God Loves Us So Much

I have had a great weekend.  I have felt the Spirit more powerfully and more often than I have in a long time.  I have several experiences from the past two days that I want to share.

Yesterday I was home alone doing the dishes when suddenly I felt an overwhelming feeling of love.  It seemed so random!  I immediately stopped what I was doing, got down on my knees and began to pray out loud.  I thanked Heavenly Father for His mercy, grace, and love.  The feeling grew stronger.  It's hard to describe it.  Borrowing words from the scriptures, there was a swelling in my breast and I felt an my soul being enlarged.  Those spiritual moments can come at any time.  If we are not living the way we should be, we could very well miss them.  I know that God was telling me that I was on the right path and doing the right things and that He was pleased with me.

Today after my family went to church (my homeward meets at eleven, the YSA ward I go to meets at one) I watch The Testaments.  I love that movie.  Every time I watch it I'm bawling at the end.  I felt that overwhelming love again.  And I began to feel a burning desire to share that love.  I wanted God to lead me to those souls who were seeking to become better that I could help.  This is something I had been praying for.  I want to go on a mission for many different reasons, but I want the biggest reason to simply be a desire to share God's love with His children.  So I've been praying for that.  I met with my Stake President today, and my mission papers are going to be submitted tomorrow.  Something he challenged me to do to prepare to serve was to talk to people that I don't know.  In that moment of joy and love after the movie, I determined that I was going to talk to people in my ward today that I didn't know.

Soon after arriving to church, that feeling had faded.  I sat alone, and even though my entire bench ended up filled with people I didn't know by the beginning of the meeting, I didn't talk to any of them.  I began to feel a little discouraged.  This feeling grew stronger when I realized that I had failed to do my home teaching this month despite having been determined to fulfill my duty at the beginning of the month.  I began to pray, expressing my sorrow at my failure and at my weakness and asking for help in overcoming my infirmities.  I saw that the intermediate hymn was no. 130, so I opened up to it to see what it was.  The words struck me.  Hymn no. 130 is "Be Thou Humble."

Be thou humble
in the weakness,
and the Lord thy God shall lead thee,
shall lead thee by the hand
and give thee answers to thy prayers.

Be thou humble 
in thy pleading,
and the Lord thy God shall bless thee,
shall bless thee with a sweet 
and calm assurance that he cares.  

One of the scriptures at the bottom of the page was Ether 12:27. "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness.  I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."  I have been trying so hard the last few weeks to come unto Christ.  I have made leaps and bounds in my progress.  As I read this scripture I began to understand, and this is what I wrote in my notebook:
"I came to Christ and he showed me my weakness in talking to people I don't know.  At first, this discouraged me.  I changed that discouragement to humility.  He spoke to me through the words of Hymn No. 130 and Ether 12:27.  I felt consumed by his love as he showed me that if I am humbleand have faith in him, his grace is sufficient."
I felt that love in a particularly powerful way as I partook of the sacrament and reflected again and again on the words of the hymn and of Ether 12:27.  When we are humble in our pleading, the Lord truly does bless us with a sweet and calm assurance that he cares.

God loves us.  I know that with all my heart.  "He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh" (2 Nephi 4:21).  He knows our fears, our concerns, and our weaknesses and he wants to help us overcome them.  He has helped me in overcoming the greatest challenge I have ever faced.  His power is real.  The power of the atonement can help you through any struggle.  If you feel you are in the darkest pit, you can still find light.  I have been through awful despair and my Savior has lifted me up to unspeakable joy.  There is nowhere he can't reach, no wound he can't heal, no sorrow he can't comfort.  He loves you, and he can and will help you if you humbly and sincerely seek his divine help.