I am a Child of God

First family photo. I love it.

Last Tuesday when I was in labor, and having pains, I thought of the Savior suffering in Gethsemane, pleading for relief, but still saying, "Nevertheless, not my will, but Thine, be done." He had a choice, and yet he continued on so that each of us could be spiritually reborn. My appreciation and love for Jesus Christ deepened as I experienced my own pains for another, and knew that still, His were far greater than my own, and made all the joy in life that I have possible. I thought of this chapter from Isaiah 53: (underlining is there because I copied and pasted from lds.org, and all of those have footnotes)

1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 ¶ Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
10 ¶ Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. I love how we become his "generation," his "seed", his children because of the "travail of his soul." There are so many words here that describe giving birth: bear, grief, satisfied, seed, generation, stricken, borne our griefs, carried our sorrows--the imagery really is beautiful to ponder.

Another experience in the hospital. There was a miscommunication about when I needed to check out, and for a while I thought, and had been told that we'd need to check out by 3:07 am the day after I had Madeleine. This was being told me at about 9 pm. I hadn't seen my doctor yet, the pediatrician hadn't been by for Madeleine, there were some standard tests that have to be done no earlier than 24 hours after birth...I was very concerned and stressed and trying hard not to feel like a thief sneaking out in the night and instead trying to be brave. It wasn't working. I was so exhausted, having no sleep the night before, and only about 5 hours that day, all broken up by nurses and feeding Madeleine and visitors. While my wonderful nurse went off to straighten things out, I asked Andy to read something from General Conference. He looked for a moment--prayerfully I'm sure--and then read in a confident voice, "God Loves and Helps All His Children." Just hearing the title, I felt comforted, loved, reassured. Not about the outcome, but that whatever happened, it would be okay, even good. Whatever information the nurse came back with would be okay, because I knew that God loves and helps all His children. (It turned out we were able to stay until anytime that day, so we left comfortably just before noon.)

Both of these experiences deepened my testimony that God the Father and Jesus Christ know me personally, they love me, they have prepared the way to happiness and peace now and throughout eternity for me. I know that the restored Church of Jesus Christ is that plan and holds all the priesthood keys necessary to perform the ordinances required for me and my family to be together eternally.