Testimony

I didn't get to go to church today because of illness among us.  So, instead of going up in front of my Ward Family, I'm going to bear/share my testimony here.  :)

I know God lives and loves me, and you, and everyone... and loves us all the same... for being just who we are.  I know that Heavenly Father is truly the Father of my Spirit, and your Spirit, and everyone here on earth who has a Spirit.  I know that He loves us simiarly to, just WAY more than, the way I love my children. 

When I was pregnant with Ria I didn't "feel" love for her... not really.  I was excited, nervous, even scared.  But I didn't FEEL love for her.  I didn't even know she was a she until she was born (we're funny like that... no checking on gender in utero, thank you! ^_^).  But as soon as she was born I knew I was in love forever!  You see, I was absolutely sure that I would be horribly dissappointed if I had a girl instead of the boy I thought I wanted; I would cry.  Well, I didn't cry a single tear after Ria was born.  Not a tear of disappointment, not a tear of joy... not a single tear.  But I did feel this amazing and full-to-the-top-and-bustin-over feeling of elation.  I found that the little person I'd been growing was a girl and I was full and overflowing with JOY!  Pure, unadulterated JOY and LOVE.  I knew that she was perfect and that I couldn't have loved a boy more than I loved who I had.  And that, my friends, is only a fraction of the way God loves us!  How AMAZING!!!  If you haven't had a child, I cannot convey to you how amazing and wonderful this is.  If you have... well, you know it!  :)  What a gift to be loved Perfectly MORE than THAT by our Father in Heaven, right!!?

And no matter what my Ria does... sure I get frustrated and feel disappointed and even angry at times (I'm imperfect!)... but no matter what she does (or Kat, or Tea, or Jimmy, or anyone else who may join our family)... no matter WHAT, I'm always going to love her/them!  How could I stop?  I love them just because!  I mean, as soon as they came forth out of my body I was in love!  And this amazing feeling has helped me understand the truth of the phrase in the Bible that says, "and we love him because he first loved us (though this is probably not a perfect quotation)."  My children love me because I first love them... so similar to God's Love for us... yet SO much less.  It's awesome, though, isn't it!??

So, I know that Heavenly Father is the literal Father of our Spirits.  I know a tiny fraction of how He loves me.  I do not yet comprehend, though, the magnitude of His sacrifice in allowing Jesus Christ to fulfill His purpose in the Atonement.  I cannot imagine having to leave my child (ANY of them) when they are in the most gruelingly painful part of their life....  But God did that for us.  He allowed and enabled Christ to fulfill the Atonement so that we may be One.  So that we may return to His presence to live for eternity.  What an awesome and amazing gift!  I can think it, but I cannot understand!  God so love us....

I'm grateful for the Atonement.  I have committed some doozies... I am a horrible sinner.  But Heavenly Father is always there for me... for us.  No matter what we do.  He loves us and is willing and ready to allow the Atonement to clean us of our stain.  What a tremendous gift and blessing!  I'm so grateful.  I'm SO grateful to KNOW it!!!!

Heavenly Father has restored the fullness of the Gospel of Christ on the earth today.  The Apostacy foretold by the Apostles in the Bible occurred.  The fulness of Christ's Gospel (including Priesthood authority) was removed from the earth.  Joseph Smith was the instrument through whom God the Father and our Savior Jesus Christ restored the fullness of the Gospel of Christ to the earth.  We are blessed to live in a day when we have the Bible so easily accessible; so readily available.  AND we have the Book of Mormon to confirm the truths in it... we are not reliant upon man's interpretation (which could go in SO many directions) of the Bible alone.  The Book of Mormon adds another witness to the truths taught us and available to us in the Bible.  What a gift!  It is true!  It testifies of Jesus Christ, born in Bethlahem to Mary.  Joseph acted as his mortal father, but God was and is the Father of His Spirit AND body!  God has said by the mouth of two or three witnesses He will establish His truth.  So, it makes perfect sense to me that He would use the words from prophets originating in two totally seperate peoples (but of the same house, originating from the same people of the Covenant) to verify what He would have us know.  And what a gift and blessing it is to see how totally true it is that He is the same and speaks the same truths regardless of WHERE the people are to whom He speaks!

I'm grateful for the knowledge I have been blessed with about Christ's Gospel.  I'm grateful for the Grace Father God has given me which enables me to do all that I do which is right.  I'm grateful to know the truth about the duality and Oneness of God the Father and Jesus Christ... and to know that the Holy Ghost is a part, yet not, of the God head.  I'm so grateful for the witness of the Holy Spirit that I have felt about all these truths and continue to feel about other aspects of truth associated with the Gospel of Christ as taught in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!  I'm so grateful for God's Love.  I'm so grateful for the Atonement our Savior made for me... for you... for us!  I'm SO grateful!

I share this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.