Coming Unto Christ Through Temple Service

I love telling the story of how Scott and I met and I just can’t pass up the opportunity here.  In 2011, after my freshman year at BYU, I came back home for the summer.  I went to a singles ward activity where I met this tall, blonde haired, blue eyed, really funny guy.  He and I chatted it up and a couple weeks later he asked me on a date.  The date was at the Christensen’s house where I met Scott while I was out with his best friend, Preston Reynolds.  I guess we can just say that the rest is history.  We’ve been married just over 2 years now and we are excited to see where life takes us. 

One thing I’ve always loved about the Gospel is the constant lessons and service opportunities we get from Temples.  Scott and I have done the best we can to go to the temple weekly and each experience is always a blessing.   My closest high school friend, Daniel Forbes got married this summer.  He and his wife, Camille, attend Snow College but lived up here for three short weeks after they got married.  During that time, we made sure we went on a few temple dates together.  One in particular I think will always be a reminder to me of how close the Savior truly is and of all the blessings we can receive through temple work. 

We had planned with the Forbes to go to the 8:00 session one Saturday morning.  The night before, I had the impression that we needed to do sealings instead.  I tossed the idea to both Scott and Daniel and everyone seemed on board.  I was excited to do sealings and it turned out to be a huge blessing.  We got into the sealing room around 8:30 and it was just the four of us.  We were able to do five names each when a man joined us with some family names.  It was really cool to hear all the different names he had and because there were four of us already in there, we were able to get some family sealings done too.  Family sealings are especially neat to me because I’m adopted so it gives me the idea of what it felt like for my parents to have my sister and I sealed to them.  The first family name where I acted as the daughter was truly an experience where I could feel Christ’s hand on my shoulder and all His love for me.  It’s experiences like this one that strengthen my testimony of our Savior and temple work.

After getting through a good chunk of this brother’s names, another knock on the door introduced an older woman with some of her family names.  We got all but one of hers done when another knock came with another woman and her names.  We were able to get most of each of these family names done.  Being in there and knowing how sweet the feeling is to be sealed to my husband and our family was so uplifting and gave me just a small idea of what these families were feeling after waiting for so long to have these promises made. 

I think sometimes we forget how sweet the feeling is, being in the temple and doing temple work.  Any day that I go to the temple, anything that had been bothering me before we enter the temple vanishes and I just feel incredibly light.    

President Boyd K. Packer explains:

“Sometimes our minds are so beset with problems, and there are so many things clamoring for attention at once that we just cannot think clearly and see clearly.  At the temple the dust of distraction seems to settle out, the fog and the haze seem to lift, and we can ‘see’ things that we were not able to see before and find a way through our troubles that we had not previously known.” 

When I was a senior in high school, Chamber was invited to sing in Carnegie Hall in New York.  We were all really excited, but extremely nervous.  Before our flight out, several of us decided to go to the temple and do baptisms.  I remember being so overwhelmed about so many things.  Senior year was rough for me.  I was having a hard time connecting to the choir despite the fact that there were long-time friends from my homeward, even Daniel was in the choir with me.  I felt completely lost and alone even though I was surrounded by friends and people I knew cared about me.  As this small group from the choir were in the waiting room, I was reading through St. John when I came across this scripture in 14, verse 27: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

I realized at that time that if I worry too much about the daily difficulties, that I can’t grow closer to Christ.  There were so many things keeping my head cluttered, that my heart wasn’t open and I was overlooking the blessings I was surrounded with.  I overlooked the love of my Savior.  That’s easier to do than one might recognize.  This Gospel takes work, hard work at that too.  Daily, I need to remind myself to find Christ in what I do.  One example of something I need to work on is being quick to judge. 

When I taught swimming lessons this summer, I had a boy in one of my classes who is autistic.  Now I’ve had him before and he remembered me, but even with that connection, it was extremely hard to teach a pre-swim team class with him in there.  He needs a lot of attention, but so do the other students, especially at the level they were swimming.  I was amazed with the Christlike love the other students showed towards this boy.  The oldest in the class was 13 and each one of them displayed an understanding of acceptance and it really touched me.  To see these kids show the support and compassion they did towards this student, who wasn’t always very nice to the rest of the class, really spoke volumes.  How many times a day do I look at someone and judge them for something they do without understanding the situation they’re in?  We are taught not to judge others, to love them despite their imperfections.  My mom always reminds me, “Ours is to love, not to judge.”  I know better.  This may sound backwards, but I like to think of myself as an accepting person.  I love people.  I truly do, and I’ve made mistakes in my life and understand that not everyone is perfect.  I’ve had many conversations with people when they’ve felt that they couldn’t turn to anyone else.  When it comes down to sitting and talking about it, I love them and I listen.  In the temple, we all dress equally because we are all equal in God’s eyes.  He loves us despite our imperfections and He wants us to remember that always.

To close, I want to share a quote in President Uchtdorf’s 2009 October conference talk, The Love Of God. 

President Uchtdorf explains, “God does not look on the outwards appearance.  I believe that He doesn’t care one bit if we live in a castle or a cottage, if we are handsome or homely, if we are famous or forgotten.  Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely.  Though we are imperfect, He loves us perfectly.  Though we may feel lost and without compass, God’s love encompasses us completely.  He loves us because He is filled with an infinite measure of holy, pure, and indescribable love.  We are important to God not because of our resume but because we are His children.  He loves every one of us, even those who are flawed, rejected, awkward, sorrowful, or broken.  God’s love is so great that He loves even the proud, the selfish, the arrogant, and the wicked.  What this means is that, regardless of our current state, there is hope for us.  No matter our distress, no matter our sorrow, no matter our mistakes, our infinitely compassionate Heavenly Father desires that we draw near to Him so that He can draw near to us.”

We’re a rare people.  We have 8 temples within an hour drive in any direction.  Let’s take advantage of those temples; let’s find more opportunities to serve our brothers and sisters who have passed on before us.  Let’s remember to forget our daily troubles and clear our heads when we enter the temple.  Most importantly, let’s remember Christ and His love for us.