We know that our Heavenly
Father has a plan for us. That plan is authored by
the Lord Jesus Christ, whose Atonement and whose Resurrection
makes it all possible and whose teachings
show us the way.
"A certain man had two sons:
and the younger of them said to his father,
Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.
And he divided unto
them his living." I joined the Church
when I was 18, in my final year of high school. Then I pretty well got led
astray and fell waywards. "And not many days
after the younger son gathered all together, and took
his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance
with riotous living." The whole time I was
away from the Church, I knew I was on a spiral and I
was on that spiral downwards. We met at my work. When we looked at each other,
we just--our eyes just locked. Something happened
inside ourselves, and there was a spark there. And here we are, nine years
later with four children--four beautiful children. But being responsible
for my children and always having that
in the back of my mind, I was getting to
the point that I knew I was going
to be accountable and had to do
something about it. You know that
there's more to life. You know that there's
more for why we are here. And Alana didn't know I
was a member of the Church. "When he came to
himself, he said, ... I will ... go to my father, and
will say unto him, Father--" How can I come back? I had a prayer
answered immediately. Upon standing up, the
Holy Ghost came upon me. And from that day forwards, I
really knew I was getting help. You could feel
the Savior's love. You could feel the Savior
wanting to help me. It was the next Sunday that
I woke up and said to Alana, "I'm going to church, and I'm
taking the children with me." And she said, "Well,
I'm coming too." I was just thankful that he was
trying to keep away his habits. And that, I think, was drawing
me closer to him--that he wanted to change. I knew how much better it
would be for our family. "And he arose, and
came to his father. But when he was yet
a great way off, his father saw him, and
had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck,
and kissed him." One thing led to another,
and I baptized Alana. We just now need to go and get
sealed, which we'll hopefully do next month. Such a blessing to
have this in my life and in my children's lives. I'm grateful to my husband
for making that decision to come back. Not living the gospel
and living the gospel, I found it actually
easier to live the gospel. And that adds to my
testimony that this is true. How can it not be true if
it becomes easier to live? Jesus Christ did walk on this
earth, and He lives today. And that's what keeps me going. "For this my son was
dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found."