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Forgiving the Abuser

In January 1992, I decided I needed to deal with emotions stemming from abuse at the age of seven. I also decided I needed to forgive my molesters. Forgiveness is an important part of the healing process.

I wanted to begin counseling at LDS Social Services but was afraid. I had been repressing emotions for years, and I knew they’d be intense when I let them surface. I asked my husband to give me a blessing to help me through. I felt his hands on my head long after he had given me the blessing.

The next day I opened my Book of Mormon to 2 Nephi 31. [2 Ne. 31] I had only read a few verses when I felt the strength and support of my husband’s priesthood blessing all over again.

It is a comfort to me to know that the gospel is true and that we have the Lord’s example to follow. The devil would have me not forgive. I have not fully trusted in the Lord as I should. I have not yet forgiven my molesters, and I am still struggling with emotion. But I know that every prayer and every act of service is a step toward trusting in the Lord.

I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for providing us with scriptures. I learn something new every time I read them.

Name Withheld
Salt Lake City

Recognizing the Spirit

I just returned from my mission. While serving as a missionary, I learned how to recognize the Spirit when I felt it. I think that is sometimes overlooked as we teach our children. If feeling and recognizing the Spirit are so important that more than forty thousand missionaries are taught about it in missionary training centers, shouldn’t we be teaching the same thing to our children? They definitely have the same questions as investigators.

I don’t have any children yet, but I know it would have been nice if somebody had explained the Spirit to me when I was a young child and teenager, as the missionaries do to investigators. I can remember several occasions as a youth when I felt the Spirit; I just didn’t recognize it. It’s been a wonderful testimony strengthener for me now to be able to feel it and identify it.

Matt Hammond
Ogden, Utah