Over the last year, I have been all over the place. I feel like that would be the only way to describe what has happened. I left my job in Utah to be closer to my family. I struggled to find a job in Arizona, and I ended up with just a temporary job, luckily because it was the winter holiday season. I hated that job because I had to work every Sunday, and that meant that I didn't get to go to church, which is my place of refuge, kind of. Church is kind of my place of refuge. And that's what my next post will be about. After I finished that job in January, I headed to New Zealand. And I stayed there for three months.
My sister and brother-in-law let me stay at their home for those three months. I helped take care of my nephew. And I worked on my Master's degree. Oh yeah, that's something else that happened this past year--I started a graduate program.
When I came back home, I got the first job that I had an interview for. And now I've been working for a month. It's weird to think that I've only been home for a month and a half because I feel like still so much has happened since I have been back in the United States.
My life has been up and down and down and farther down. I have cried so many times in the last year. I have pled for answers and guidance from my Father in Heaven. And He told me things that I hated. (Which is often the case.) He told me things that hurt. But I was still capable of feeling His love.
I didn't plan on writing any of that, but I think it helps with what I did want to write. I wanted to write about the temple. I wanted to write about the power of going to the temple, even to the temple grounds, sitting outside. But, there is power in sitting inside even more.
Inside the temple, we are reminded of our covenants, our promises, our contracts, our loyalty to our God. He is our Heavenly Father, and He asks that we be loyal to Him. After we are reminded of our covenants, there is a room that we enter called the Celestial Room. Sitting there, he reminds us why we are loyal to Him. He embraces is us in His unconditional, unlimited love. And He tells us it's all going to be okay. And He says that He knows that we hate what He tells us to do, but it will be okay, and that He still loves us.
The temple gives me the power to do things that I don't want to do, like staying in Utah for forever or giving up a job opportunity because that means less stability. God asks us to do things that we hate. Or He asks us to do things that we love but are hard. He also asks us to just do things that are mediocre or boring. But the temple is where He shows us why we do those things.
I invite you to go to the temple this week. You don't necessarily have to go inside. If you have questions, let me know; I would love to answer them. I love the temple. It is my refuge. Everyone needs a place of refuge. I invite you to find yours.
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