Before Church:
Yesterday I was able to attend my cousin's baptism. As we were singing while we were waiting for him and my uncle to reappear, I could really feel the Spirit. I almost started to cry, because Friday night I had prayed for some answers to be given at his baptism, and they were given in my favorite way: music! I felt so blessed to be surrounded by so many members of my family, and to be surrounded by so many members of the church. I'm so grateful that my cousin has taken the first big step to following and becoming more like our Savior.
One of the things that I like to do on Sundays is listen to a playlist that I created called "Church/Inspirational music". I have two of them, one on my iPod and one on my phone. They have a lot of music from my favorite LDS singers, as well as some Christian singers. It's a great way to bring the Spirit, and I often need many of the messages/testimonies given in the songs. In addition to listening to them on Sundays, sometimes when I'm having a bad day, when I'm having trouble sleeping, or something like that, I turn it on and listen to it. Usually that was exactly what I needed.
I can't really explain it, but music is my language. Especially hymns and music with uplifting messages, including ones about my role as a daughter of God, ways that I can spend my time better, how the Spirit speaks, etc.
Music is very powerful, for both the performer and the listener (I know this because I've been both). We use words to talk to each other, but music is a way for us to speak to our souls. Music brings a calm, peaceful spirit to me, and it helps me relax.
Performing music is a way for me to share my testimony in a manner that I am more comfortable with. Speaking in front of people isn't exactly my forte, and yes, I still get a little stage fright when I am performing, but once I start, that goes away, and it just becomes me doing something I love, and sharing that love with others. It is easier for me to share messages through music. I love hearing others tell me how the message helped them, or how beautiful the music was. That's my favorite part–knowing that I was able to change their life and help them.
During Church:
I was thinking about this during sacrament meeting. The church isn't perfect. Policies aren't perfect. But the Gospel of Jesus Christ is perfect. And I know that it is true. I know that He has placed people in my life that I have needed, and I know that He has given us prophets to listen to. Their counsel and testimonies are great strengths to me. I know that they are special witnesses of Christ, and I know that they speak for Him.
After Church:
Today was fast and testimony meeting, and that ^ paragraph is where my thoughts went while I was listening to people bear their testimonies today.
In Sunday School, we talked about King Zeniff and his people, the story of Abinadi and King Noah and his people, and then we talked about King Limhi and his people, and we started to talk about the twenty-four plates of the Jaredites.
One of the things that we talked about near the end was to not discount your spiritual gifts–your gifts of the Spirit. Yours may not be super big, like the gift of tongues or something, but your spiritual gifts are important.
In Relief Society, we talked about visiting teaching. We watched a video where someone said that (and I'm paraphrasing here) revelation is when it becomes the Lord's work. She said when she gets a thought in her head and she feels it is right in her heart, she knows it is revelation. We talked a lot today about revelation and visiting teaching, but one of the main things I got out of the lesson was just to be there for them. And I feel like I won't have any trouble doing visiting teaching as my life goes on because I am already trying to be there for those around me. Another thing we talked about was that we are all different for a reason. We are also all at different stages in life. And that is okay. Figure out how visiting teaching works for you, and it will be all right. In the end, so long as the sisters you teach feel loved, it doesn't matter how you teach. Just be there for her, serve her, and let her know that she is loved by God, and by you. <3
P.S. I know that the title doesn't exactly cover the messages of the whole post, and I generally try to do that, but it's harder than you think to summarize a whole post that includes several different messages! :)
After Church:
Today was fast and testimony meeting, and that ^ paragraph is where my thoughts went while I was listening to people bear their testimonies today.
In Sunday School, we talked about King Zeniff and his people, the story of Abinadi and King Noah and his people, and then we talked about King Limhi and his people, and we started to talk about the twenty-four plates of the Jaredites.
One of the things that we talked about near the end was to not discount your spiritual gifts–your gifts of the Spirit. Yours may not be super big, like the gift of tongues or something, but your spiritual gifts are important.
In Relief Society, we talked about visiting teaching. We watched a video where someone said that (and I'm paraphrasing here) revelation is when it becomes the Lord's work. She said when she gets a thought in her head and she feels it is right in her heart, she knows it is revelation. We talked a lot today about revelation and visiting teaching, but one of the main things I got out of the lesson was just to be there for them. And I feel like I won't have any trouble doing visiting teaching as my life goes on because I am already trying to be there for those around me. Another thing we talked about was that we are all different for a reason. We are also all at different stages in life. And that is okay. Figure out how visiting teaching works for you, and it will be all right. In the end, so long as the sisters you teach feel loved, it doesn't matter how you teach. Just be there for her, serve her, and let her know that she is loved by God, and by you. <3
P.S. I know that the title doesn't exactly cover the messages of the whole post, and I generally try to do that, but it's harder than you think to summarize a whole post that includes several different messages! :)
