My heart is so full right now. I just really need to write it all down... I'd like to talk about our Fast and Testimony meeting today, and bear my own testimony.
As I walked in to Sacrament meeting, I debated whether or not I wanted to bear my testimony today. Last year, one of my resolutions was to get up to the pulpit every testimony meeting of the year, and I accomplished that, so I didn't feel like I needed to because it had been a long time, and I didn't have something that I felt I needed to share with people, necessarily.
I had been asked to say the opening prayer, so if I did get up, it would be for the second time in the meeting, which I counted as a con: Though I am not a shy person, I am not overly confident when I am speaking in front of an entire congregation of people. Singing in that situation is preferable because, though I worry about my voice cracking or saying the wrong words, I know exactly what words and notes I am supposed to sing.
While the young men passed the sacrament, I decided that it would be to my benefit to bear my testimony; I need all of the practice I can get before March, when I'll be bearing it daily, because though I am sure of my testimony, I am not sure of my speech. I don't consider myself great with words. I tend to ramble and change topics in rapid succession when I bear my testimony, and it makes me wonder if even the Spirit can follow what I say... Let's be honest, I'm rambling right now!
Well, the first person to get up with Elder Kikuchi, an Ameritus Seventy who lives in my ward. He bears his testimony every Fast Sunday that he is in town, and it is always amazing, but this time it was different - more personal. He spoke of how his wife recently became very sick. Her lung cancer, which had been in remission, was discovered to have not only reappeared in her trachea, but spread to her brain, where the doctors found not one, but several tumors. Elder and Sister Kikuchi were upset and frightened, but they had faith, and prayed and fasted that she would come out of things all right - He said that it was a very difficult time.
The scans were done just before Christmas, and as the holidays commenced, many doctors where not available to do further tests, but there was one man, a Latter-day Saint, who graciously scheduled to see her on the 31st. As they were walking in to the hospital, Sister Kikuchi turned to her husband and told him that the Lord had healed her. After an MRI, and then another nuclear MRI to make sure that what he was seeing was correct, the doctor, confirmed what she had said - both the tumors in her brain and the cancer in her trachea were completely gone. Before they had the opportunity to tell their family members, their son's 8-year-old son came in to his parents' room in the middle of the night - "Mom? Dad? Grandma is okay. She is healed." It was an incredible story, and equally as incredible was the timeline - this all happened between the end of November and now.
As you may imagine, Elder Kikuchi's testimony of the power of faith brought many people up to the stand. I waited for a few, who all spoke just as powerfully as Elder Kikuchi, mostly about recent miracles which they have experienced or witnessed. By this time I was in tears because the Spirit's presence in the room was so strong. I stopped thinking about what I was going to say, stood up, and walked to the pulpit, where I tried, as best I could, to say, as Alma says, "the smallest part which I [felt]." I had a really difficult time, actually, because I was crying so hard, but, though I knew I hadn't said everything that I felt, I knew that the Spirit had conveyed the message that I wanted my ward to hear, through my otherwise almost powerless words.
I am so grateful for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I don't know where I would be without it, but I do know that there's a large possibility it would be a very dark place. I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love Him, for everything that He has done for not only me, but for everyone who has come, and will come, to this earth. As another sister said in my meeting today, I know that He died for me, and that, even if I were the only soul who chose to come to earth, He still would have suffered in Gethsemane, and died for me on the cross. I am so grateful for His Atonement - the knowledge that I have the opportunity, through His infinite grace, to return to live with Him and my Father in Heaven is so tremendous to me! When I think about it, I feel this overwhelming joy that is better than any other feeling I've ever experienced, and I understand why those before me have said, "Hosanna!" because that is what my heart feels when I think of Him.
As I walked in to Sacrament meeting, I debated whether or not I wanted to bear my testimony today. Last year, one of my resolutions was to get up to the pulpit every testimony meeting of the year, and I accomplished that, so I didn't feel like I needed to because it had been a long time, and I didn't have something that I felt I needed to share with people, necessarily.
I had been asked to say the opening prayer, so if I did get up, it would be for the second time in the meeting, which I counted as a con: Though I am not a shy person, I am not overly confident when I am speaking in front of an entire congregation of people. Singing in that situation is preferable because, though I worry about my voice cracking or saying the wrong words, I know exactly what words and notes I am supposed to sing.
While the young men passed the sacrament, I decided that it would be to my benefit to bear my testimony; I need all of the practice I can get before March, when I'll be bearing it daily, because though I am sure of my testimony, I am not sure of my speech. I don't consider myself great with words. I tend to ramble and change topics in rapid succession when I bear my testimony, and it makes me wonder if even the Spirit can follow what I say... Let's be honest, I'm rambling right now!
Well, the first person to get up with Elder Kikuchi, an Ameritus Seventy who lives in my ward. He bears his testimony every Fast Sunday that he is in town, and it is always amazing, but this time it was different - more personal. He spoke of how his wife recently became very sick. Her lung cancer, which had been in remission, was discovered to have not only reappeared in her trachea, but spread to her brain, where the doctors found not one, but several tumors. Elder and Sister Kikuchi were upset and frightened, but they had faith, and prayed and fasted that she would come out of things all right - He said that it was a very difficult time.
The scans were done just before Christmas, and as the holidays commenced, many doctors where not available to do further tests, but there was one man, a Latter-day Saint, who graciously scheduled to see her on the 31st. As they were walking in to the hospital, Sister Kikuchi turned to her husband and told him that the Lord had healed her. After an MRI, and then another nuclear MRI to make sure that what he was seeing was correct, the doctor, confirmed what she had said - both the tumors in her brain and the cancer in her trachea were completely gone. Before they had the opportunity to tell their family members, their son's 8-year-old son came in to his parents' room in the middle of the night - "Mom? Dad? Grandma is okay. She is healed." It was an incredible story, and equally as incredible was the timeline - this all happened between the end of November and now.
As you may imagine, Elder Kikuchi's testimony of the power of faith brought many people up to the stand. I waited for a few, who all spoke just as powerfully as Elder Kikuchi, mostly about recent miracles which they have experienced or witnessed. By this time I was in tears because the Spirit's presence in the room was so strong. I stopped thinking about what I was going to say, stood up, and walked to the pulpit, where I tried, as best I could, to say, as Alma says, "the smallest part which I [felt]." I had a really difficult time, actually, because I was crying so hard, but, though I knew I hadn't said everything that I felt, I knew that the Spirit had conveyed the message that I wanted my ward to hear, through my otherwise almost powerless words.
I am so grateful for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I don't know where I would be without it, but I do know that there's a large possibility it would be a very dark place. I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love Him, for everything that He has done for not only me, but for everyone who has come, and will come, to this earth. As another sister said in my meeting today, I know that He died for me, and that, even if I were the only soul who chose to come to earth, He still would have suffered in Gethsemane, and died for me on the cross. I am so grateful for His Atonement - the knowledge that I have the opportunity, through His infinite grace, to return to live with Him and my Father in Heaven is so tremendous to me! When I think about it, I feel this overwhelming joy that is better than any other feeling I've ever experienced, and I understand why those before me have said, "Hosanna!" because that is what my heart feels when I think of Him.
16 Therefore, let us aglory, yea, we will bglory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his cmercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel.--Alma 26:16
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