Today my blogging reaches a new realm--Just trying to keep things interesting for all two of you readers....so today we talk about things that actually matter.

Typically, I'm not one to run around, shouting about what I believe. I think that sort of needs to change. Well, I probably won't shout, but I would like people to know what I believe because it matters. Not much that I do in a normal day matters that much, in the long run, except for how I choose to treat people and who I choose to be, on a spiritual level. I'm sad to say that often I come up short on both accounts, but...here's to hoping there's lots of time for me to practice, eh?

So, in short, this is a testimony post. My voice is small, but I know certain things and think they should be heard, even if just by the two of you who read this.

I know there is a God, and He is listening. I've never known it so completely as I do now. I know that He loves me. He finds ways to show me that He loves me, and while I don't always appreciate how it's happening...when I come away with a sure knowledge that I am loved by someone like that, it nearly knocks me over. This knowledge is absolutely central to my life, and I'm just now starting to figure out why.

Being loved is key to human existence. Babies die in orphanages because they don't receive the love they need. Relationships are destroyed when there is even a doubt about the presence of love; We run around our entire lives striving for love, no matter how much we might think we're after different things. Anyone who has been in love knows what a powerful force it is--It is motivating, all-forgiving, and all-sacrificing, when it's pure. And that's just human love. Do we really understand what it means to be divinely loved? It too is motivating. It helps us forgive. It makes us willing to sacrifice many of the worldly, eternally unimportant things. Feeling that love puts everything in perspective, because nothing petty or potentially hurtful can matter when God is holding you in His arms.

I have felt it. I have felt it without knowing why or how He chooses to love what I am. I have felt it when I find it impossible to love myself and impossible to love others. This feeling is helping my life mean something.

There are so many people in this world who don't know this. I am aching with the desire to make it known, because so much hurt and hate could be healed by this knowledge. What a strange state we live in--most of the time we aren't willing to even listen to the answer to all our problems. I know that there are still problems, even with this knowledge--There is hurt and hate and bad days and willful disobedience--but to be able to go through a normal day with a sense of what is important and what isn't makes life pretty amazing.

So that's pretty much it. Simple, right? I believe in a loving Heavenly Father, I believe in the LDS church, and I want other people to believe it too. I don't think that's bad to say that I want others to believe it. I'm selling something pretty amazing, here. Without any of this knowledge, one can still be happy and live a good life. But now I know how much happier and better life can be, and I would love for everybody to know that too.