Saturday, August 23, 2014

A HAPPILY EVER AFTER – August 18, 2014



A family we have been teaching was baptized this week. As they were baptized, every heart ache, disappointment, and set back I have had during the past year and a half seemed to be swallowed up in the joy I felt. It had all been worth it. 
 
This morning as I was studying I came across Alma 29:10. It´s a scripture I’ve read a hundred times over but this time it hit me with great force and power. I felt as if it was taken directly from my journal. It has been pretty difficult to find words to describe my feelings lately but this scripture says it all. I KNOW of God´s mercy. I can´t write that phrase without tears filling my eyes. I know of his mercy. I´ve felt it. He has truly extended his merciful arm to me every day of my entire life and he has never given up on me. He has answered every prayer and every heartbroken plea. I am truly filled with joy that seems to fill every space in my life. The Lord has done so much for me and continues to do so. I so dearly love the Lord and my heart is full of gratitude that can´t be expressed.  Oh how the Lord loves us. 
 
      “And behold, when I see many of my brethren truly penitent, and coming to the lord their god, then is my soul filled with joy; then do I remember what the lord has done for me, yeah, even that he hath heard my prayer; yeah, then do I remember his merciful arm which he extended towards me.”
Alma 29:10
 
Someone told me that “In the end it will all be alright, and if it´s not alright, it´s not the end.” The Lord has resolved everything. As much as it hurts and as much as I don´t want this to end I know that it´s time to go forward and start another adventure back in Utah. If you could have learned one thing from me over the past year and a half I so dearly pray that it is of the atonement. It´s through the atonement that God extends to us his mercy. It´s why our prayers are answered in the best way and the best timing. It´s the reason I am filled with such joy. I love you all and I’ll see you soon. I truly love the Lord and I will never regret the decision I made to come out here. Never. It has all been worth it. 
 
Come what may and love it
Hermana Israelsen
 


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