God Gives us Power, Love, and Sound Mind

 2 Timothy 1:7-8 says, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord.." 

Since God wants us to feel power and love and have a sound mind. He also wants us to not be afraid of sharing our testimony. This lesson hit me hard. I have been afraid to share about the gospel on social media since the last election because I had gotten some contentious comments that made me shy away from sharing gospel or humor related memes. This means I was afraid to share my testimony in a way that I had felt free to share in the past. I need to move past this fear and once again be happy to share the gospel. 

I am happy to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I am had many experiences that have helped me grow my testimony. If asked, I tell people why I feel this way. 

I know that Heavenly Father helps us love others. October 2020, President Oaks gave a talk entitled, "Love Your Enemies" in which he speaks of the animosity around the election. He tells us that we should not treat people poorly just because they have different points of view. He reminds us, "The Savior's teaching to love our enemies is based on the reality that all mortals are beloved children of God."

I learned a really good lesson about piece of mind when the world was shut down at the beginning of the pandemic. I was worried about how it would affect my oldest child because he lost his prom and thought he would lose his graduation as well. About a year prior he was also depressed, and I was worried that he would be again. I did not know how to help him. One day, I went on a walk and prayed for my boy. After I wrapped up my prayer, I kept walking to feel the calm. At this time, I could feel the Lord speaking to me. He told me to trust the process. I was not sure what that was going to look like, but I made the decision to do just that. As I listened to the recommendations and the prophet, I felt peace. Graduation did not look like what we had originally imagined, but he did graduate. I felt at peace when I decided to be vaccinated. It did not bother me when I was told to wear a mask. I got used to working from home (the thing that turned out to be a bigger blessing than I had expected). 

I know that the Lord does not want me to fear the events in going on in the world. He want me to feel love, power, and peace.