Hermana Miller: Week 26: Happiness.

Hello, everyone!

My heart is so happy today. (Even though we had a crazy rainy and then blizzard day yesterday!) One of the biggest lessons I have learned on my mission is that happiness, true happiness, comes from hard work and sacrificing for other people-especially the Lord. President Weston shared this wonderful quote with us recently:

"Happiness is different from pleasure. Happiness has something to do with struggling and enduring and accomplishing."(George Sheehan)

Isn't that the truth! In a lesson I recently asked a family with several small children what they thought Jesus is like, and I loved the answer I got from their 5 year old daughter. "Jesus was happy!" Yes, yes He was! I testify that Christ is the happiest man that there ever was. Yes, He had to suffer and endure through every heartbreak and hard moment we will ever have to, but I know that through it all he was still happy. He was happy because He was perfectly obedient. He was happy because He lived worthy to always have the company of the Spirit with Him. He was happy because He not only died for us, but LIVED for us too. He gave His life in the service of His brothers and sisters, and continues doing so today! That, my dear ones, is what truly brings joy into our hearts and lives. Service. Sacrificing for others. This week as we enjoy the Spirit of Easter, I would encourage you all to focus on every aspect of what Christ did for us during all of His 33 years, not just those few days at the end of His life which we tend to focus on at this time of year.

I am so grateful for all that He did - for His flawless and unfailing example of charity and perfect and tireless compassion. He was infinitely aware of the needs of others, and likewise infinitely searching for ways to meet and satisfy those needs. I am so grateful for the Atonement of our dear brother, Christ. It truly has changed my life and my heart. He saved me. Many of you may or may not be aware but there was a very dark and difficult period of time in my life in which I strayed from the path and rebelled against the commandments of both my earthly parents and my Heavenly Father. Those were without a doubt, the hardest years of my entire life. I got to a point where I never thought I could change on my own, nor did I feel I was worthy to ask my loving Father in Heaven for the strength to do so. I was, in every form, 100% a different person from who I am today. And why am I different now?  What changed?  Why is it that I am here spreading the word of the Lord and feeling such intense joy and purity in my heart when 2-3 years ago I was so miserable and muddied up by the world? It is all because of that great and atoning sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus Christ. He truly does transform people, and it is never too late to allow Him into your heart and do so. If any one of you reading this needs an example that the Atonement of Christ is a real and tangible gift that we ALL have access to, look at me. I am a testament that He lives. That He loves us. That He never gives up on us. If you need a testimony that Christ loves you no matter what, and is ALWAYS waiting for you to return, with outstretched arms, lean on mine until you can develop your own. I echo the words of that famous song as I say "I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me." I truly am.

I have learned to love the lyrics of the hymn "O Savior, Thou Who Wearest a Crown." The second verse says:

  

"No creature is so lowly,

No sinner so depraved,

But feels thy presence holy

And thru thy love is saved.

Tho’ craven friends betray thee,

They feel thy love's embrace;

The very foes who slay thee

Have access to thy grace."

Everyone has access to His grace and love. None is turned away from His loving arms. He rejoices in every single one of His brothers and sisters who humbly come back to Him and ask for forgiveness and for divine help. Luke 15 has become one of the very dearest chapters to my heart. I love the story of the lost sheep because it rings so true to me and my past:

"What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine  in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

 And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

 And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.

 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance."

Just like a good shepherd, He truly knows each one of His sheep. He is deeply aware of our presence or absence in His fold, and will search us out, but we must make the decision to let Him pick us up and put us on His shoulders as He carries back to safety and green pastures. The climb is steep and the way may be rocky and full of stumbling blocks, but I testify that He WILL carry you through that repentance process as you permit Him to. He did it for me, even when I know I didn't deserve it, and He WILL do it for you, free of price, and free of judgment. Why would we ever turn down help from the one person who loves us enough to conquer any obstacle, even death, to save us? Repentance is a gift, remember that. Use it. As you struggle and endure and accomplish making those eternal changes with the help of Jesus Christ, our dear brother, you WILL be happy.  I can promise you that, because I have experienced it. Don't you EVER give up.  Don't you EVER shut Him out.  Don't you EVER think it's too late or you are too lost to be saved. It never is,  His arms are always outstretched, beckoning you to come to Him.

I love you all, and beg you with every ounce of my heart to consider your lives and humbly and sincerely repent for anything that is impeding you from enjoying the full and true happiness of the Lord.  I am doing the same.  Enjoy this Easter season.  He lives.  He loves.

Staying strong and positive,

Hermana Miller :)