My Testimony...

One of the hardest parts of my life has been missing church. I'm missing my time sitting in sacrament meeting, feeling my knees ache, sometimes bringing me to near tears, as I listen to the speakers. I miss sitting in Sunday School...learning with my hubby next to me. I miss Relief Society, sitting with the sisters in my ward. I miss getting to know the sisters in my ward and silently wish I could get to know some of them. I miss having friends.

As hard as it has been to miss church, what an incredible blessing has fallen over my family, both blood and church. We have caring leaders of our youth who give my kids rides to mutual when needed. We have an incredible bishop who is filled with compassion of pure love of Christ. We have great scout leaders to guide my son to his eagle. My children have learned independence in my absence at church. They have been watched over by our home teachers as have we. My spirit may lack the the recharge I felt every Sunday, but as I pray I learn this will not last forever...it is simply a season. My family is blessed by the support they are given...and our ward is blessed by the unfaltering service they've given.

At first we questioned why we felt strongly we needed to move to San Antonio, but I now know it was for us all to learn. I needed to let go of the charge of my family in their church activities and literally depend on the Lord to guide us.

As I told you about before my son has taken charge of his spirituality as he prepared his talk. I asked how his talk went and he told me that halfway through the spirit led him to a different avenue in how to teach the young men and he folded his well crafted talk and taught from the spirit. My daughters are constantly excited about helping less active girls in our ward find a reason to attend and go to the temple once a quarter. They even carry their own personal limited use recommends. I couldn't teach these things to my children, I could only help create the atmosphere in which they felt comfortable to live their lives as children of God with no apologies to anyone.

This craziness in the past year has truly become an epic journey for our family and I am grateful for that trek. I'm even more grateful that throughout our journey when we were left with less than $3.00 in our pockets to feed our family we had the Lord standing with us with his arms around us. I know He watches over us and blesses us more than even we can imagine. I will always be grateful and will look back decades down the line celebrating our chance in the refiner's fire and remembering it as a triumph on this earth, drawing our eyes and hearts to His. I know the gospel is true and I know Jesus Christ is my elder brother whom I love dearly and feel his presence daily. I am truly grateful for the beautiful souls that surround my family and I and celebrate our triumphs and support us during our trials.

I say this in the name of Jesus Christ...Amen