June's Testimony

Today is my Mother in law's birthday and since she has passed it's always kind of a sad day. This morning I was searching for something in my inbox and somehow this journal entry of my mother-in-laws that Brad had saved came up. I had heard this story before, but not from her perspective. It was actually a really sweet and special find especially on today of all days. It's funny how that works out. I love how she talks about downright solid faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That really is the kind of faith we all need to get through life. Downright solid faith.

• Six years ago this October, my husband was diagnosed with malignant

  melanoma. It was a shock to our family especially since the doctors were

  unable to find a primary source of the cancer. At the time, we had five

  married children scattered throughout the western states, a son in Canada on

  a mission, a son in Provo attending BYU and our youngest son in high

  school. We wanted to gather as many of our children together as possible to

  give a priesthood blessing to their father.

  We had contacted all our children except our missionary and our BYU

  student. We decided to wait until after the surgery to contact our missionary

  but during the day we could not find our BYU student. His roommates did

  not know where he was, we called his Elders Quorum President – no one

  knew where to find him.

  I went into our bedroom and knelt down and asked our Heavenly Father to

  help us and to guide us in the right direction to find our son, Brad. As our

  family was starting to gather in our home a few hours later, I was sitting at

  the kitchen table still wondering who I could call to help us find Brad when

  the garage door opened and in walked Brad. He had planned to surprise us

  for a weekend visit not knowing what was going on at home.

  Experiences like this in our family have certainly strengthened my faith in

  knowing that our Heavenly Father is well aware of each of us and what is

  going on in our lives. We all need to be a “product of a household of faith”.

  We are not going to survive in this world, temporally or spiritually without

  increased faith in the Lord. I don’t mean just a positive mental attitude, but I

  mean downright solid faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This strong faith is

  what gives vitality and power to otherwise rather weak individuals. I know

  that is through our family’s faith and prayers that my husband was healed

  and is able to serve in the temple this day.

  I know that God lives and that he loves us. I understand better what this

  means now. I am grateful for His atonement in our behalf. The admonition

  to “come unto Christ” is the hub around which everything in the church

  revolves – and for good reason. The verb “come” implies action on our part

  – placing responsibility for coming unto the Savior squarely upon our

  shoulders. Jesus Christ Himself has promised, “Draw near unto me and I

  will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye

  shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
• I pray that we will always be mindful of how important it is to constantly

  seek the companionship of our Heavenly Father in our daily lives…..