Today Was A Good Day

I know, you don't hear from me for a few days, and then two posts in one day. When it rains it pours. But I wanted to share this experience with my friends and family. Today in Relief Society our lesson was about being daughters of God. Our teacher put up a little poster that said, "My name is _________. I know I am a daughter of God because ____________. Then after a fairly short lesson, she had each of us go around the room, read the poster and fill in the blanks with our names and then say why we know we are daughters of God.

At first I was a bit put off by the idea, even panicked, stuff like that has a tendency to backfire and put people on the spot, at the very least. But this dear sister did such a good job of setting it up that nobody felt awkward. I wish I had been one of the first sisters to stand up and go through this process. As it was, I was towards the end and listening to each of the sisters, all of whom I consider good friends, was so touching. I loved hearing their brief testimonies of this simple statement with the profound impact and truth that it carries. By the time it was my turn, I could barely say my name, but managed to get through it with a very short statement to the effect of knowing this because of so many blessings in my life. There was no way I could even begin to enumerate them, or focus on just one blessing. In that setting, even mentioning one blessing had me in a very emotional state. This will go down for me as one of the best Relief Society lessons I have ever sat through and one I don't think I will soon forget. It was amazing to sit in that meeting and listen to 40-50 women comment on being daughters of God, all of the comments were comments of deep gratitude.

One sister mentioned she had had a very difficult week. She didn't go into any details, but said she knew this truth because she was able just to get through the week and show up at church on Sunday. When I thought of why I know this statement is true, really all I could think of was because of the many blessings I have in my life. One sister mentioned that she knew this was true because she had many difficulties that have blessed her life. She suffers almost daily with a painful disease. She is younger than I am and I thought it was peculiar that she would consider her disease a blessing. I don't know if I could have done that. One sister mentioned that she knew she was a daughter of God because He had forgiven her of all her dumb mistakes. One mentioned that she knew she was a daughter of God because she felt His love, even when she didn't particularly love herself. One said she knew she was a daughter of God because the Holy Ghost had born witness to her that it was true. All of these, I could relate to and knew how they felt and why. I, too, have had these same experiences. I am just so thankful for the knowledge we have that we are all God's children, that He cares for us and loves us despite our most despicable behavior. I look at this beautiful world we were given to prove ourselves worthy of His greatest blessing and feel gratitude in my heart. Many sisters spoke of knowing this truth because of their loving husbands, children, parents, sibling, friends and I too, feel this. But the one that really touched my heart and I knew it as pure truth was the sister who said that she knew she was a daughter of God because He gave us His son to show us the way and sacrificed himself for us in order that we may return to Him.

Really, the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us so many profound truths and  what gratitude I have for this knowledge. It is a comfort to know that we don't have to be lost, we don't have to wonder what God would have us do, and no matter what is going on in the world around us, God is over all. When evil is rampant and seems to go unchecked, that is a comforting thought. It was the best 30 minutes I have experienced in a long time. It was good to sit and think about all the reasons why I know I am a daughter of God. It is good that this truth governs, or should govern, our behavior at all times and in all places. I don't know if the sister that planned the lesson thought this would have such a profound effect on all of us, but I know it did. I think she just thought it would be nice to think about why we know we are daughters of God. I love her for her humility and for following the prompting of the Spirit. I hope you all have a good week, and take some time to consider "My name is ________. I know I am a daughter of God because _________.