The end of our bench in church was still empty as I bowed my head for the opening prayer. Bryce had responded positively about coming, yet my fear and faith were continuing to wage war within my aching heart. Suddenly I felt the bench move, peeking I saw Bryce bowing his head in silence. HE CAME!!
After the prayer, I smiled at him. My heart was happy.
Then a few minutes later it happened...as the strains of the Sacrament hymn began, he reached for the other hymnbook, I watched completely mesmerized as he opened it up. His lips were already moving with the familiar words as he found the right page.
And then it happened......he sang. He sang.
Jesus of Nazareth, Savior and King
Triumphant over death, Life Thou didst bring.
Leaving Thy Father's throne, on earth to live,
Thy work to do alone, Thy life to give.
While of this broken bread, humbly we eat,
Our thoughts to Thee are led in rev'rence sweet.
Bruised, broken, torn for us on Calvary's hill--
Thy suff'ring borne for us Lives with us still.
As to our lips the cup gently we press,
Our hearts are lifted up; Thy name we bless!
Guide us where'er we go, Till in the end
Life evermore we'll know Through thee, our friend.
I looked heavenward and felt my heart bursting with joy. I was awed at the depth of the joy I felt...even as the dam burst in my eyes and tears escaped. I marveled at his ease, and he sang every word. I remember it took me months after his attempt to be able to sing. I just couldn't sing with such a shattered heart. And here he was a living, breathing testament to answered prayers, faith, and joy filling his once-empty battered heart and singing in church.
I remembered an oft-used phrase throughout the scriptures about how full our joy would be one day when we had done all that we needed to do here and would return to the loving glorified presence of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. It was suddenly hard to imagine feeling more joy than I was currently experiencing.
As I reflected on the outpouring of blessings and answers to prayers I have experienced in just the last few days, the word Joy kept reverberating in my soul.
JOY...an acronym - Jesus Others You.
As I had focused on Christ, coming unto Him, conscientiously placing Him first in my life, and then immediately following His direction, incredible miracles happened.
Later Bryce said he enjoyed the meeting and even took some notes on his phone.
He said." I was trying very hard not to cry, as I knew there were people there that were watching me. He said I did pretty good until the closing hymn....Families can be together forever. I used to sing that one to myself clear back in junior high when I was having a hard day." The calm, peace in his soul has been evident again these last few days and it leaves me speechless. His knowledge, understanding and experience with Eternal families...on both sides of the veil has been both a burden and a blessing to him. As a twin for eternities before this world began, that knowledge often has left him feeling very alone here in mortality. Yet even in his darkest hours, he has been sustained and supported by his family from the other side of the veil. He knows Families can be- and are together forever already.
As the day winds to a close, I can hear the wind howling outside as the next snowstorm approaches...Helaman 5:12 comes forcefully to mind...
"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."
While each of us has felt we were in that gulf of misery, we didn't stay there! It wasn't endless for us or Bryce, because of Christ our redeemer. Christ passed through it all for us, shining His light into our darkness, and gently led us to the light again. Oh blessed day!
No comments:
Post a Comment