I remember as I went to church for many years by my self with my kids before Tom was a member of our church! I always wondered if I would ever go through the Temple! Tom always told me he loved our church but had been baptized so he did not feel like he needed to be baptized again! I never pushed Tom to join the church I am a member of! Tom loved the Mormon Church....Mainly because our church main focus is around the family unit and our Savior Jesus Christ! After 14 years of marriage and a few stray paths off the narrow road and lots of studying.... Tom realized he was not baptized by the proper authority and wanted to be baptized just as his Savior was baptized! By complete immersion of his whole body under water. This was a forever changing day of Tom's life! A few years before Tom was baptized My Bishop had counseled me to go through the Temple! I always wondered why I would do that when Tom was not even a member of my faith! My Bishop kept telling me if I go through the Temple my family would be blessed! Some of the hardest times and years of my life were... Right after I went through the Temple! "I thought I would be BLESSED if I went through the Temple.... But yet these few years were hard! Little did I know that these few years were part of Tom and mine journey to get us to where we are now and where we need to be! I will say I am truly thankful for Tom and mine ups and downs! I have truly come to embrace these difficulty times! In those hard years I felt some what forsaken but.... I never was... HE ALWAYS knew my needs and Tom's needs!
I am so thankful that my Bishop was inspired to council me to go through the Temple for my self! I remember the day so well! I had had my recommend for several months and still had not gone! One morning I woke up and called my girlfriend, Brenda Sanders and said I would be by in a few minutes to pick her up so we could go to the Temple! She explained to me I needed to make an appointment and I.... Explained to her that I did not have to make an appointment that the Lord would not turn me away due to the fact I did not have an appointment!
So off we went! I told no one I was going and so it was just Brenda and I one morning! It was a beautiful wonderful spiritual morning..... One I will never forget!
I was so blessed for attending the Temple! This next few years is when Tom and I grew so much! Through all of his trials he became closer to the Lord and with much studying and prayer he was baptized! One year from the day he was baptized Tom and I were sealed for Eternity and our children were sealed to us that day as well for ETERNITY!!
I will never forget our five kids dressed in white as they entered into the sealing room with Tom and I! They all looks so beautiful! As we all knelt at the alter and were sealed together as an Eternal Family.... I will never forget the feelings I had! I can see Rhett's as a little tiny toddler looking into Tom and my eyes! I remember Posey in a beautiful white dress my mother had made for her! I too was in a white dress my mom made for me! Rhett look like an Angel in a beautiful white European style outfit that my mom had made him too! There were a few people there but not many!
This is a day I will never forget the visual part or the spiritual part of this day for EVER! I felt like the most blessed person in the world! A day I thought would never come but yet.... Heavenly Father had answered my prayers at the right time.... HIS time..... And for this I am Eternally Thankful to HIM for the biggest blessing in my life which is.... An Eternal Family!
So March 26, 11 was Katie Koutz DAY!!!
Katie is a young girl who lived with us as she was facing a out of wedlock pregnancies! With Katie's permission I would tell you that this was Katie's second unplanned pregnancies and she had struggled since the age of 13 or so with alcohol and chemical addictions! Katie also struggled with choices of friends and boy friends as well! Katie came from a wonderful family who had done all they could to help her in every way! The drugs and bad choices sent her on paths that her family was not sure she would come back from!
I know these difficult paths that Katie took over the past several years was part of her journey as well! I know she said she would takes these paths that were hard so the family she placed her last two babies with could have the blessings of an Eternal Family! They are an amazing family as well and Katie will be forever their Earthly Angel that gave them two beautiful kids for eternity!
I know these last several years have been so hard for Katie's parents and her sisters but through the struggles and pain they have ALL endured.... Katie has come full circle and has done all she needed to do to pay restitution to her Heavenly Father and prepared her self to enter the House of the LORD!!
As we all gathered in the Celestial Room of the Temple with Katie I could not help but to feel the spirit that was there as I looked into Katie's eyes! The thought came to me who would of thought a year or more ago we would be in the Temple with Katie! I know her father said to me.... if you would of asked him a year ago if this day would of ever came he say .... He would of bet his life it would not of come!
The joy and happiness I saw in her sisters, father and brother-in-laws eyes was just the pure love of Christ! It was a tender moment as they all embraced and ALL the hard bad feelings that they all might of had were gone in that moment!
I am thankful for the love and patience Katie's Family has given her! I know it has not been easy for them to watch Katie make bad choices as they have all done all they could to help her! The power of forgiveness is an amazing feeling as well!
I hope Katie will never forget the love, charity, prayers and forgiveness her family and friends have shown her!! This is all part of the Temple ordinances and covenants she made that day in the Temple!
I have to tell Katie how much I love her! I want her to know that this day will always be the most important day of her life! The covenants she made in the Temple are life changing! This day is the crowning covenants that she needed to have to return one day to live with her Heavenly Father!
Katie do not take this day lightly or forget the feelings you felt this day ever! Go to the Temple as often as you can! I know Kade is so very proud of you as well! It is wonderful you can now share the Temple with Kade! I know because of your desire to go to the Temple Kade will have a desire as well to go! Kade will be blessed as well for your worthiness and desire to go to to the Temple! Talk to him about your experience as often as you can!
This day will be a day I will never forget! I was thankful to be able to be there with Katie as she made sacred covenants with her Heavenly Father in the Temple! I am also thankful that Katie had the opportunity to live with us as she placing her baby in the arms of his Eternal Mother and Father! Katie showed us such strength! I loved seeing her change each day as she progressed toward her Heavenly Father! With ALL that Katie has overcome.... I am so thankful to know that she has turned the pages of her life that were bad choices and turned them all into good productive situations! Through these trials she has been blessed and so has many others!
Katie never forget how much I love you and how proud I am of you!
You have now made real life changing covenants and promises that you will for ever be so thankful for them in the Eternities!
Again My Sweet Girl..... I love you and I am so happy for you! Thank you for sharing this special day with me!!
I will ALWAYS treasure "MY DAY" that I went through the Temple and....I hope you will always remember and treasure your day that you went through the Temple! Always remember it is not about NOW.... BUT..... ETERNITY!!!
I LOVE YOU!!!!!
The Beautiful Flowers at the Temple
No comments:
Post a Comment