Blessings of the Temple

I want to tell all of you a little about myself while at the same time talking about the truths and blessings I have so far learned about the Holy Temple.

For most of my life I had never been inside a Temple, honestly the first twelve years I never even knew that they existed. I grew up in a family that didn’t believe in God and I had never even heard of the LDS church until we moved to Utah after Hurricane Andrew destroyed our house in Florida. As I started growing up here I had been made fun of a lot and was excluded from other kids because I wasn’t LDS, by the time I was in J.R. High and High School I hated the Church and especially its membership and fell both into the wrong crowd and ended up going to a church that used to spoon feed me Anti-LDS rhetoric so when I thought of the Temple I thought I had all the answers of what it was and what went on with them.

Honestly from the time I was a teenager until I was in my mid-twenties I thought the Temple is where Mormons showed their true colors and did evil and satanic, masonic based rituals.  I thought the symbols of the Temples had evil intentions and that the only real thing I knew was that Mormons where sealed to each other not understanding the point because I figured when you were married it was implied that you would be together forever, whatever forever meant and whatever heaven really was. To make matter worse any Mormon friends I had and their parents either wouldn’t tell me anything about the Temple and any that did made couldn’t explain it properly leaving me even more confused.

Now even though my parents never went to church and didn’t believe in God, I always have. I don’t know how or why but I’ve always had a pull that I could not explain when it came to church and religion. Somehow growing up I always managed to find people that would get me going to a church and as I became a teenager that pull increased tenfold. I studied them all, including going to church after church, a synagogue and Buddhist Temple or two and claimed membership in a non-denominational Christian church for some time in High School. Back then I even went to a Mormon church a couple of times even with my prejudice. I remember actually the first time I ever went to a sacrament meeting I applauded after someone spoke; it was dead silent and everybody stared at me, I was very embarrassed. What I didn’t know at the time is that I was having all these seeds planted in my heart. Between good people like Mr. Taft which was an old neighbor and awesome example. Seminary which I took for only half a quarter in J.R. High because I transferred out the second I found out that it was LDS. But it and time spent with Mr. Taft always made me feel good and I could feel the Light of Christ until I let my hate push it back out of me. One thing I always gave the Mormons is that the Temples they had looked really pretty and looked cool towering out of the night all lit up. I remember one time in my senior year of High School I was in Salt lake City for a conference for FCCLA which was a club that I was an officer in. All my fellow officers and my teachers where LDS and wanted to walk Temple Square which I agreed to because up until that time I had never seen it in person. Once I did I was awe struck, I almost cried and felt a peace and a love that I had never experienced. Did this help me see the light? Nope, I brushed it off because I could not let go of my hate and I thought I knew it all about the Church and how corrupt it was. I was also having a very hard time in my life because of depression and because of it I became hopeless and spent most of my young adult life living the type of life that was completely contrary to the Gospel.

                                                                                                                                   

At age twenty-five I accidentally almost killed myself and this was one of the best things that has happened in my life, because of it I had a sacred experience that turned my heart and mind back into focus of finding the church and the religion that was meant for me. So I started searching again, now mind you that being agnostic meant that I was able to form my own ideas and beliefs on everything and I wanted to find something that would fit what I already believed in. On top of this something told me to give everything a chance and to let go of the prejudices that I had formed in my life. So I did and I started looking back into everything honestly for once in my life with an open mind and heart. I did this for about a year and nothing felt right until I was talking to an LDS friend who was able to explained to me what my experience meant and then we discussed what I believed and they were able to show me that almost everything I believed where the basics of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I was shocked because I knew right then that I would become a member of the Church, whether I liked it or not.

Now the whole reason why I practically gave you my life story is because I want you to know how important and how power the next story I am going to tell you is to me and how much everything about the Temple means to me.

The real turning point for me during the missionary discussions was a lesson on the Temple. I felt the Spirit as strong as I ever had and at one point they showed me a video called “Why Mormons Build Temples” and right then, I was right back to that night in Salt lake City feeling that peace and love that I felt then. I learned and was testified to a couple of things that mean more than anything and do so more every day, more on that later. I also want to say that I cried during that lesson and I cried of happiness and longing. From that day on I was determined to go to the Temple.

One of the best things to every happen to me was getting my Endowments out; from then on I’ve been hooked. The Temple has been one of the biggest blessings in my life, and has taught me more than I thought it ever would.

One of the first things I have ever learned about the Temple is that:

It is for everyone, and when I say everyone I mean those who are and those who aren’t members, those who are but have things that they need to resolve in their lives, those who don’t have issues but can’t seem to find the time or the gas money these days.

For those who aren’t members, let’s pray and fast and be friends so that one day they will see what the Gospel is in this life and if we are really blessed, we will have been a part of that process.

For those who need to resolves things in their lives. Please be brave, pray, fast, see the Bishop and sacrifice whatever you need to, to get that recommend in your hand or back in your hand. I know all too well how hard it can be to face yourself and to ask for help once you’ve gotten to a point where you need it, be brave it is worth it, Nothing worth it is ever easy and you have the support of members, angels and the very power of Heaven itself behind you.

For those who don’t think they have the time or gas or whatever other reason we think up to not go when able to. Since Ogden Temple closed this has also been me too. We are the luckiest saints around because we have so many Temples to choose from, I know times are tough and things can be rough but those who came before us sacrificed everything they had and lost two temples before they moved out west. There are others who save up their whole life and sell everything they can just to take long and sometimes dangerous trips just to go once in their whole life. What excuse do we really have in the end?

And to those who have been once and was intimidated or scared by what they saw; it is honestly over whelming at first and it’s a lot to take in. Take your time but hurry back. If you need to spend a little time to re prepare then do so, ask for help and go back and just do baptisms for the dead or other work and work yourself up. You can do it, you’re meant to be there. Don’t let your fear push out your faith.

Boyd K. Packer I think puts it best when he said:

“To all of you I say, “Come to the temple.” It may be that you look forward to the once-in-a-lifetime privilege of going there to receive your own endowment, to receive your own blessings, and to enter into your own covenants with the Lord. It may be that you have been there once or twice already. It may be that you go frequently. It may even be that you are an officiator. Whatever the circumstances may be, come to the temple.

If needed, set your lives in order; pray fervently. Start now that very difficult and sometimes very discouraging journey of repentance. Firmly resolve that you will do everything you can to aid temple work and the family history work that supports it and to assist every living soul and every soul beyond the veil in every way you can with every resource at your disposal.

Come to the temple!”

Now for some of the blessings I have had from the Temple:

Your Testimony as well as your Faith will grow by leaps and bounds, they will become stronger and will be rejuvenated every time you go, you will have Endurance against persecution and trails and you will be able to stand firm in your knowledge of the Truth when the Truth is being challenged by those who would oppose it or distort and destroy it.

President Monson also made this promise to those who will face toward the house of the Lord:

“The world can be a challenging and difficult place in which to live. We are often surrounded by that which would drag us down. As you and I go to the holy houses of God, as we remember the covenants we make within, we will be more able to bear every trial and to overcome each temptation. In this sacred sanctuary we will find peace; we will be renewed and fortified.”

Another time he had this to say:

 “As we touch the temple and love the temple, our lives will reflect our faith. As we go to the holy house, as we remember the covenants we make therein, we will be able to bear every trial and overcome each temptation.”

So to states these blessings again they are Testimony, Faith, Strength, Rejuvenation, Endurance, and Truth.

And these blessings don’t always come from just going and doing the work needed in the Temple. But they also come from becoming and staying worthy of the Temple. And that comes from overcoming temptation and repenting when you do make a mistake.

The blessings also come from when you’ve prepared yourself for the Temple through prayer, fasting, and study whether it is for the first or thousandth time. Every time you make sacrifice for the Temple or you have to make a sacrifice to attend. And especially when you’ve helped someone receive their blessings whether they are still alive or if you’re doing it for them after they’ve passed on.

I know these things bring blessings, I testify that I have both seen and lived it.

Peace is another blessing that comes from the Temple. The peace that you feel from the second you walk on those grounds till you leave again is something that nothing on this earth can compare to, I know this because I’ve spent my whole life trying to find that peace by any means necessary and nothing comes close to what I feel when I go. In the worst times, the biggest trails, the worst heart ache I have felt at times goes away and I can feel peace. And I know that you can to if you let it.

Jeffery R Holland spoke at a fireside once about when the Prophet Joseph Smith was in Liberty jail and how that jail became a Prison-Temple for the Prophet and this is what Elder Holland had this to say:

“You can have sacred, revelatory, profoundly instructive experiences with the Lord in any situation you are in. Indeed, you can have sacred, revelatory, profoundly instructive experiences with the Lord in the most miserable experiences of your life—in the worst settings, while enduring the most painful injustices, when facing the most insurmountable odds and opposition you have ever faced.”

If the Prophet Joseph Smith could have an experience that begat sections 121-123 of D&C, in this prison-temple that lacked the purity, beauty, comfort, and cleanliness of our temples. The speech and behavior of the guards and criminals who came there were anything but temple-like. Then how could we not be able to gain those same things in the very house of the Lord.

Other blessings we have that I will repeat what Elder Holland are: sacred, revelatory, profoundly instructive experiences with the Lord. I won’t touch on this one much because what I have experienced in the Temple is just that, sacred and I dare not and will not repeat any of those. An example that I can share is when the Savior Himself appeared to those in the Kirkland Temple and said:

 “Let the hearts of your brethren rejoice, and let the hearts of all my people rejoice, who have, with their might, built this house to my name. For behold, I have accepted this house, and my name shall be here; and I will manifest myself to my people in mercy in this house.”

And then Moses, Elias, and Elijah each appear and commit their keys and dispensations.

So now on to the two things I learned in that missionary lesson that I cherish so much.

1.     This IS the house of the Lord, this is where the veil between us and Him are at their most thin and where we can be closest to our Heavenly Father; that truth, that blessing is almost too much for my mind, I can’t of any other way to describe it besides, awe inspiring.  When I was a kid and as I started really learning about God and about Jesus Christ all I ever wanted to do was to be close to them. Being in the Temple, being that close to them is a dream come true while I am on the earth.

President Monson testified of this when he said:

“How far is heaven? I testify that in the holy temples it is not far at all—for it is in these sacred places that heaven and earth meet and our Heavenly Father gives His children His greatest blessings.”

2.     Family can be forever.  Through the blessings of proxy work and the Sealing ordnance I can help my parents get a second chance after they die, for all my life I’ve been afraid of losing my parents after they die because of the lives they lead because according to what I learned most of my life growing up is that my parents where bad people and that they would go to hell and that I would never see them again. I love the Temple because I will day have the chance to help them finally make a change if they are willing to accept it in the afterlife.

There is one last thing that I have recently learned. That the home is also a Temple; It is a Holy sanctuary where we perform the most important callings we will ever have; being a spouse and a parent. Until I was married I had never lived in a peaceful home where the Spirit of the Lord was invited. The home I grew up in was always full of contention and substance abuse and it forced me to face things and grow up in ways that no child should ever have to. I know now that I can have a Temple in the home for in my home I always want the Spirit to fill it and that my Heavenly Father knows that it’s His home too. 

One last quote from President Monson:

“The Lord has indicated that the greatest work we parents can do is performed in our homes, and our homes can be heaven, particularly when our marriages are sealed in the house of God.”

 *Originally a talk given in sacrament