This past summer, the day after we celebrated our 15th anniversary, we went through a house in a new area and pretty much fell in love. The house was big enough to fit our family, it was completely and beautifully updated and had a gorgeous yard. We were smitten - but still the thought of leaving our neighborhood, broke our hearts - and the hearts of our kids.
Finally, after weeks of going back and forth on a roller coaster of emotion, we made the tough decision to move. It has meant leaving our dear friends and neighbors. It has meant all our kids started new schools this fall. It has meant tears, and selling our house, and stress - but it's something we feel is right for our family and despite how hard it's been - we are so excited about it.
This past Sunday, was our second to last week in our ward and Andrew and I were asked to speak. It was a heart wrenching talk to prepare because it was nearly impossible to find the words that appropriately describe what this place and these people have meant to us. In the end, I am grateful I had the chance to at least try.
For posterity's sake, here is my talk:
I
am grateful for the privilege I have to speak here today and share my testimony
of the Savior and His gospel with people I love so dearly.
The
theme for this month is Stand in Holy Places. I am grateful for the opportunity I have had
to prepare this talk as it has given me a chance to really focus on this topic
and ponder what it means in my own life.
Amidst
the craziness of this world, with all its uncertainties and commotion, there
must be places that offer spiritual refuge, hope, peace and renewal. Such places do exist and they are both holy
and sacred. They are places where we can
find and commune with the Spirit of the Lord.
Three
times in the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord counsels His people to “stand in
holy places.” The significance of His
counsel is all the more momentous as we look at the current condition of our
world. Political and economic unrest, a
decline in moral values, wars, disease, and increased conflicts have become
familiar to each of us in our daily experience.
In the face of such confusion and turmoil, the Lord counsels his people,
“Behold, it is my will, that all they who call on my name, and worship me
according to mine everlasting gospel, should gather together, and stand in holy
places.”
Holy
places have always been essential to the proper worship of God. For Latter-day Saints, such holy places
include our homes, sacrament meetings and temples. Much of what we reverence, and what we teach
our children to reverence as holy and sacred, is reflected in these
places.
As
a mother, my greatest responsibility is to create a home for my children where
the Spirit can dwell. While our home is
seldom quiet or tranquil, there are moments we share as a family that can only
be described as holy. There are times
when together as a family we pray, or read the scriptures, or share our
testimonies, and the spirit is so strong, our home is a holy and sacred place.
I
hope that through these experiences in our home, and as a family, my children
will learn to recognize what the spirit feels like to them, and seek to always
have it with them. And I hope that as
they go out into the world, and encounter many of the world’s negative
influences, they’ll view our home as a refuge from the outside forces of this
uncertain world – as a holy place where they can come for peace and renewal. I hope
they will always know and recognize that our home is a holy and sacred place.
Likewise,
sacrament meetings are more than just meetings.
They are sacred moments in a holy place.
In Moroni 6:5-6 we read, “And the church did meet together oft, to fast
and to pray, and to speak one with another concerning the welfare of their
souls. And they did meet together oft to
partake of bread and wine, in remembrance of the Lord Jesus.” During sacrament
meetings, we gather together to take the sacrament, to renew our covenants, and
to remember the atoning sacrifice of our Savior. We remember, we worship, and through these
holy moments, our “hearts are knit together in unity and in love one towards
another.” What great blessings we receive by gathering
together each week in this holy place.
Temples,
which are now spread throughout much of the earth, with “Holiness to the Lord”
inscribed on them are among the most sacred of all places on the earth. They stand as evidence of God’s love to all
His children. I am so grateful for the
refuge and renewal the temple provides.
There have been times when Andrew and I have gone to the temple with
specific questions or concerns filling our hearts and minds, and in the temple,
we have found peace and a greater understanding of the Lord’s purpose for each
of us and for our family. How grateful I
am to have such a place in this tumultuous world.
One
of our family’s favorite scripture stories in the Book of Mormon, is that of
Lehonti and Amalikiah. In Alma 47, we
read of Lehonti, the leader of a Lamanite army, who had positioned his men on
top of the mountain. He and those he
led were “fixed in their minds with a determined resolution” that they would
not come down off the mountain. The
deceitful Amalickiah knew that if Lehonti would leave the top of the mountain,
he could gain favor with the Lamanite armies and eventually become king. Three times he asked Lehonti to come down off
the top of mountain, and three times Lehonti refused. Finally, Amalickiah went “up into the mount,
nearly to Lehonti’s camp” and again requested that Lehonti meet him. This time, Lehonti and his guards, left the
safety of the mountain top and went part way down the mountain to meet
Amalickiah. Once he left that safe and
holy place, Amalickiah was able to poison Lehonti by degrees until he was dead.
What
a powerful message for each of us today – how important it is to be diligent in
standing in holy places so we aren’t being spiritually “poisoned by degrees.” Each
time we read this part of the Book of Mormon, we talk about the importance of
being steadfast and immovable and standing in holy places. The last time we read it, for several weeks
afterwards, my children’s prayers included the line, “Please bless we won’t
come halfway down the mountain.” Even at young ages, they understond the importance
of seeking high ground and in standing firm in holy places.
I
have learned through experience, that when we stand in holy places, we put
ourselves in a position so that the Lord can bless us. However, I have also found through personal
experience, we need to trust that the Lord will bless us in ways that are for
our good – even if those blessings are not what we hoped for or wanted for
ourselves.
A
short time after Andrew and I were married, Andrew was applying to medical school. We were living in Arlington, Virginia at the time,
but we both hoped Andrew would be accepted to the University of Utah for
medical school so we could move back here and be closer to family. Andrew had worked hard in college. He had good grades and test scores – and as we
were doing our best to obey the commandments in our lives, we expected Heavenly
Father would bless us accordingly. As we
sent off his med school application, we fasted and prayed and hoped that our
prayers would be answered and that he would be accepted to the U.
Imagine
how broken-hearted we were a few months later, when we went to the mailbox and
found a letter from the University of Utah stating that Andrew hadn't been accepted to medical school. All the hopes and dreams we had outlined for
ourselves for the next few years of our life came crashing down around us. I admit, our initial reaction was to question the Lord, wondering why he had forgotten us and let
our prayers go unanswered when we had done all that He had asked of us. It
didn’t take long however, for us to realize that the Lord was blessing us
according to his plan – which was greater and wiser than the plan we had for
ourselves.
A
short time after receiving the letter from the U, Andrew received a phone call
letting him know that he had been accepted into Georgetown Medical School. We were thrilled that he had been accepted
and excited that we would spend the next four years living in northern
Virginia.
Andrew
and I look back at that time of our life, as one of the greatest blessings of
our marriage. While living in
Arlington, we were in a ward where we
made many dear, life-long friends, including Matt and Amanda. Well, after several years of school and
residency, it was finally time for us to move back to Utah, it was Amanda who called and asked we were interested in renting their house which
happened to be in this ward.
I
didn’t know anything about this area before moving into their house, but
it only took a few weeks of coming to church here for us to realize we wanted
to be in this area. We were welcomed so
warmly by so many of you and over the past seven years, since we moved here, we
have been served and felt loved by all of you.
We
now look back on that sad day in Arlington, Virginia, when we found out Andrew
hadn’t been accepted to the U, as one of the great blessings of our life. In a very real and direct way, that rejection
letter is the reason we have been blessed to be members of this ward. Our
Heavenly Father, with his eternal perspective, knew what we needed more than we
did and he blessed us abundantly in ways we never imagined. We will be eternally grateful for that
blessing.
Over
the past seven years, the Valley View 10th ward has been a holy
place for our family. We have stood
here, steadfast and immovable, with many of you as we have worshipped, learned,
laughed, and cried together. I will
always view this time and this place as “holy” in my family’s life.
It
was here, as members of this ward, that our three oldest children were baptized
and confirmed.
It
was here that our four youngest children were given a name and a blessing.
It
was here that our daughter Abby first recognized the spirit and during a
sacrament meeting, passed me a note, written on a gum wrapper that said, “Mom,
I felt the spirit so strongly during that last talk.”
It
was here that at age six, our son Isaac followed a prompting from the Holy
Ghost and stood and bore his testimony of the Book of Mormon.
It
was here that during Susan’s mid-week scripture study class, I felt the
Holy Ghost whisper to me that I needed to be reading the Book of Mormon to my
young children every day – and what a blessing that has been to our family.
It
was here I was given opportunities to teach Sunday School, Relief Society,
Young Womens, and Primary – and I know I
learned and grew more from those lessons than anyone I taught.
It
was here that we have sought council from our good bishops about decisions and
choices facing us in our life, and they have blessed us with their wisdom.
It
was here that we have “talked of Christ, we have rejoiced in Christ, we have
preached of Christ…that our children may know to what source they may look for
a remission of their sins.”
Over
the past seven years, our lives have been so blessed by the members of this
ward. I look out and see the faces of people
who have taught my children the gospel, people who have fed our family after
the births of our children, people who have offered encouraging words on crazy
Sunday mornings. I see people who have
mowed our lawn, and who have helped clean my house. I see the faces of those who have dropped off
treats at our house and those who have babysat my children. I see the faces of those who have been
incredible examples to me of faith, courage, and purity. We have been so abundantly blessed by your
goodness and your love and your service.
There are not words I can use to adequately thank you for all you have
done for me and my family. I will be
eternally thankful for our time in this ward – and for countless ways you have
blessed our lives. This is a holy place – in every sense of the word – and our
family has been blessed by standing here with you each week.
In
closing, I would like to share my testimony.
I know that Heavenly Father loves me and hears and answers my prayers. I
know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and the Savior of the world. He came to earth to provide a perfect example
for us to follow and to atone for the sins of the world. I know that this church is His church
restored in the latter days by the prophet Joseph Smith.
I
am grateful for the council we have been given, to stand in holy places. I am grateful for the peace and refuge that
can only come through the Holy Ghost in this uncertain world.
In
the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
