Do You Have Any Questions?

     I know that I have been really bad about blogging.  This has been something that I have missed.  Not only for the record of the fun things that we do,  but I am finding that there have been a lot of blessings in my life this past couple of years that I have missed recording.  Unfortunately I was a lot better at blogging and getting things down than I ever was at writing in my journal.  Maybe because I love taking pictures and it is fun for me to put the stories with them.  What ever the reason I now find myself struggling with that and when I go back and read my old posts I am sad I do not have the new things happening recorded too.  This is something that I hope my children will look back on as adults and find love happiness and comfort from our experiences together.  Today as I was cleaning I was thinking about the past few months and things that have happened and an experience came into my mind that I want to write about here so that Josh can remember it also. 

      A few months ago on a regular Monday I was doing my normal Monday activities.  Cleaning up the house and doing the laundry.  As I was working on this task I was thinking about what we should talk about for Family Home Evening that night.  I had a couple of ideas, but then I had a strong impression that I didn't need to plan a lesson that night.  Instead I needed to ask my kids if they had any questions about anything.  That feeling stayed with me the entire day.

     That night after dinner we sat down together as a family and began with a song and prayer.  When it was time for the lesson I simply asked them if any of them had any questions about anything they had seen or heard at Church or at school or anywhere else.  Was there anything they had been taught that they didn't understand or had questions about.  After a minute or two of silence Josh raised his had.  He then asked.  "How do I know it is true?" 

     This question surprised me a little bit because Josh was going to turn eight soon and was getting ready to be baptised.  In preparation for this we had had a lot of discussions on baptism and what it means.  A few weeks prior to this night we had told Josh that baptism was a decision between him and his Heavenly Father and that he needed to make sure it was the correct decision for him.  We had encouraged him to ask for himself. 

     When I was getting ready to turn eight my parents encouraged me to know for myself if baptism was right for me. They encouraged me to pray about it. They knew that they had taught me all that they could to this point.  They had testimonies of the Gospel and knew for themselves it is true, but they also knew that this needed to be my decision. That this was my first real experience with the asking for myself and feeling the Holy Ghost, and that it was an important part of baptism. I remember as a young girl praying for myself and the good feeling I had.  I remember knowing baptism was the right thing for me.  I am grateful my parents encouraged me to know for myself and I have always been grateful.  I want my children to have the same knowledge for themselves and as with Emily and Joe we had encouraged Josh to know for himself. 

     I did not realized that he had not fully understood what we had talked about, and I was so grateful for the promptings I had had that day to ask the simple question of "Do you have any questions?"
 
     The rest of the evening we talked about different experiences we have had and how we know the church is true.  We talked to him about the Holy Ghost and how we can ask him questions and he will give us answers.  We shared our own experiences and Joe and Emily even shared theirs.

     A few weeks later Josh was sitting by his dad in church and he suddenly turned to him with a big smile and said "Dad, I know it is true."

     The Gospel is such a blessing in my life and I am so happy that my children are able to feel the goodness of it for themselves.  I think our own knowledge of it's truthfulness is a powerful tool in this crazy world, and can help us through the many trials in life.