Today I thought about the very first spiritual experience that I remember having.
I was perhaps in the 8th grade, and I was sitting on the back row of the chapel during Fast and Testimony meeting. For once I was actually listening, when this feeling come over me. I can't explain it, but I felt that God was my Father, and that I was His daughter. It wasn't a feeling of knowlege that God lives, but a feeling of relatedness, that He really is my Father, that He knows me and loves me and cares about me. It was like He touched me on the shoulder to get my attention. I didn't just know that I was a child of God; I felt that relationship.
That's all. No big deal.
But to me it was. That feeling was permanently etched into my soul and has stayed with me all of my life.
I've always thought it significant that my first revelation was, that I am a daughter of God.
Maybe it's why I don't grow up: I feel always like a child, always in need of help and direction and wisdom.
I have found safety and security in knowing I have a Father who loves me, who watches out for me, who cares about what I do.
I have found purpose and meaning in knowing He sent me here for a reason.
All the days of my life I have been grateful that my Father revealed Himself to me when I was yet a girl.
Like a spoiled, selfish child, I have at times ignored and even defied Him.
But mostly I have tried to please Him.
I look forward to seeing Him again, to being held in His arms once more.
I hope it will bring a smile to His face, that I have tried to be a good girl.
"Nothing is going to startle us more when we pass through the veil to the other side than to realize how well we know our Father and how familiar his face is to us." --Ezra Taft Benson
5 comments:
I've never heard that quote from President Benson before, it gave me chills.
What a great idea to record your first spiritual experience. I don't know if I have a clear memory of mine, that makes me sad. I'll have to think about it more. Thanks for another great post.
What a wonderful experience to have. I wish I remembered my first spiritual experience. There is one I recall rather clearly from when I was younger, but I was a senior in high school, not in 8th grade!
As always, your blog is wise, thoughtful, and a great lesson to all of us who read.
The President Benson sure knows what he's talking about, eh? I think it's great that you've "never grown up." We are commanded to become as children, and having never left that stage you don't have to backtrack like the rest of us. I love you!
All I can do is hope that my memory will be restored when the noise level at my house goes down! I don't remember my first experience, but I will think about it!
that anana is SO funny! I really like her!
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