Are You Seeking Christ Each Day?

By Orson S. Franco

My experience in the temple helped me realize that I need to be seeking to find Christ every day.

The author lives in Guatemala.

a young adult male reads the scriptures next to an open window

When I was little, I used to ask myself questions like “Does the Holy Spirit speak?” “When I go to heaven, will I see God?”

Now that I’m a bit older, I can look back and see that Heavenly Father always guided me and showed me evidence that He existed, but I wasn’t always able to recognize His hand in my life. I was blessed to be raised in a home with the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, but I lived on a borrowed testimony for a long time. It was difficult for me to believe that God was truly real.

One day, when I was about 15, my bishop announced a ward temple trip. I was already used to going to the temple with my family, so I didn’t think this was a big deal. I never really felt much anyways and didn’t understand the importance of the covenants and ordinances performed in the temple.

When the day arrived, I entered the temple and changed into my white jumpsuit. As I walked past a mirror, I saw a glimpse of myself dressed in white and with a smile on my face. As I waited for the rest of my ward members, I was in awe. I was contemplating the beauty of the baptismal font and the paintings when suddenly, I felt the Spirit gently touch my heart.

I will never forget the words that came to my mind: “Orson, this is the house of the Lord. He loves you. He wants you to change your life and strive to become a better person little by little.”

I felt so much love in those words but was suddenly overwhelmed with guilt. I hadn’t taken the temple seriously up until this point. So I said a prayer in my heart, asking Heavenly Father to forgive me.

And I knew He heard my prayer because I felt so much peace in my heart.

That day, I deepened my faith and received the real testimony of the gospel that I longed for. That day, I was able to say as firmly as those two disciples of John: “I have found the Messiah” (see John 1:41).

Simple Ways to Connect

Ever since this experience, I have striven to better recognize Heavenly Father’s influence in my life by seeking Jesus Christ each day. Although the world can make it hard to hear the Savior’s voice at times, I know now that He truly is real and that He is with me.

Many of us have days when we feel a little closer to heaven than normal. We also have difficult days when we struggle to feel His influence no matter how hard we try or busy days when we can’t find enough time to seek Him. But I know that if we have a sincere desire to seek Him, we will see His hand in our lives.

When you’re feeling disconnected from the Savior, ask yourself, Am I striving to find the Messiah on a daily basis?

As we seek to be like the Apostles of old, leaving our nets (see Matthew 4:20) and other responsibilities and interests for a moment to turn to Him, we will find Him.

There are sources of spiritual power that can help us. The prophet Alma reminded us “that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass” (Alma 37:6). The small acts of faith and spiritual practices we do each day can help us increase our capacity to recognize the Lord in our lives.

Some of these spiritual tools might be things like:

Praying in faith
Studying the scriptures intentionally and meaningfully
Serving others selflessly
Sharing your testimony with a friend
Listening to hymns or spiritual music
Attending institute
Keeping the Sabbath day holy
Fasting
Attending the temple regularly

Many things can help us find Jesus Christ, but the key is continuing to seek Him. President Russell M. Nelson taught: “As we seek to be disciples of Jesus Christ, our efforts to hear Him need to be ever more intentional. It takes conscious and consistent effort to fill our daily lives with His words, His teachings, His truths.”¹

Have You Found Him Today?

Even if you aren’t receiving all the answers you are seeking right now, keep going! Simply seek Christ and choose to have faith in Him. If you will try to find Him every day through small acts, I know that you will come to feel His embrace from heaven. I know this is true because I have felt it.

Heavenly Father recognizes our efforts. He does not care so much about the magnitude of the things we do to edify our spirits if we can say each day with steadiness and certainty: “Today I have found the Messiah!”

It is my prayer that we may know and love our Savior daily. That we will do as Moroni suggested and “seek this Jesus” (Ether 12:41). May you and I find, by the end of every day, the one of whom Moses and other prophets wrote: Jesus of Nazareth. In seeking Christ, we will see God’s hand in our lives. And the more we seek Christ daily, the more we will find Him and be able to recognize His voice, leading and guiding us all throughout our lives.