So it has been a wonderful couple of days. I have been able to feel the Spirit very strongly and have felt the Lord's love for me.
On Saturday night, we had our Relief Society Birthday dinner. We invited the men to be with us and it was a great evening. Our Relief Society 1st counselor talked about the history of the Relief Society. Then we watched President Uchtdorf's talk at the General Women's Meeting in October 2014. If you have not watched it in a while, I recommend that you do so.
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/living-the-gospel-joyful?lang=eng
He talks about us being Children of our Heavenly Father. We are his children, but we this is not something we have earned or will ever lose. We will always be His child. However, if we want to return and live with Him, we do need to do something. We need to obey Him and His commandments. We must obey all of them even if they are hard. I love what he says here:
And yet for some of us, obedience to God’s commandments doesn’t always feel very joyful. Let’s face it: there may be some that seem harder or less appealing—commandments that we approach with the enthusiasm of a child sitting before a plate of healthy but hated vegetables. We grit our teeth and force ourselves to comply so that we can move on to more desirable activities.
Perhaps during times such as these, we might find ourselves asking, “Do we really need to obey all of God’s commandments?”
My response to this question is simple:
I think God knows something we don’t—things that are beyond our capacity to comprehend! Our Father in Heaven is an eternal being whose experience, wisdom, and intelligence are infinitely greater than ours.4 Not only that, but He is also eternally loving, compassionate, and focused on one blessed goal: to bring to pass our immortality and eternal life.5
When I feel like things are not going as I had hoped or things are a little difficult, I try to remember that He knows what is best for me. He knows more than I do. He knows all. He knows what will be best for me to help me so that I may return to Him. He sent His Son to die for me, so that if I keep His commandments, repent, serve and endure to the end, I WILL be with Him eternally.
After this talk, one of our Korean sisters, Jennifer Lee, played the guitar and sang, "You Raise Me Up." She dedicated to all of the Relief Society sisters in our branch. She is such a wonderful person and feels that we are all great, too! She is a wonderful singer and even has had the chance to sing once with the Tabernacle Choir.
There was not a dry eye in the house after she was done. We all feel the same about the wonderful sisters in our branch even the new ones. We just had three new sisters move into our branch. One has a 12 year old girl and a 10 year old girl. I now have two young women. Yeah!!
Our branch president gave some remarks last. He talked about each one of us. I was so touched when he talked about me and told me he loved me. He is a wonderful man and is testimony is wonderfully simple. He always says what he means. It really touched me. Sometimes I feel like I am not having an effect on anyone's life, but the Lord knew what I needed to hear last night and touched the heart of our Branch President to help get the word out.
We had a wonderful dinner afterwards. What a wonderful day to spend a Saturday evening.
So I was already feeling the Spirit when I arrived at Sacrament Meeting this morning. I am so grateful that we have a branch here that we can go to church and partake of the Sacrament. Our speaker spoke about "The Law of the Harvest" and about Faith. Very spiritual.
During Sunday School, we were discussing lesson #10 "Take My Yoke Upon You, and Learn of Me." We read Matthew 11:28-30:
28 ¶Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
As we were discussing what it means to take His yoke upon us, my thoughts went back to girl's camp in July 2011 and Beaver camp. We had an spiritual activity, A Faith Walk, about the young women taking The Savior's yoke upon them so that He can help them with their burdens.
The girl's were taken on a walk with their backpacks. Along the way, the girl's made stops and were given burdens to carry. Each burden was a rock. The rocks varied in size from very small to fairly large. At some stops the girls were allowed to choose the size of their burden. They put these burdens into their backpacks and continued on with their journey.
Meanwhile, I had made my way up to the top of a very steep hill to await the girl's coming. I would be representing our Father and Mother in Heaven. I would be there to meet them as they completed their journey. I could not see the girl's along the way. I only got to see them as they rounded the corner at the bottom of the hill. I could see that many of the girl's were very tired and weak because of their many burdens.
I was not the only one waiting for them. Bishop Bitner was waiting for them, too. As the Bishop, he is one who can help the young women release the burdens off their shoulders through repentance. He was supposed to be waiting next to the large picture of the Savior. The girl's were supposed to climb to the Savior where the Bishop would take their burdens, so that the rest of the trip up the hill would not be affected by the burdens. This is what the Savior does. If we take His yoke upon us, He will help carry our burdens, so that we can make the final journey to our Heavenly Father.
However, the Bishop and all of the other Bishops there could not stand and watch the girl's suffer. I, too, wanted go down and help them because I could see the pain they were going through. Bishop Bitner went down closer to the bottom of the hill to help. Many of the girl's turned their burdens over to him. Some told him they could do it on their own, but then allowed him to help them. We do this many times, too. The Savior wants to lift or help carry our burdens, but we think we can do it all on our own. Then we realize we do not have to. We can turn our burdens over to Him because He is willing. We do not have to do it alone. We are never alone. We always have our Savior.
Once the girl's dropped their burdens off at the feet of the Savior and continued their final journey up the hill, I was calling to them that they could do it. The other girls in our ward, who had completed their journey already, were there to encourage the others. It was wonderful to see especially the older sisters who were crying and wishing they could help their younger sister, to see the joy on their faces as their sisters completed the journey and could be wrapped in our arms, safe and sound.
I will always remember this Faith Walk!
Here are some pictures about it. I hope the young women who were there will remember the feelings they had as they completed this faith walk. I hope those reading this blog can also feel the Spirit and know that the Savior will take upon Him our burdens if we take upon us His yoke and learn of Him.
Some pictures are blurry, but I felt all of them needed to be put here, so you could get the full idea.
I love how when you are feeling the Spirit it reminds you of another time you felt the Spirit and you feel the Spirit even stronger. That is what I was feeling during the Sunday School lesson today. It was a wonderful two days.
I am grateful that the Lord helps me carry my burdens or lifts my burdens for me. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to feel the Spirit these last few days. I am grateful that I have the opportunity to go to church and to be among faithful Saints each week. I am grateful for all off the many opportunities I have had in my life to serve the Lord in the Young Women organization. I have been blessed to get to know many young women over the years, and see them grow in life and in testimony, and be friends with over the years of their lives.
I am grateful to be a part of the gospel and a part of a worldwide family.
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