A bad dream and a ray of hope

This morning I woke up and went into the living room where my sister was typing on the computer. She said good morning and then all of the sudden she got up and said she needed a hug. So I gave her one, and asked why she needed it. She replied that she had a bad dream, in which she was standing with me before a natural disaster hit and then I was gone. I wasn’t alarmed by this since I was not dead and it was just a bad dream so I tried to comfort her. After a few moments she was fine. I guess just seeing me was enough. But it made me think about life, and how quickly it can change. We could be here one minute and then gone the next. It makes me very grateful to know that I will be with my family forever, even after death, through my Heavenly Father’s plan. When we die, we won’t be alone in Heaven. We will be linked eternally to those that we love, not just as friends but as the relationships we have here. As husband and wife, brother/sister, parent/child. I know that if I were to die today, that I would be with my sister again, as her sister. I’m so glad for this truth that I have! I don’t think I would be able to live thinking that I would never be with my family again! Through this link that we share, I am linked to my grandparents and my great-grandparents and my great-great-grandparents. I’m so very thankful that I have this knowledge!

The truth becomes so clear

Whenever I heard the words ‘my conversion’ I thought of a person who had not been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (or a mormon) their whole lives. But now that I’ve grown, I realize that all members have had a ‘conversion story’. Right now I want to share mine.

The church has always been a part of my life. I’ve grown up with it’s teachings, going to Sunday meetings and attending other church activities. I know now that I’ve always known the church was true but like Elder Douglas L. Callister said in his last General Conference address, I didn’t know that I knew. I had read the Book of Mormon with my family and alone almost twice before I really asked if it was true. I remember the exact day and moment. I was about 11 years old and we had been visiting some of the Church’s historical sites in Kirtland, Ohio. I had finished reading Moroni 10, and I really read the fourth and fifth verses.

 4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

  5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

So, I did exactly what Moroni said I should do. I got down on my knees beside the motel bed and asked. I didn’t have a vision, and I didn’t hear a voice. But suddenly, the words of a song we children sing in church came flooding into my mind. The song is called Search Ponder and Pray. This is what it says:

“I love to read the Holy Scriptures and every time I do

I feel the Spirit start to grow within my heart

A testimony that they’re true.

Search, ponder and pray

Are the things that I must do

The spirit will guide, and, deep inside,

I’ll know the scriptures are true

So prayerfully I’ll read my scriptures

Each day my whole life through.

I’ll come to understand. I’ll heed the Lord’s command

And live as he would have me do

Search, ponder and pray,

Are the things that I must do

The Spirit will guide and deep inside

I’ll know the scriptures are true.”

I probably cried, I don’t remember, but I remember the last words were different when they entered my mind. Instead of ‘I’ll know’ the thought was ’I know’. It was a simple answer, but it brought a powerful feeling of truth and knowledge. I knew the Book of Mormon was true! And since that day, I have never doubted it’s truthfulness. I know that God hears and answers our prayers. He may not answer them the way we think He will, or the way we think He should, but He will answer them, and it will be to our advantage if we listen and obey him.