Revelation

I've been contemplating for the last little segment of my life something pretty major. (If you thought, "babies," you were wrong!) Although I won't go into detail on my blog about it, I will say that it has caused me many sleepless nights and quite a few tears as well.

One day last week, as push came to shove, I was explaining a situation to a good friend of mine here in DC. As I was explaining my most current frustration about my decision making process, it came to me. You need to go to the temple. That one small revelation humbled me. In my arrogance and pride, I hadn't thought to go to the Lord's house to converse with Him. Sure, I could ask Him in my own home, but there is something so sacred and precious about being in the Lord's house and working out a problem with Him.

Saturday, I woke up early and decided that I would head on over to the temple before I started with the rest of my day.

As I was sitting in my session, I got the worst tickle in my throat. It was odd because I'm not sick. And it would NOT go away. I just kept coughing those awkward little coughs that show that you're trying not to hack all over your neighbor and be disruptive, but that you still have something bothering your throat. Finally, a cute old lady next to me leaned over and gave me a throat lozenge. Immediately after I popped it in my mouth (during a louder part of the session where I could unwrap the lozenge sneakily), my throat was soothed. I thought to myself, "These are the kind of people that Heavenly Father wants me surrounded by." I pondered that for a little bit - by "these are the kind of people," I didn't mean Mormons and I didn't mean cute old ladies; rather, I meant the type of people who were courteous to those around them, who were aware and intuitive of the needs and feelings of those around them.

Later during the session, a line that almost always sticks out to me resonated very strongly in my soul in a different way. It reminded me of 2nd Nephi 2:25 - "Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy." Think about it (as I did at the time) - "Men are, that they might have joy." We were created in the likeness of our Father in Heaven that we might have joy.

Heavenly Father wants us to be joyful. He wants us to be happy. He wants ME to be happy. Me, specifically. So much so that he brought to my mind these two revelations*. So much so that, later on in the evening, as I was walking into our apartment building with an arm full of things, a man who had just left saw my struggling and made the extra effort to come back inside and open the door for me. He specifically put people in my life yesterday to show me that there are GOOD and KIND and DECENT people out there and I should be surrounding myself with THOSE people.

With all of this being said, I have made a very big decision in my life. I don't feel comfortable talking about it in a public blog format just yet (and maybe not in the near future), but I do ask that you keep me in your prayers as I make this shift in my life.

*On the off chance that someone is reading this blog who is not familiar with the LDS religion, we believe that, as in biblical times, God speaks with his people and gives them guidance. We call this revelation. For more information, go here.