In the church there are times when others sacrifice so that we may be edified and there are times when we must sacrifice so that others may be edified. For the past couple of years my little family has been asked to
sacrifice so that others may be edified. For those of you who don't know, Isaac is a counselor in our Bishopric (he is one of the leaders of our church congregation). And because of his call, for the last few years I have sat by myself in the congregation and had to try to keep my children quite and in their seats. And as a result, I am lucky if I can get one thing out of the messages that are shared.
All though most days it does feel like a sacrifice, I try not to think of it as one because I am happy to support my husband in any call he
receives from the Lord.
Today, we had our Semi-annual Stake Conference. Last night there was an adult session and
all though I wanted to go, I knew my husband had to translate for it and I would just end up in the kids room not being able to hear because the children would be to noisy. So I decided not to go. My husband had a great experience and loved the messages shared. So he decided that today he wanted to give me that same experience. He did not have any obligations today, so I was excited that he would be sitting with me and helping me with the children. But he had an even better idea. He told me to go sit up front with some friends of ours and he would take the kids into the kid room and watch the kids while listening to conference. I said, "really??? are you sure?" He assured me that he would be fine and so I took him up on it! (Afterward, he said... "I don't know how you do it every sunday!")
My experience.... wonderful, amazing, re-
freshing, and so spiritual! I forgot how wonderful it is to just sit and listen to the messages. When you have nothing else to worry about except listening, it sinks in so much more, thoughts come to your mind about how you can apply the message in your life, and the spirit just FLOWS. And when the spirit is poured out like it was today and your are able to just take it in, it is amazing and I think I cried
throughout most of the 2 hour meeting. And the best part was the music, because I was so close it just sounded amazing. And the last song that the choir sang was this beautiful rendition of "How Great thou Art."
(the last two verses really hit me)
And when I think, that God his son not sparing,
Sent him to die, I scarce can take it in,
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing
He bled and died, to take away my sin
Then Sings my sould my Savior God, to thee,
How great thou art!
How great thou art!
When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation,
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow, in humble adoration
And there proclaim, "My God How Great though Art!"
And I sobbed and sobbed tears of joy as the Holy Spirit testified to me personally that he lives and he loves me. And that moment, made it all worth it. It was so profound I can hardly put it in words. But it made the last few years of "sacrifice" seem like nothing. It is those defining moments in our
lives that reassure us that this is Christ's church on the earth and we can
receive personal
revelation and confirmation of that statement. This is his church. It is lead by a living Prophet. And I know it.
Thank you Isaac, my wonderful, wonderful husband for this beautiful gift today. I didn't realize how badly I needed to be re-
energized. Thank you for being concerned for not only my physical and emotional well being, but my
spiritual well being as well! That is why I married you! I love you!
Last weekend I got to babysit for Allan and Lexi. I was so excited because I hadn't seen their baby, Lindy since she was born and my kids and Isaac had never even met her. Also my mom came down for the weekend as well. So it was a lot of fun. She is such a cute easy going baby! Benjamin thought she was just fascinating and loved trying to make her smile. And Abby kept going up to her and gently touching her while repeating over and over "Baby, baby, Baby." It was so cute! Anyway, here are a few more pictures...
Benjamin got her to smile right as I was snapping the picture!
Benjamin holding Lindy
Benji, Grandma, & Lindy
My mom with all her Grandchildren
And the end of the night, Lindy did a great job putting Grandma to sleep. ;)
