Stand In Holy Places

We are in the process of moving to a new house.  It has been years since we outgrew our old house, but we stayed there, trying like crazy to make it work - until we just couldn't anymore.  For years we hung on, mostly because the thought of leaving our neighbors and school and ward was more than we could imagine. 

This past summer, the day after we celebrated our 15th anniversary, we went through a house in a new area and pretty much fell in love.  The house was big enough to fit our family, it was completely and beautifully updated and had a gorgeous yard.  We were smitten - but still the thought of leaving our neighborhood, broke our hearts - and the hearts of our kids.  

Finally, after weeks of going back and forth on a roller coaster of emotion, we made the tough decision to move.  It has meant leaving our dear friends and neighbors.  It has meant all our kids started new schools this fall.  It has meant tears, and selling our house, and stress - but it's something we feel is right for our family and despite how hard it's been - we are so excited about it.

This past Sunday, was our second to last week in our ward and Andrew and I were asked to speak.  It was a heart wrenching talk to prepare because it was nearly impossible to find the words that appropriately describe what this place and these people have meant to us.  In the end, I am grateful I had the chance to at least try.  

For posterity's sake, here is my talk:

I am grateful for the privilege I have to speak here today and share my testimony of the Savior and His gospel with people I love so dearly.

The theme for this month is Stand in Holy Places.  I am grateful for the opportunity I have had to prepare this talk as it has given me a chance to really focus on this topic and ponder what it means in my own life. 

Amidst the craziness of this world, with all its uncertainties and commotion, there must be places that offer spiritual refuge, hope, peace and renewal.  Such places do exist and they are both holy and sacred.  They are places where we can find and commune with the Spirit of the Lord.

Three times in the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord counsels His people to “stand in holy places.”  The significance of His counsel is all the more momentous as we look at the current condition of our world.  Political and economic unrest, a decline in moral values, wars, disease, and increased conflicts have become familiar to each of us in our daily experience.  In the face of such confusion and turmoil, the Lord counsels his people, “Behold, it is my will, that all they who call on my name, and worship me according to mine everlasting gospel, should gather together, and stand in holy places.”

Holy places have always been essential to the proper worship of God.  For Latter-day Saints, such holy places include our homes, sacrament meetings and temples.  Much of what we reverence, and what we teach our children to reverence as holy and sacred, is reflected in these places. 

As a mother, my greatest responsibility is to create a home for my children where the Spirit can dwell.  While our home is seldom quiet or tranquil, there are moments we share as a family that can only be described as holy.  There are times when together as a family we pray, or read the scriptures, or share our testimonies, and the spirit is so strong, our home is a holy and sacred place. 

I hope that through these experiences in our home, and as a family, my children will learn to recognize what the spirit feels like to them, and seek to always have it with them.  And I hope that as they go out into the world, and encounter many of the world’s negative influences, they’ll view our home as a refuge from the outside forces of this uncertain world – as a holy place where they can come for peace and renewal.   I hope they will always know and recognize that our home is a holy and sacred place.

Likewise, sacrament meetings are more than just meetings.  They are sacred moments in a holy place.  In Moroni 6:5-6 we read, “And the church did meet together oft, to fast and to pray, and to speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls.  And they did meet together oft to partake of bread and wine, in remembrance of the Lord Jesus.” During sacrament meetings, we gather together to take the sacrament, to renew our covenants, and to remember the atoning sacrifice of our Savior.  We remember, we worship, and through these holy moments, our “hearts are knit together in unity and in love one towards another.”   What great blessings we receive by gathering together each week in this holy place.

Temples, which are now spread throughout much of the earth, with “Holiness to the Lord” inscribed on them are among the most sacred of all places on the earth.  They stand as evidence of God’s love to all His children.  I am so grateful for the refuge and renewal the temple provides.  There have been times when Andrew and I have gone to the temple with specific questions or concerns filling our hearts and minds, and in the temple, we have found peace and a greater understanding of the Lord’s purpose for each of us and for our family.  How grateful I am to have such a place in this tumultuous world.

One of our family’s favorite scripture stories in the Book of Mormon, is that of Lehonti and Amalikiah.  In Alma 47, we read of Lehonti, the leader of a Lamanite army, who had positioned his men on top of the mountain.   He and those he led were “fixed in their minds with a determined resolution” that they would not come down off the mountain.  The deceitful Amalickiah knew that if Lehonti would leave the top of the mountain, he could gain favor with the Lamanite armies and eventually become king.  Three times he asked Lehonti to come down off the top of mountain, and three times Lehonti refused.  Finally, Amalickiah went “up into the mount, nearly to Lehonti’s camp” and again requested that Lehonti meet him.  This time, Lehonti and his guards, left the safety of the mountain top and went part way down the mountain to meet Amalickiah.  Once he left that safe and holy place, Amalickiah was able to poison Lehonti by degrees until he was dead.

What a powerful message for each of us today – how important it is to be diligent in standing in holy places so we aren’t being spiritually “poisoned by degrees.” Each time we read this part of the Book of Mormon, we talk about the importance of being steadfast and immovable and standing in holy places.  The last time we read it, for several weeks afterwards, my children’s prayers included the line, “Please bless we won’t come halfway down the mountain.” Even at young ages, they understond the importance of seeking high ground and in standing firm in holy places.

I have learned through experience, that when we stand in holy places, we put ourselves in a position so that the Lord can bless us.  However, I have also found through personal experience, we need to trust that the Lord will bless us in ways that are for our good – even if those blessings are not what we hoped for or wanted for ourselves.

A short time after Andrew and I were married, Andrew was applying to medical school.  We were living in Arlington, Virginia at the time, but we both hoped Andrew would be accepted to the University of Utah for medical school so we could move back here and be closer to family.  Andrew had worked hard in college.  He had good grades and test scores – and as we were doing our best to obey the commandments in our lives, we expected Heavenly Father would bless us accordingly.  As we sent off his med school application, we fasted and prayed and hoped that our prayers would be answered and that he would be accepted to the U.

Imagine how broken-hearted we were a few months later, when we went to the mailbox and found a letter from the University of Utah stating that Andrew hadn't been accepted to medical school.  All the hopes and dreams we had outlined for ourselves for the next few years of our life came crashing down around us.  I admit, our initial reaction was to question the Lord, wondering why he had forgotten us and let our prayers go unanswered when we had done all that He had asked of us. It didn’t take long however, for us to realize that the Lord was blessing us according to his plan – which was greater and wiser than the plan we had for ourselves.

A short time after receiving the letter from the U, Andrew received a phone call letting him know that he had been accepted into Georgetown Medical School.  We were thrilled that he had been accepted and excited that we would spend the next four years living in northern Virginia. 

Andrew and I look back at that time of our life, as one of the greatest blessings of our marriage.  While living in Arlington,  we were in a ward where we made many dear, life-long friends, including Matt and Amanda. Well, after several years of school and residency, it was finally time for us to move back to Utah, it was Amanda who called and asked we were interested in renting their house which happened to be in this ward.

I didn’t know anything about this area before moving into their house, but it only took a few weeks of coming to church here for us to realize we wanted to be in this area.  We were welcomed so warmly by so many of you and over the past seven years, since we moved here, we have been served and felt loved by all of you.

We now look back on that sad day in Arlington, Virginia, when we found out Andrew hadn’t been accepted to the U, as one of the great blessings of our life.  In a very real and direct way, that rejection letter is the reason we have been blessed to be members of this ward. Our Heavenly Father, with his eternal perspective, knew what we needed more than we did and he blessed us abundantly in ways we never imagined.  We will be eternally grateful for that blessing.

Over the past seven years, the Valley View 10^th ward has been a holy place for our family.  We have stood here, steadfast and immovable, with many of you as we have worshipped, learned, laughed, and cried together.  I will always view this time and this place as “holy” in my family’s life.

It was here, as members of this ward, that our three oldest children were baptized and confirmed. 

It was here that our four youngest children were given a name and a blessing. 

It was here that our daughter Abby first recognized the spirit and during a sacrament meeting, passed me a note, written on a gum wrapper that said, “Mom, I felt the spirit so strongly during that last talk.” 

It was here that at age six, our son Isaac followed a prompting from the Holy Ghost and stood and bore his testimony of the Book of Mormon. 

It was here that during Susan’s mid-week scripture study class, I felt the Holy Ghost whisper to me that I needed to be reading the Book of Mormon to my young children every day – and what a blessing that has been to our family.

It was here I was given opportunities to teach Sunday School, Relief Society, Young Womens, and Primary  – and I know I learned and grew more from those lessons than anyone I taught.

It was here that we have sought council from our good bishops about decisions and choices facing us in our life, and they have blessed us with their wisdom.

It was here that we have “talked of Christ, we have rejoiced in Christ, we have preached of Christ…that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.”

Over the past seven years, our lives have been so blessed by the members of this ward.  I look out and see the faces of people who have taught my children the gospel, people who have fed our family after the births of our children, people who have offered encouraging words on crazy Sunday mornings.  I see people who have mowed our lawn, and who have helped clean my house.  I see the faces of those who have dropped off treats at our house and those who have babysat my children.  I see the faces of those who have been incredible examples to me of faith, courage, and purity.  We have been so abundantly blessed by your goodness and your love and your service.  There are not words I can use to adequately thank you for all you have done for me and my family.  I will be eternally thankful for our time in this ward – and for countless ways you have blessed our lives. This is a holy place – in every sense of the word – and our family has been blessed by standing here with you each week.

In closing, I would like to share my testimony.  I know that Heavenly Father loves me and hears and answers my prayers. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and the Savior of the world.  He came to earth to provide a perfect example for us to follow and to atone for the sins of the world.  I know that this church is His church restored in the latter days by the prophet Joseph Smith.

I am grateful for the council we have been given, to stand in holy places.  I am grateful for the peace and refuge that can only come through the Holy Ghost in this uncertain world.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.