An Excellent Reminder

I have gone and done baptisms for the dead many times in my life. But I have never been baptized for someone I was related to before, because there are some geneology-crazed people in my family who have made sure everyone's temple work is done. On Saturday, I not only got to be baptized for a relative, but it was someone I actually knew on this earth! Her name was Jean. She was one of my English cousins. Actually, she was my my great-grandma's cousin, but we call all of our relatives who live in England our English cousins. She came to the U.S. about three different times in my lifetime, and she was very sweet and she always called me "love" which I thought was awesome! Being baptized and confirmed for her was such a wonderful experience for me. I was thinking about my baptism 11 1/2 years ago and how different my life would be without it. Being Baptized for her reminded me of everything I know and how it has blessed my life.



Membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints brings me more joy than anything else for so many reasons. Knowing that I am a daughter of God gives me the confidence to work hard in all that I do. It's what keeps me going when I feel like giving up. Knowing that Jesus Christ is my Savior and my friend is the biggest blessing in my life. I have become so much closer to Him in the last two-ish years. I always thought that the Atonement was for when we made really big mistakes, and since I have never done that, I didn't really pay as much attention to the Atonement as I should have. But then I started to lose some of my closest friends, and nothing was working out the way I wanted it too. I felt really alone because no one knew how I felt. Some people even said they were glad to see that my life FINALLY wasn't going perfectly. Ouch. And through these times I learned the Jesus Christ knew exactly how I felt. He suffered for EVERYTHING I have gone through, and so He knows how to heal me. I now make Him a part of my life in everything I do, and it makes life so much more bearable.

I am also grateful for the Holy Ghost. It is through the Holy Ghost that I am able to draw closer to God and to know what I should do in my life.

I love this Gospel, and I am happy that Jean now has the opportunity to have these blessings. And I am grateful that although my life is insanely busy right now, I took the time to go to the temple so that I could reflect on these things that I know.