My life changed today

I'm gonna take a quick break from my 30 Things posts and focus in on my Sunday thoughts.

Today was life changing. Pure and simple. I haven't felt this uplifted and spiritual in a long time--and it's all because of a little girl in my ward named Emily.

For those of you who don't know, my church doesn't baptize babies. We see babies as perfect and faultless--when kids reach eight years old, and feel ready for baptism, they can be baptized. They make the decision when they're ready--and we see the "age of accountability" as eight years old.

Anyway, an adorable little girl in my ward, Emily, is just seven years old and she got up in church to bear her testimony. (Again, for those of you who don't know, the first Sunday of every month is called Fast Sunday in my church--where we as a congregation fast from food and are encouraged to bear our testimonies during Sacrament meeting--it's like we're feasting on the words of Christ rather than on physical food). Toward the end of the meeting, Emily stood up and walked to the front of the room and stood up on the pulpit and said,  "I know I'm only seven, but I can't wait to get baptized. I can't wait to be 8 years old. I know Jesus loves me and I want to love Him back."

Her testimony was short and heartfelt. She paused a lot--trying to make each word count. I was instantly moved to tears--and remembered what my life was like when I was seven. As you can read here, it wasn't perfect--far from it. I wondered if I should bear my testimony as well...but hesitated because I had no idea what I was going to say and I was nervous. Zac saw how much Emily's words meant to me. The tears just streamed down my face and Zac asked me if I wanted to bear my testimony. I nodded and he encouraged me to go up. I was the third to last to bear my testimony. Let me try to recall what it is I said, haha.

"Hi, for those of you who don't know me, I'm Chelsea Hickman. I haven't felt this way in a long time--and I want to tell you that today I really feel it. The Spirit is so strong (I started to cry really hard here) and I'm up here because of the little girl's testimony. I'm sorry I don't know her name. It amazed me how ready she is to be baptized and where she is at her age. It made me think of my life when I was seven and how much I wanted my parents to be strong in the Church. (More tears and a long pause) But I am so grateful for where I am now and the Gospel has literally saved my life so many times. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

That's basically the gist of what I said today. I smiled at Bishop Mower as I stepped down from the pulpit and smiled at everyone I could as I made my way back to Zac. He hugged me and told me he enjoyed what I said. At one point, Emily and I made eye contact and smiled at each other.

Then came the whole reason why I'm writing this post.

After Sacrament meeting, everyone was getting up to go to classes and stuff. I told Zac I was totally drained and may not be able to make it through the final two hours of church. Then Emily came up to me.

She said, "Are you the girl that got up and talked?"
I said, "Yes."
She said, really quiet, "My name's Emily by the way."
I said, "Emily. Thank you. Can I hug you?"
haha She held out her arms and let me hug her close. I may or may not have cried on her shoulder--but she was so sweet and so understanding. She pulled back and then I asked for another hug. haha We hugged each other again and then she pulled away. She saw how much I'd been crying and said, "It's all right."

How grateful I am for today. How grateful I am to have had such a special and intimate experience with that sweet, caring little girl who was brave enough to share her simple testimony. And how thankful I am for change and progression both temporarily and spiritually.

Love,
Chelsea