Testimony Day

Since today is the first Sunday of March, it was fast Sunday. Sometimes I think it is so nice to fast. I feel like it not only cleanses the body, but I feel like it really helps me think more clearly and sort things out better than normal. Given the nature of this being a public blog, I'm not going to go into details about what was on my mind all day, but it was so great to be able to think about it all with a clear mind. But I'm getting on a tangent...come on back Frizz.

In sacrament meeting most of the testimonies that people shared were about our Savior, Jesus Christ. I wanted to bear mine but I knew I would cry if I did so I chickened out. But since this is my journal, it is important for me to share here.

I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have of my Savior Jesus Christ. He is my greatest strength and I know that through him, I can have an eternal life full of happiness with the ones that I love. I am so thankful for his atoning sacrifice. As hard as repenting can be at times, I know that it can be done through him if we turn to him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. When I was younger I always thought a broken heart meant to be really sad about what you did, but as I grew older, I realized that it is about being broken, like a horse. When a horse is broken, it breaks it's old habits and develops the habits and traits that it's master instills in it. That is how we need to be when we turn to Him with a broken heart, we must submit our will to His. He will then take our sins as His burden and carry them for us so that we can be clean.

My favorite part of the atonement that means more to me than just about anything in life, is the fact that He felt all of our pains. He felt my pains. All of them. When I think about this thought, I literally weep because it is such a comfort. It breaks my heart to know that He had to bleed for me and suffer as much as He did, but I am so grateful that He did. There is not a soul on this earth that has experienced the things and the way that I go through or will go through (not that my life is terribly hard, because it's still great, but there will always be hard things.) My life usual sails along fairly smoothly, but there are times when the waters are rough, and He is there as soon as I ask for Him. There are times when no earthly being can comfort you the way that you need. Those are the times that His love and understanding of this pain are the strongest. It is my greatest blessing to have the knowledge that He has not only felt my pain, but that He will stand by me through it all and love me in any way He can.

I am so thankful to a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints so that I can have this testimony and this knowledge. This is the true church, and it brings so much happiness, joy and peace into my life.

Since music is how I connect and internalize I want to share some of my favorite songs/lines regarding my Savior.

"While in agony He hung, no murmuring word escaped His tongue." Hymn #191

"He lives to silence all my fears. He lives to wipe away my tears. He lives to calm my troubled heart. He lives all blessings to impart." Hymn #136

(On this one I like to change the we's and us' to me and I)

"Let me not forget, O savior, Thou didst bleed and die for me when thy heart was stilled and broken on the cross at Calvary. Fill my heart with sweet forgiving; teach me tolerance and love. Let my prayers find access to thee in thy holy courts above. Then, when I have proven worthy of they sacrifice divine, Lord let me regain the presence; let thy glory round me shine." Hymn #172

And my final favorite and possibly the quote that I absolutely live by...

"I believe in Christ, so come what may." Hymn #134