I have been reading, and thinking, and talking to a lot of people lately. I have struggled and fought and shared and cried and smiled. I have been having one trial after another. Not a battle like the wars waged across the world, but a battle fought in the recesses of my heart and mind.
It has never been a grand moment for me. It has been won and earned and fought for on the fiery furnaces of trial and triumph and trial and failure. Line upon line. Whisperings and feelings and blessings. Soul searching and pleading with the Lord, pleading with my Father.
There is a lot happening that could be conceived as negative. Things many people are finding as a reason to doubt, a reason to leave. There have been many things that have happened in the past that some could question and worry about. But even all these things could not get me to doubt or deny. No matter what has happened no matter what anyone has said or done, I can not let it dictate what I have learned. I think back on the years of quiet stillness when the spirit let me know. And this is what I KNOW:
I KNOW we have a loving and merciful Father in Heaven.
I KNOW He loves us.
I KNOW Jesus Christ is my Savior.
I KNOW the Atonement is real, because it has saved me in my weaknesses, it has healed me in my infirmities, it has carried me when I wanted to give up.
I KNOW the Holy Ghost is real. Through His power I know I have a Father and Savior.
I KNOW the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the gospel of Christ restored.
I KNOW the Book of Mormon has a unique and great power. A power to bring us closer to Christ just by eating and drinking from its pages.
I KNOW Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. Who as a young boy prayed to God to find truth and found it. I know He saw God the Father and God the Son.
I KNOW today we have a prophet of God to lead and guide us, President Thomas S. Monson. He is truly a man of God, a Prophet, Seer and Revelator.
These things I know I can easily share. But to know for yourself, in your own heart you have to do hard things, you have to listen to the spirit, you have to shut off the noises of the world and listen.
All the trials in my life have been hard it hasn't been easy being me and I don't imagine anyone has it easy being them either. But all these things have been for my experience, for my good. I see the hand of the Lord in it all. And no matter what happens, as long as I stay close to Him I have nothing to fear.