THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST

I came to this gospel as many people do, because I was looking for something more. Whether you are born into a believing family, or come to it later in life as I did, at some point there is a conversion process that takes place because of a desire to draw closer to Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father.

"Man is a spiritual being, a soul, and at some period of his life everyone is possessed with an irresistible desire to know his relationship to the Infinite....there is something within him which urges him to rise above himself, to control his environment, to master the body and all things physical and live in a higher and more beautiful world."  - David O. McKay

From the time I was a child, I had a strong desire to live in a Christ-centered home.  Even at a young age I knew the home I was raised in was spiritually lacking. Something was missing- some better world, I wanted with all my heart to live in.

Starting in junior high school and then through high school, I attached myself to friends with church-going families. I began to attend church with them.  Through the years I was exposed to many different Protestant denominations.  This seeking continued into my 20's.  I was being exposed to a lot of different doctrine and nuggets of truth were being gleaned along the way.

The first truth I got from my mother- even though she was at best a sporadic church goer, she believed in life after death.  In fact, she believed that if the spirit was strong enough to survive the death of a physical body, it must also be strong enough to exist independently prior to being inserted into a physical body at birth.

From attending a Baptist church I gained a testimony of full-immersion baptism and the importance of following Christ's example as he showed us the ordinance necessary to join his church.  After all, it's His church, he can (and did) set the rules.

While attending a 7th Day Adventist church I learned the importance of not putting harmful substances in my body through their health code. As a result I made a commitment to abstain from drugs, alcohol, tobacco, coffee and tea.

In retrospect, the Lord was preparing me through the years, step by step, for the day when I would meet Chuck and be introduced to the gospel in its fullness.  Everything came together seamlessly for me and made sense. That spiritual void I had felt in my life was finally filled.

Maybe, you too, have felt that tug to be someone better, or live something better.  That tug is beyond what I would call self-improvement.  I knew I was being urged to live in a way I could not accomplish on my own.

"Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in Him, and deny yourself of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourself of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then His grace is sufficient for you, that by His grace ye may be made perfect in Christ...."  Moroni 10:32

Thus Christ, through His atonement has helped me to reach for a better way, a better life. I realized that there is better way and that it would be in the family that I would someday have.  In that then-distant future, I would be able to live with people in some better, kinder way, beyond even the best and kindest world I had known as a child.

The best part is that better way extends into the future eternally. Through the ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I can be sealed to my loved ones now dead (parents, brother and ancestors) as well as my husband and children/grandchildren (all my progeny) so that I can enjoy their company when this life is over.  It comforts me that all the effort and love that I put into creating and sustaining loving relationships with those around me doesn't have an expiration date , that it continues into the eternities.

I have a sure knowledge of the truthfulness that families can be sealed together forever. This knowledge gives me profound joy and enriches my life every day.