How's It?  

Posted by Jessica in , ,

I haven't been active in the Mormon Church in almost 5 years. In those five years, I have attended only a handful of Church meetings. However, there was a time when I went to church with my best friend and her husband a few years ago when I lived in Idaho Falls and they lived in Shelley.

It's incredibly hard to go to church alone, especially when you feel so isolated and alienated already. But I'm just full of excuses about my church inactivity, so I'll leave it at that. This leads to me to an interesting thing I attended last night. A fireside. Those who are Mormon and those who are familiar with the Mormon Church will recognize what a fireside is. You go to a meeting which consists of a speaker or speakers. They usually speak about a certain topic or sometimes just something related to church. This particular fireside was a missionary fireside and was geared towards non-members. I was invited by someone I HIGHLY respect and she knows I am inactive in the Mormon Church.

The feelings I have had when I have gone to a church meeting during my inactivity are wide and varied. There are two feelings, however, that I overwhelmingly feel. One is a feeling unfamiliarity. I haven't been active and haven't been very spiritual in the last few years so going to a church meeting and partaking in something spiritual is very unfamiliar. The other feeling is a feeling of coming home. I was born and raised in the church and was very active until I was 21 years old, with a summer and semester of inactivity in those 21 years. During many of my experiences in these random meetings I've attended, I feel as though I have never left.

Not sure if this makes much sense. I am very glad I went to the fireside, there were some specific messages offered that are extremely relevent to my current life and I'm thankful I was there to hear them. Thanks, Liz!

3 comments

Bubblehead   says March 2, 2007 at 5:41 AM

Sounds like it was a very good fireside. Hopefully you'll be able to get the same feeling of "I'm home" if you're able to watch some of General Conference at the end of the month.

Jessica   says March 2, 2007 at 9:38 AM

It was good. General Conference has also been hard for me to sit through. I have bad ADD and it is very difficult for me to sit there. Since I can watch it at home on my tv, it isn't as bad. But I'll try to catch it. Thanks, Bubblehead.

Ric, Janeille, McKay & Noah   says April 18, 2007 at 5:38 PM

Jessica,
I was looking for information to do a missionary fireside and ran across your blog and felt impressed to give you a little push... I did not have the gospel in my life until I met my present wife who grew up in the Church.. She is from Vale, Oregon.. and would not consider marriage unless I was a Church member for the right reasons... In the beginning it was for the wrong reasons. But, as I continued on doing the things that I was supposed to do my testimony began to grow and grow.. One of the things that she and I constantly prayed for was to be able to go on a mission when we were older and the children were grown. Well along came Hurricane Katrina and I went to Mississippi to help out.. During this time that I have been here I was called as he Ward Mission Leader and have been living with a couple of other members that relocated here to work. I was fortunate enough to have a sister in the ward give me a rental house to live in for a year rent free. I have been able help and touch the lives of quite a few people. I have also been a very methodical about reading my scriptures, doing service work and all of the things that Our Heavenly Father asks of us. And because of this things in my life have changed considerably, doors have opened that I could have never imagined.. My family is planning on moving here this summer we have found a house and that is another story within itself.. My point is you know the truth and it is not easy to hold on to the iron rod.. I too had add and was not diagnosied until I was 50 years old.. Life is so much better when your medication is balanced and working properly. Spend sometime reading your scriptures and time alone to talk with your Father in Heaven it will change your life considerably. If you read Mosiah Chapter 7 Verse 33.. But, if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in Him, and serve Him with all diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will, according to His own will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage.. Good Luck...

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