young woman who told me the story of the Restored Gospel. She bore her testimony of Jesus Christ and promised me that I could know for myself and have my own testimony.

Now forty-six years later I can only thank her from the bottom of my heart for introducing me to the church. Indeed I do have my own testimony. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet, called to restore Christ's church to the earth. We have a prophet today who leads and guides us. I am so grateful for Latter-day scriptures that bear testimony of Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon is the Word of God. It stands as another witness of the Savior and it's truths have touched my life in very personal ways.

I hope that my poetry reflects the growth of my testimony and my love for Jesus Christ.

For the commandment is a lamp and the law is light. Proverbs 6:23

It doesn't seem possible that a person can get so confused that the very sense of right and wrong can be lost.  There was a time in my life when I was just that confused and I was very unhappy.  If I had been an alcoholic you might have said I had hit bottom.  But I was not.  I was just a lost and sad soul. Then one night when I was praying so very hard to know what I needed to do to be happy again I was led to this scripture in an answer to my prayer:  2 Nephi 1:20  "And he hath said that: Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; but inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence."



My first reaction to this "prayer answer" was "What does this have to do with happiness?"  Then I spent a lot of time pondering the scripture and realized that the Lord had reached out to empower me. There was so much in my life that I could not control.  But this I could control.  I could live a life based on gospel principles completely!  I made myself a promise that I would do so and trust the Lord that it would lead me to happiness.  It did!  I believe it was a combination of empowerment, obedience to true principles, and integrity within myself that returned me to a life filled with joy.  As a result of that experience I wrote this poem.

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