Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Charity part 2

The first time I really experienced how powerful charity could be was up at BYU-Idaho during a devotional. Elder Henry B. Eyring (an apostle in our church) was speaking. I luckily got into the auditorium he was speaking in and was just sitting and pondering in the packed room for about ten minutes before he spoke. I also remember praying in my heart for him and the words he was going to share with us. He was introduced and as he started speaking I felt this overpowering feeling of love enter my heart. I felt that he really cared about me, although he had never met me before. Then I had the prompting that this was part of the power of charity. You could truly love and care about those you had never met.

The second time I felt this type of charity was also during another devotional, and the speaker was Susan W. Tanner, the current General Young Women's president of the church. And again as she started speaking I got the feeling that she truly cared about me personally, and everyone else in the room. It was an incredible feeling, and very motivating to listen to a speaker you feel actually cares about you.

I didn't realize charity could extend to people you have yet to meet. I knew it could be extended to people you immediately meet, and people you had previously seen and/or met, but here were two people that I know loved me, and I don't know if they had ever even seen me.

And then the awe of that kind of power hit me. And I realized why Moroni said to "
pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love". This wasn't about love you could earn or just have on your own. This was love that extended mortal bounds. It was truly god-like, something we literally can't create on our own.

Have you ever had any experiences with charity before?


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