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Below are the six portions of script needed for this message. Please be sure to give credit for quotes contained therein. They are from Sr. Okazaki's book, titled Lighten Up. I also recommend having a copy of the book on display at your conference. If you do not own it, someone in your ward is sure to have it. The long quote from her book is taken from the last chptr. of the book I believe, and I have shortened it a bit. ________________________________________________________________________
I am each sister. Sister to who? you ask... Sister to each of you.
Yesterday my neighbor introduced me to the missionaries from her church and they taught me a lesson. They call it a "discussion". It was much more interesting than I thought it would be. I told them that I've never really considered myself to be a very religious person so this was all new for me. Sister Bradford (that's what they call them selves-----sister) , shared a passage from the Book of Mormon. ( It is kind of like the Bible.) In it, a prophet named Alma was teaching a group of people who hadn't heard the teachings of Jesus before. He told them..."even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you..." They said that's what I should do. .......... I really do want to believe what they have taught me. It is all so new, but it's like I've heard it before....... It's like a light is being lit inside me........ I hope I can keep feeling like this.
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I am each sister. Sister to who? you ask.....Sister to each of you.
It's been a year since I was baptized! Time has gone so fast. I have received so many blessings. Dan says that he has noticed some changes in me too, besides the fact that I am at church instead of working in the yard on Sunday now. He says I am more patient with the kids, and seem to be happier. I am lucky to have his support. I hope someday he wants to come with us. I told him that I am learning that Heavenly Father really does hear our prayers. I feel his love as I pray. It still seems strange.....after my upbringing....me!....praying and trying to be spiritual ! But now I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for me and for our family. This light inside keeps growing,... and helping me to learn more!
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I am each Sister. Sister to who? you ask.......Sister to each of you.
My baby, Stephanie, entered Young Women's today. I am so grateful for the way that the gospel has helped me to be a good parent to my girls. I hope they can see that the gospel is what brings us fulfillment in life. If we strive to live the commandments, and serve others we can have such great joy! Sometimes I've felt so weighed down by my weaknesses.............but I know that my Savior has paid the price for me. If I repent and keep trying he will help me to carry my burdens. He will do for me what I cannot do for myself. What a wonderful message! I wish everyone could understand ! I need to continue to strengthen myself and try to be a good influence just as so many of my sisters and brothers have been for me. Surely there is someone out there who needs the gospel as much as I did. I have this precious light. I need to share it!
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I am each Sister. Sister to who? you ask....Sister to each of you.
I have been thinking about my level of spirituality lately. I have come a long way since the day I met the missionaries...but until recently I think I've treated religion a bit like a separate room in the house....someplace I needed to go to "do" religion. I've been reading Sister Okazaki's book that Karen got me for Mother's Day. It's called Lighten Up......and I've realized that it is as she says...It's as if the Savior has come to visit me and instead of sitting with him and telling him about my life, I have left him sitting in the guest room, because I am too busy trying to do everything else...so everything will be just right for Him. It's as if He has offered to help but I have insisted on doing it myself so as not to inconvenience Him. I am going to try to live instead as if my religion is like light,...... light in EACH room of my house!
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I am each sister, Sister to who? you ask......Sister to each of you.
I have been visiting a new sister in the ward. She has had a rough life. I see a bit of myself in her......that self that didn't know how to trust the Savior with all my burdens. She wants to live a good life...but feels as if she isn't good enough to receive the blessings Christ has for her. I am trying to share with her some of the lessons I have learned over the years. I pulled out that book Karen gave me some years back, by Sister Okazaki....This is what I read to her. "Jesus experienced the totality of mortal existence in Gethsemane....He experienced everything----absolutely everything. That means Jesus knows what it felt like when your mother died of cancer--how it was for your mother, how it still is for you. He knows that moment when the brakes locked and the car started to skid. He experienced the slave ship sailing from Ghana toward Virginia. He knows about drug addiction and alcoholism........On a profound level, he understands about pregnancy and giving birth. He knows about PMS and cramps and menopause. He understands about rape.....and infertility...........and abortion. He understands your mother-pain when your five year old leaves for kindergarten, when a bully picks on your fifth-grader , when your daughter calls to say that the new baby has Down's syndrome. He know your mother-rage when a trusted babysitter sexually abuses your two-year-old, when someone gives your thirteen-year-old drugs, when someone seduces your seventeen-year- old. He knows the pain you live with when you come home to a quiet apartment where the only children who ever come are visitors, when you hear that your former husband and his new wife were sealed in the temple last week, when your fiftieth wedding anniversary rolls around and your husband has been dead for two years. He knows all that. He's been there. ( Jesus Christ ) came to save us in our imperfections. He is not embarrassed by us, angry at us, or shocked. He wants us in our brokenness, in our unhappiness, in our guilt and our grief. We need him, and he is ready to come to us if we'll open the door and let him." I bore my testimony to her. I told her that I knew this to be true. I told her that I knew she could find peace and fulfillment in this life through the gospel of Jesus Christ, our elder brother, and our Savior. ....................I looked into her teary eyes .............. .............and I think I saw a light go on..........
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I am each Sister.....Sister to who? you ask........Sister to EACH of you!
All my life I have been aware of a light. When I was a child I felt as if a light guided me. As I grew a bit older I didn't always follow the light. And because of that, life became dark. Then the gospel came into my life............and the light was lit again. I began to follow it and I was blessed. The light became visible to those around me and I wanted to share it. Sometimes I didn't carry the light into every part of my life.....but it was always there. Then I began to let the light WASH THROUGH ME! And I was able to lend a spark from my light,.... to start,.... or strengthen the light of others. This has been my GREATEST joy. As I look through my spiritual eyes I can see how my light has reached into the darkness. And as it grew, it lit an ever increasing space, and touched an ever increasing number of lives. Its as if I can see the people out there. I see their faces and their names as they have come within a circle of light. What is this light? It is the light of Christ. It is that communication that comes through the Spirit that testifies of the Son of God, his mission, and his gospel. For he said, "That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day." and " Therefore let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven." In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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