Since it's a new year, we're starting a new set of lessons in Relief Society. We're taking a break from Teachings of the Presidents of the Church and learning from the Gospel Principles manual, instead. This manual is generally used for the Gospel Principles class which is taught to investigators and new members during the Sunday School hour of church. The book has recently been updated and revised, which hasn't happened for over 30 years! To read more about the updates and why we're studying them in Relief Society/Priesthood, go here. Russell M. Nelson does a wonderful job of explaining it.
As usual, I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off, so I missed part of the lesson. What I did hear was wonderful, though. This manual teaches very simple truths. We have a Heavenly Father. I have always known that, but it's good to be reminded of his love for me.
The part that I loved the most was at the end. These lessons are really short (so we have no excuse to NOT read them haha), so we had some extra time. Our teacher bore her testimony about how she loves Heavenly Father, and then turned the time over to the sisters to share their testimonies of Heavenly Father.
The first testimony was my own. I know that God is a God of miracles. Early last year my daughter was born. She started her life with double pneumonia from miconium aspiration. The x-rays of her lungs were really bad. So bad, in fact, that she could've died. My husband and his father were able to give her a priesthood blessing. The very next day, she was out of the NICU and in a recovering unit. During the doctor's rounds, I heard one of the doctors say, "Oh, yes, I remember this baby. She is the baby that got miraculously better." So, yes, I believe in miracles.
Not long after that experience, she was in the hospital again for a condition called NEC. It was scary stuff. As part of the treatment, she couldn't eat for 10 days. I remember one night after a long day of watching my baby suffer and not being able to help her getting on my knees and asking God why she had to suffer so much. I knew that ultimately her suffering now would help her later, but it was still really hard to watch. As I was praying, I realized that our Heavenly Father had a similar experience. He watched his own Son suffer because he knew that ultimately it would make all of His children's lives better. It made me realize how much my Heavenly Father must love me to allow his own Son to suffer so that we might live.
After my testimony, another sister stood and talked about her trials with having a child with Down Syndrome. She said that she knew God answered prayers even though they might not always be in the way we wanted it to happen. When she was pregnant with her first child, she prayed for two things: that her daughter would be healthy and intelligent. After her daughter was born with Down Syndrome she said that most people would say that her prayers were not answered. She said that she remembered reading in John 9 about Jesus and his disciples coming upon a man who was blind, and his disciples asked him who had sinned that this man was born blind. Jesus answered and told them that no one had sinned but that he was born blind so that the works of God may be made manifest in him. He then healed the man. She said that she had read that scripture so many times and thought nothing of it. This time when she read it, she thought of her dear daughter. She shared some experiences of when the greatness of God had been made manifest through her. Her daughter is my niece, and I completely agree. She then testified that she knows that Heavenly Father loves and knows each of us individually. It was such a strong witness. I loved it.
If you'd like to read the lesson, I've put a link at the very top of this post. It's very simple, but it speaks such great truths.
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