I Am a Child of God (and so are my kids!)

Our family had an amazing experience this weekend. For those of you not familiar with our church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (slang=Mormons), we are led by a prophet and apostles today, just as Christ's church has been since ancient times. Every six months we get to see them at General Conference via satellite or internet, broadcast from Salt Lake. We also read messages from them monthly in a church-published magazine, and occasionally have other opportunities to hear from them, almost always remotely.

By some unexplained miracle, Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was assigned to come to our stake center (a central meetinghouse for our area), where we were able to hear him speak on Saturday and Sunday. We received inspired counsel to help us become better disciples of Christ, better parents, and better people in general.

The best part for me, though, was the way he interacted with my kids. In the middle of his talk on Sunday morning, he asked all the children to stand where they were and sing for him. My girls stood up and sang "I Am a Child of God" with all the other kids, and all of a sudden my allergies started acting up (and I can tell you I wasn't the only one with that problem).

After the meeting he shook hands and spoke with the hordes of people waiting in line to meet an apostle of the Lord. It took us about a half an hour to get to the front (not as long as I'd thought, actually). He hugged Cami, took the card she made for him, then turned to Lily. My MIL mentioned that Lily told us this morning that she wanted to hug him, and he actually bent down, picked her up, and held her while she beamed.

Remember the Bible story when Jesus told his disciples to let the children come to him? Our experience with patient, 84-year old Elder Nelson reminded me of that story on Sunday, when I got a little glimpse of God's love for His children through one of his chosen servants. I know that God lives, that He still speaks to us today, and that His apostles are just one of the ways that He expresses His love for His children.

And now my kids can't wait for October, when we'll get to see Elder Nelson again, even if it IS just on TV!