God is Great!

I am in complete gratitude and awe of my experiences this morning.

I have knelt down and prayed to ask God for HIS Spirit to be with me as I share this experience.

I read my scriptures with much prayer; and again, I was led to the word, Diligent over and over again.  I asked the Lord in great prayer in what ways I am still not showing diligence to HIM.  OBVIOUSLY I am a sinner in many ways... we all are.  I could DEFINITELY show more patience and faith in my Savior's plan for my life.

Not that our lives are about lists, but I do want to make sure I am fulfilling my duties as a servant of God.  As I assessed my life- listing in my mind the things I could do better- the strongest impression came to me that I had been forgetting about my ancestors.  I needed to do the temple work for my family and my husband's family.

In my church, we believe that our lives and our knowledge of Christ and HIS teachings continues in Heaven.  We do not believe that those who have not had the opportunity to learn of Christ will be cast to Hell when they die.  I know that God is more compassionate than that.  EVERYBODY will have an opportunity to accept HIS gospel. The temple is a sacred place for us to do the baptismal work in proxy for them if they choose to accept it in Heaven.  You may or may not believe in this concept.  Please be respectful of my beliefs on this subject.  I do welcome questions if you do not understand it though. :-)

My experience continued...

Last spring, a dear friend shared a very spiritual experience with me from the temple.  She shared that experience with me on the very day I had written in my blog about doing temple work.  She felt inspired to share this experience without even having read my blog.  She had never even spoken of it to anyone else before in her life.  As she shared her story, which is too sacred to write, the Spirit overwhelmed me speaking directly to my heart that I needed to work with Abe's parents to do their ancestor's temple work.

I felt very inspired but also very bogged down with life.  I promised Heavenly Father that I would do it after my life calmed down a bit.  That was several months ago.  As I read the scriptures this morning, the message came to me that I was being slothful in my efforts.

I closed my scriptures and immediately asked Abe's mom if she could come into the room to do genealogy with me.  I was surprised at all the information she had about her family, but the temple work had not been done yet!  She and I sat down to write the names and dates of her very close relatives.  I felt the Spirit so strong in my heart that they had been waiting for this moment.  I saw pictures of the relatives for whom I would be baptized by proxy today in the temple.

Abe's mom and I looked at each other with gratitude and tears in our eyes as we realized the Spirit was communicating to us.  Our love for them was great.

Abe's mom left, and I felt a prompting to check my family's genealogy sheet.  I saw an arrow on the computer indicating an uncle of mine was ready for his work to be done.  I called my mom in a hurry to receive her permission to do  his work.  She said I could, but she needed to tell me about his life first.

In her explanation, I realized I had met him years ago when he had come for a visit to Missouri.

She told me how my dear auntie had raised him from the time he was 4 years old because his own mother had died.  She told me that this auntie was very sad when he died- as if he were her own child.  I had no idea about the details of their relationship.  My mother continued to tell me about his life, and then we hung up the phone.

I took only a few steps and froze.  I immediately called my mother back.

I realized in that moment that my auntie, his older sister who mothered him for so many years, died only a couple of weeks ago.  I love this auntie with all my heart, and I have been feeling so much sadness over her passing.  She is the one who brought my own mother into the gospel of Jesus Christ.  She, as my great aunt, wrote me letters and birthday cards all my life.  Her love and zest for life  and her family is tremendous.

Of course, included in her reunion in the Spirit World/ Heaven with those she loved, would be her reunion with her little brother whom she raised from the age of 4.  Of course she would be sharing her deep testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ with a greater power than ever before.  Of course they would be communicating the message for his work to be done.

I believe our Savior, Jesus Christ, desires for all to come to HIM and be saved; HIS miracles are for us to know that HE is God.

Like I've said many, many times before... I believe in Jesus Christ and in HIS miracles.  I know that there is no coincidence in the fact that I promised my Heavenly Father I would work with Abe's parents to do genealogy, and here we are living with them.  I am sorry I had forgotten that promise for the past several months.

I know that there is no coincidence that I was prompted to do the temple work of an uncle just 2 short weeks after the passing of the woman, of magnificent faith, who raised him as her own.

As far as my "Experiment" is going in reading my scriptures with more depth.  Wow!  The Spirit spoke to me very strongly today to do the temple work.  I'm grateful for that precious time to communicate with God on a deeper level through the scriptures.  God is great!