A few weeks ago, I went through the temple for the very first time to receive my endowments. It was truly a beautiful day and it was an experience I'll remember forever. The temple is a very different place of worship than I was used to, I'll be honest, but I have always had a testimony of temples and their purpose so I am eager to learn more. The first time through was just taking a lot in. When you prepare to go for the first time, you may or may not have 1,455,657,888 people tell you that. But I will never forget how I felt. First, I felt privileged to be there. Second, I felt so loved by Heavenly Father and everyone around me. As the words of the temple workers were uttered to me the first time, I may not have understood everything, but I felt God's love. I knew He knew me, and I knew He was proud that I made it to His house. Third, I felt in awe. I felt in awe of how much I DO NOT know. Once I had gone to the temple, I felt like a whole other door of the gospel was opened to me as if showing me that there is SOOO much to this gospel and to the Plan of Salvation that I do not understand and may not til I have passed from this world. Overall, it was just a great day filled so full with the Spirit. As I have gone back, I have already gained a love of the temple and I want to go ALL the time. I wrote about this already in my last post, but the feeling of being able and worthy to enter into the Lord's house is so so good. Please oh please, never forget that you are NO EXCEPTION to the blessings awaiting you in the temple. Each person is meant to receive those blessings at some time or another and no matter where you are in your journey of life, you CAN come to the temple, if you choose to make it a priority. I promise you the blessings are worth facing whatever opposition you are dealt and I hope you will seek to find a testimony of the temple, so that no matter what storms blow against you, you will know there is a lighthouse worth pressing forward for. You are important to Heavenly Father and He wants to bless you with the promises of a joyful eternity. This Earth was created for such a divine purpose and I got such a strong glimpse of that, that day there in the temple. We are all daughters and sons of our Father in Heaven, and we can always count on Him to lead us through our lives. The temple is Heaven on Earth and the best place to get perspective on our lives. I can not wait to keep going back and can already see how it might bless my life forever.
If you think of the Mormons, most likely a beautiful, tall building comes to mind...the temple. This post is about the temple, but I don't want to waste a lot of space explaining the importance or purpose of the temple (as wonderful as they are and as much as I would like to). If you would like to know more information about the "Mormon Temples", click here.
So last night I wrote in my journal about a powerful experience I had on Sunday. I had my temple interview with my bishop and at the end of the interview, he asked the all encompassing question, "do you find yourself worthy to enter into the house of the Lord?" I always feel hesitant to answer this question because even though I know I haven't done any major things wrong, really what I'm being asked is if I feel worthy enough to be in the presence of the Lord. I know that I am far too flawed and imperfect to be in the glorious presence of my Heavenly Father so I always feel conflicted when I answer. But in the moment when he asked me that, the Spirit completely washed over me and I began to feel this complete peace in my heart and I felt so whole and complete. The Spirit was telling me that, "Yes! You are worthy!" Now that doesn't mean I'm perfect. I'm far from it. But to me, that moment of complete peace and comfort meant that my constant efforts of choosing the right in all situations and striving to be virtuous in all things was not going unrecognized by my Father in Heaven. My friends, that feeling was AMAZINGLY to feel. I started to cry as my bishop had asked this question because I looked up at a painting he had of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in his office, and I felt like my conscience was completely clean before them. I had nothing to hide or be ashamed of. Sure I have messed up, sure I have sinned in ways I am not proud of, and no you don't have to be "perfect" to be pure and worthy. The important part is repentance and coming to a point where you completely turn your heart to the Lord. I can promise you now, that ANY SACRIFICE is worth that feeling of peace and comfort knowing you are worthy to be in the presence of the Lord. Any path of repentance, no matter how hard it may seem, is worth being able to say that. Keep trying. Keep seeking after knowledge of our Lord and His house. Keep living the standards, though they are (trust me, I know) difficult at times. Make the temple your goal and you too will feel this joy that I describe. I want you to feel this way but more importantly, Heavenly Father wants YOU to feel this way because He loves you with an eternal, perfect, forgiving kind of love. Keep your eyes on the temple my friends, and do not give up on yourself. ❤️
