PRIESTHOOD POWER

Happy Middle of September!

Hope this email finds you all with smiles on your face and ready to face ANYTHING that is thrown at you because you have the gospel power to combat it, right?!

We were given an great lesson by Kelly Beeson this week in Relief Society.  She took us on a plane ride.  She was the non member sitting next to us and she had us explain to her as we would to a perfect stranger knowing nothing of the gospel, the restoration.  It kept us all on our toes.

Kelly was blessed to work on the FARMS project while she attended BYU.  There she was given an assignment to record and type letters that were written by Orson P Pratt.  Something powerful that she said as she was able to share her experience briefly with us was that while she was reading and typing she felt time and time again “ This man REALLY saw an Angel!” She said it was amazing that even though he ended up leaving the church, he NEVER denied the experience that he had with Joseph Smith!  What an awesome testimony she gave, having experienced reading the actual letters where he recounted it with others.

Something that I was thinking about A LOT during this lesson was The Priesthood.  That is definitely something that sets us apart from other religions.  We have holders that have been given that power from the Lord in our day.

Growing up without the priesthood in my home, I often prayed for better understanding of this power and the miracles it can bring forth.  Because of my intense desire to understand and experience the power in my own life, I have been given poignant experiences with the Priesthood that I will treasure forever.   One inparticular was standing out to me as I heard all of you sharing in RS this week.

I have shared before with you all that I worked many years in the EFY program (Especial For Youth).  This program is for the 14-18 year olds of the church (although we do have a number on non members attend as well).  It is set up like a bible style camp and is held in college campuses all over the world now. 

We have a special day in the week program that is a spiritual day.  It happens on Thursdays.  This is the day that all the youth and leaders dress in their Sunday best and we have mini classes talking about our worth and virtue to the girls and missions to the boys.  Then that night it ends with testimony meetings.  It is the day all counselors and leadership look forward too, the day of miracles some of us call it.  You see the light finally come on in some of your most challenging youth’s heads and you see a light of testimony starting to grow.  This day at EFY is always solemn and special.

Of course we give our Youth a break from the spiritual things and they eat lunch and have some free time.  On this particular day that I am going to talk about, I was at BYU-Idaho.  I was incharge of keeping the youth from butting in the lunch lines etc this day.  Having 800 youth come to eat at relatively the same time, is a challenge and this day hadn’t proven any less of one.  The lunch room was crowded, loud and boisterous to say the least.  I was talking to the youth and laughing with them when all of the sudden out of the corner of my eye I noticed something startling.  I noticed a youth go down and begin to have a seizure.

We had just had a training that VERY morning while the kids were in classes about how to react in an emergency situation. I watched fellow counselors move in as we were told and we formed a circle around this girl with our backs faced inward as to not cause a scene.  It worked amazing.  Only a few youth had seen what was happening and we were able to keep things calm and continuing on as normal.  As I sat there on the outside of that circle I could here the priesthood holders discuss what her full name was with her sister who was there and then without any warning the ENTIRE lunchroom went SILENT.  A hush fell over that lunch room.  You couldn’t hear one noise (not even the voice of the men giving a blessing) all you could feel was this OVERWHELMING sense of calm and spirit. 

I as well as many other’s had tears flowing down our cheeks.  It was a power like I hadn’t felt before, it was tangible, it was so powerful it HUSHED a sea of 800 hungry, boisterous teens.  The only way that I knew that the blessing was over is that as soon as the AMEN was done the teens in the room started to carryon like nothing had happened. 

I reflected on that experience all day.  I was so touched at the reverence that the youth showed for the moment of healing that was taking place.  I wondered how in the world they all knew to be quiet at the same time as the blessing was being said. 

That night as I got my girls settled down for bed they said, “Meg, can we ask you something?” I said of course.  “What happened in the lunchroom today?  Why did we feel so compelled to be reverent?”

These youth had absolutely NO IDEA that there was someone that was having a seizure. They had no idea that someone was administering a blessing. All they knew is they were compelled to be reverent.  That was such a testimony to me and to them, of the power of the priesthood.  It has power to compel you to be reverent if it needs to.

That day (as well as many others since) I was taught such a valuable lesson and my faith in Priesthood power was strengthened and made alive again.  I am so thankful for the restoration of the gospel.  For the Priesthood power that it brought back to the earth.  I am thankful that daily through the worthy men in my life I have access to that power. All I need to do is call upon them to bless me with it. I am thankful for the youth of the church that taught me that miracles still happen and who were in-tune to the change in their behavior and made it possible for all of us involved to feel that HUSH that came into the BYU-I lunchroom that day.

Sisters, may we never take this blessing in our lives for granted.  May we be compelled and reverence this gift that we have been blessed with.  May we always feel comfortable to ask for it to bless our lives.  The Priest brings amazing power in our life if we will allow it to work.

Keep pressing forward with faith Sisters!!  Have a great week!!  YOU CAN DO IT!