It Is The Love of God

It is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things. And he spake unto me, saying: Yea, and the most joyous to the soul.

—1 Nephi 11:22–23

Dear Sisters,

Our lesson in Relief Society this coming Sunday (March 3^rd) will be about the love of God. Please, over the next few days, be thinking of experiences you have had in which you have felt the love of God either for yourself or for someone else. I would like most of our lesson time spent sharing these experiences with each other. My prayer is that every sister in the room will feel the Spirit and feel the Lord’s love for her.

If you won’t be able to come to our Relief Society meeting, please still take time to think of these experiences you have had. I think we could all do with a little remembering of this kind of thing. And if any of you are so inclined, feel free to share your experiences on our blog by emailing them to henryspoint1@gmail.com.

These experiences may be huge, life-changing events, or they may be the more subtle tender mercies that sustain us each day. The following is an example of an experience I had recently.

As many of you know, not long ago I gave birth to our fourth child, a sweet baby girl we named Afton. And leading up to her birth, I was very anxious about the whole birthing experience. I was afraid of the pain but more afraid of the epidural, so my plan was to do it without any anesthetic. This was my third time doing it this way, and my memories of the pain and stress of labor were steadily returning as I got closer to my due date.

Among other things, I went to the scriptures for comfort. In John 14:18, the Savior tells His apostles, “I will not leave you comfortless.” I clung to this phrase for several days and pondered it and hoped that I too might have the same promise while I was in labor. I didn’t really talk about it, though. I had shared some other comforting scriptures with my husband, but this one I kept to myself and thought about it off and on as I tried to wait patiently for this baby to come.

A few days before my due date, when the stress of “waiting patiently” got to be too much, I asked my husband for a priesthood blessing. In that blessing, Tim spoke the words: “The Lord will not leave you comfortless.” It was just a small part of the whole blessing and a phrase that could have been easily passed over, but the wording was so exact that I could not miss it. I felt that the Lord was telling me that He had heard my prayers and knew my hopes and fears. I wasn’t overcome with emotion as I often am when I feel His love. I simply felt peace and a calming assurance that all would be well.

And that is exactly what happened.

—Erica Royer