I felt a nudge to share with the Young Women of my ward what matters most to me. I wrote a note to them and expressed my love and shared these things that are of the greatest importance to me:
I want you to know how deeply you are loved. I am so grateful to serve as YW President—you are a blessing in my life! My heart has been desiring to share with you my testimony and the things that matter most to me. These are the things that I think are most important to know and understand:
1. You are truly a beloved daughter of Heavenly Parents. They know you. They love you. You have inherited many of their divine attributes. You are here on Earth to become more like Them. I wish you could truly see who you are and how deeply known and loved you are.
2. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, lives and loves you! He knows you. He knows your joys and sorrows, your successes and failures, your triumphs and tragedies, your desires, your sins, your secrets...He knows everything you EVER have or ever will experience. He loves you. Infinitely and eternally. He understands everything you are going through. Trust Him. Turn to Him.
3. Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of God. He had questions and so he knelt in prayer and asked. When you have questions or doubts, I hope you will follow his example. Kneel in prayer. Study the scriptures and the words of the prophets and apostles. Counsel with those you trust, including your parents and other family members, your leaders, and others that know and love you. Be diligent in seeking for answers and seeking to have the Spirit with you.
4. The temple is my favorite place on Earth. My covenants mean everything to me. All of my greatest blessings come through the Savior and through my covenants. The temple is a place of peace. In the temple and through my covenants I receive strength, joy, power, help, guidance, revelation, healing, hope, and knowledge. I want to always be worthy to have the temple blessings in my life.
5. Repentance is a beautiful gift. We all make mistakes. Every one of us...that’s part of being human and it is part of the learning process. I’m so grateful that when I sin or make a mistake, I can learn, grow, change, and be forgiven. It’s nothing to be ashamed of or sad about, but a gift to be celebrated.
Oh how I wish I could help you to see yourself as I see you. You are magnificent. You are deeply and truly loved. I hope you can feel the truth of these words.
Of course there is more to my testimony than just these words, but these are some of the things that matter the most to me, especially right now...and lessons that I hope my YW will learn.
One of the young women that's pretty introverted came up to my girls at church yesterday and said that it seemed like I hadn't been around lately. They explained that we'd been gone for two weeks in El Salvador. She said that I'd written a letter to her and that it really impacted her and she wanted to thank me. She is one girl that I often wonder if I'm making a difference for at all, so that meant a lot. She has a beautiful testimony, but she is very quiet and rarely attends activities and so it's harder to get to know her. But maybe some of the things I do have helped her or others.
LESSONS LEARNED:
Act on promptings/nudges.
I love this gospel.
Words have power to affect others (for good or ill).
The things we do when acting under the spirit can have an effect on others.
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