Sunday, June 7, 2009

You are called to represent the Savior

The times I have felt the love of the Lord strongest in my life are the times I have been serving others in his name. As a nurse, there have been many instances that I have felt my heart swell with love for someone as I tried to be an instrument in the Lord's hands to serve them.

Just the other day I had a young man as a patient who became a paraplegic a couple of years ago, just a few weeks after he graduated from high school, in a car accident. He had spent most of the last couple of years bitter and over the last few months had finally accepted his present condition and was turning to God again. I was spending some time visiting with him and listening to some of his story. At one point he said "I know God has a plan for me."

I added to his words that I also knew that God had a plan for him and that he has amazing things in store for him. I really felt the Lord testify to me at that moment that He truly did have great things in store for this young man whom He loved very much. I also felt at that moment how much God has a plan for me as well, and for each of us. We each have our own set of problems and disabilities and each of these things can bring us closer to the Lord and make us stronger if we let them.

Elder Henry B. Eyring of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles:“A call to service should be primarily a matter of the heart. … You are called to represent the Savior. Your voice to testify becomes the same as His voice, your hands to lift the same as His hands. … The Father and His Beloved Son will send the Holy Ghost as your companion to guide you. Your efforts will be magnified in the lives of the people you serve. And when you look back on what may now seem trying times of service and sacrifice, the sacrifice will have become a blessing, and you will know that you have seen the arm of God lifting those you served for Him, and lifting you” (“Rise to Your Call,” Liahona and Ensign, Nov. 2002, 75–78).

I know that this statement is true, for I have felt an outpouring of the Lord's love as I reach out and help others, including at times my own children and husband. Those are times that I can truly say that I have felt that my voice, my hands were as His.

Share a time with me that you felt the Love of the Lord through someone else reaching out to you or through you serving another.

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