My last post was about faith and I shared two experiences from my life. I want my children to know that my faith started growing long before those events happened. I believe faith starts growing as a child. Eight year olds make the decision to be baptized in our church. I feel that is a decision of faith. Maybe it starts even before that? I can't really remember when my faith started to grow but it has to happen sometime when we are young. That I truly believe.
I remember a lot of my experiences from my youth. My mother had a huge part in building my testimony and growing my faith. My first experience of truly knowing my testimony for myself happened at girls camp. I was pretty lucky in the fact that my mother was the young womens president for majority of the time I was in young womens. Bless that women for putting up with me! :) I know I was not easy to deal with but I'm so grateful for all the time and effort she put into that calling. She always went above and beyond the required duties. She loved the girls and she always did extra things for us. She was an incredible leader and I'm so grateful for those memories with her. She really did shape the women I have become.
Anyways, back to girls camp. It had to be my second year at camp and it was a stake camp that year. There was a special presentation one night and different bishops dressed up like old prophets from the scriptures. They all had assigned lines that they were to to speak. I honestly don't remember what any of them said except for one. My bishop. He was a man that I loved and adored, Bishop Hughes, such a good man. He got up to do his part and he stumbled over his words. He was struggling to remember what his lines were. Finally he gave up on the assigned speaking part and just started bearing his testimony about the gospel of Jesus Christ. He ended with How do you know it is true? I believe he said this line a couple times. He really wanted us to ponder on How do I know it is true? This really hit me in the heart and caused me to question myself and my belief. How did I know? Was church something that I just did because my parents did? How did I know?
My heart was troubled. I was in tears. I couldn't find my own answer. Did I know the gospel was true? I didn't know. I struggled the rest of the night. My mom noticed and pulled me aside to talk. She talked with me for awhile. She assured me that I knew the gospel was true. She shared stories with me from my childhood about how faithful I was. I was always wanting to do family home evening, family scripture study and prayer ever since I was young because I knew what good it did for our family. I could feel it. She ended the conversation with encouraging me to ask Heavenly Father this question in prayer. Even though she settled a lot of my fears with her words she wanted me to know for myself. She knew that God would answer my prayers and I would get the answers that I needed. She told me to go off into the woods by myself and pray. She told me I would get my answer.
Due to weather that came that night I never made it into the woods. I'm deathly afraid of thunder and lighting, especially when camping. My mom let me come sleep in her tent that night at her feet (it was a small tent and that was the only place there was room). I prayed that night snuggled up in my sleeping bag trying to ignore the storm. My answer came. I just knew it was true. There was peace. My heart was not troubled. I slept so soundly that night and woke up in the morning soaking wet from the rain coming in the tent. It was a great night.
Since that point I knew for myself that the gospel of Jesus Christ was here on the Earth. I knew it was true. My testimony continued to grow as life went on through my teen years. I can look back and see God's hand in my life from an early age. There were many tender mercies that happened in high school. I also learned that there are many gifts of the spirit. I have a gift to just know things are right and true. I'm grateful for that gift. It has helped me so much in my life.
It is true that faith starts out as a tiny mustard seed. If we nurture that seed it will continue to grow. Faith takes works. We must ask questions. We must seek Him. We must search for Him. He will answer us. Today I'm grateful for a wonderful mother who knew and understood this. I'm grateful for taking me to church each week. I'm grateful for her example. She has always done her church callings to the best of her ability. She has always done what has been asked of her (that takes faith)! I'm grateful she understood just what I needed that night at girls camp. I'm thankful for an awesome bishop during my teenage years. I'm grateful for his testimony and the man that he is. I'm grateful for the church programs for the youth. Girls camp is one of my very favorite things that would happen each summer. I have such fond memories of each year. Some spiritual and some just plain good fun! I'm grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who loves me unconditionally. He is always there for me and I know I am His daughter. What a blessing! So much to be grateful for!
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