Kathleen H. Hughes, "Remembering the Lord's Love"

"The Savior's invitation is clear and direct, and importantly for us, it is constant: 'Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden. . . . Take my yoke upon you, . . . for . . . my burden is light'(Matthew 11:28-30). This is the Lord's promise to me and to you."My prayer for each of us is that we will remember when the Lord has spoken His peace to us and has encircled us in the arms of His love. And just as important, will you, if you haven't felt that love for a while, seek to see it and feel it as you go about the ordinary tasks of your life. As you do this, over the days and months and years of your life, the memories of those interactions with the Lord will become sweet gifts to open a second time--or many times--to bolster you when life is difficult." 'Peace I give unto you,' the Lord promises, 'not as the world giveth, give I unto you' (John14:27). Peace. Strength. It is what we long for and what is possible. We only need to turn toward His reaching arms."

This was posted on Magic Valley Mormon Blog. I like what Sister Hughes said about spiritual memories being "sweet gifts to open a second time--or many times-- to bolster you when life is difficult." I believe that this is why I keep a journal, so that I can later remember the spiritual gifts from Heavenly Father and feel that same sweet warmth and gratitude from knowing that He loves me, and answers my prayers.

Kathleen H. Hughes, "Remembering the Lord's Love," Ensign, Nov. 2006

A Second Witness

This year has been a challenging one for me. Just recently I was thinking that I hadn't felt the Holy Ghost as much as I had previously. I wasn't sure what I was doing differently or incorrectly. But I missed His constant companionship and knew that I needed to do something. But what? I needed to know.

So, as I was praying during the first week of October(2007), I got the strong impression, again, that I should write my Tender Mercy stories. I had felt two years ago that I should, at the very least, write them for myself and my family. I know that when I am having a dry spell in my spirituality, I can reread my journals and often find my own testimony, experiences, or insights that help remind me of the things that are most important. I determined that I would do it and start again, now.

I knew it was the answer to my prayers. I felt the warm reassurance that writing my stories would help me not only feel the Spirit more in my life, but that what I had felt two years ago was still valid.

But Heavenly Father really wanted me to know this was His will for me. In the Sunday morning session of General Conference, President Eyring's talk "O Remember, Remember" was a second witness. The words of his talk, how they hit me! He said, "...it is not easy to be worthy of the Holy Ghost’s companionship in a wicked world.
That is why forgetting God has been such a persistent problem among His children since the world began. Think of the times of Moses, when God provided manna and in miraculous and visible ways led and protected His children. Still, the prophet warned the people who had been so blessed, as prophets always have warned and always will: 'Take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life.'"

Was I like the children of Egypt who had been fed manna both spiritually and temporally and was forgetting? Yes. I had felt a whole two years ago that I should write my sweet spiritual experiences down and I had only written one. And it was on my computer for no one to read. Everyone that knows me very well has probably heard the one I've posted here on my blog, but I've now posted it! I have a couple more to follow.

So to continue, President Eyring told me (and you), "The key to the remembering that brings and maintains testimony is receiving the Holy Ghost as a companion. It is the Holy Ghost who helps us see what God has done for us."

After Elder Bednar's talk in the spring of 2005, I had been jotting down in my palm pilot notes of the small Tender Mercies that Heavenly Father had granted me. I have a list of twenty or more, in two or three word descriptions. I wanted to write them in greater detail. I knew it was important. I wanted to share with my family how blessed we were. I had a hectic summer that year, and a crazy fall. I quit writing my list. But I still shared my stories.

Then I quit sharing my stories. Life continued through it's normal ups and downs, with a few more downs than normal. But I felt the Holy Ghost with me through those trials, directing and comforting me.

But after finally landing with both feet on the ground back in Logan, things calmed down. I got busy setting up house, finishing our basement, learning a new job, and adjusting to being back "home".

But something has been missing. Not that I haven't had the Holy Ghost with me, but I haven't had His constant companionship like I had. I couldn't place what was different. Because of the answer to my prayers and the second witness of President Eyring's talk, I know what I was told to do, why, and that now I must do it!

President Eyring;
"Heavenly Father has given a simple pattern for us to receive the Holy Ghost not once but continually in the tumult of our daily lives. The pattern is repeated in the sacramental prayer: We promise that we will always remember the Savior. We promise to take His name upon us. We promise to keep His commandments. And we are promised that if we do that, we will have His Spirit to be with us.6 Those promises work together in a wonderful way to strengthen our testimonies and in time, through the Atonement, to change our natures as we keep our part of the promise.

It is the Holy Ghost who testifies that Jesus Christ is the Beloved Son of a Heavenly Father who loves us and wants us to have eternal life with Him in families. With even the beginning of that testimony, we feel a desire to serve Him and to keep His commandments. When we persist in doing that, we receive the gifts of the Holy Ghost to give us power in our service. We come to see the hand of God more clearly, so clearly that in time we not only remember Him, but we come to love Him and, through the power of the Atonement, become more like Him."

And this is my desire.

Again, President Eyring, "Tonight, and tomorrow night, you might pray and ponder, asking the questions: Did God send a message {in this General Conference} that was just for me?" (Boy, did He!) "Did I see His hand in my life or the lives of my children?" I do, again and again. And I hope and pray that I always will acknowledge His Hand and His Tender Mercies in my life.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.