Testimony

Today was our ward’s fast and testimony meeting.  As I was standing bouncing our baby during the sacrament I decided that I would like to get up and bear my testimony today.  However, before the sacrament ended I had to take that baby out to feed him and the line on the stand never dwindled enough for me to feel like I ought to get up.  So I promised myself that I would at least come home and share my thoughts here.

December 31st marked a major milestone for me.  It marked the end of the first year since 2002 that I had began and finished in the same ward.  Over the previous 8 years I had been in 10.5 wards (I’m counting Eric’s BYU singles’ ward as a half since the semester we were engaged I attended with him more frequently than not, even though my records remained in my geographic ward).  For me that was a very difficult thing.  I like to think of myself as a friendly person, but the truth is that I am seriously shy and it takes me awhile to adjust to new situations.  During those 8 years it would take me about 6 months to start to settle into a new ward. which we were then in for about 3-6 months longer before moving on again.

As I was standing in our ward’s chapel bouncing our baby I was able to look around and I realized that I actually *knew* most of the people in our ward.  Not only that, but they are people that I like and feel privileged to be around.  They’re the same people that I see at the park and in joy school or at the grocery store.  I’ve served with them in nursery or primary or at least served with their children there.  I can honestly say that I love our ward and can’t think of any place I’d rather be.

I feel so blessed to know that our Heavenly Father loves us and is watching out for what we need, and what will make us happy.  When Eric and I were engaged we decided that we could live anywhere, but we really didn’t want to end up in Utah.  Five years later Utah is (of course) exactly where we are and we don’t have any intention of leaving (except to go to China for awhile if the opportunity should arise 🙂 ) .  I thought about some of the other plans we’ve made that I’m so glad didn’t work out for us.  Growing up I was adamant that I was going to the University of Utah – but going to BYU was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.  When Eric and I got married we said we were going to wait 3 years before we started to think about having children – 8 months later we’d changed our minds and less than two years later we had Sam.  As we were getting ready to settle down we tried desperately to get out of Utah.  When we realized we were staying we set the criteria for our house that we wanted to be close to everything – if you’ve been in our neighborhood you know that we’re far away from just about everything.

I’m so grateful for personal revelation.  I’m grateful that the Lord can help us know the things that will be best for us, and not just let us have the things that we want.  I’m grateful for the wonderful place that we’ve ended up.  Left to our own devices there’s no way we would have chosen the place we did, but we couldn’t be happier with it.

I know that our Heavenly Father loves us and is watching over us. I know that He hears and answers our prayers and that if we follow his guidance and commandments He will lead us to the best situations for us.  I know that the gospel taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true.  I’m so grateful for it in my life.