Half of My Heart

Half of my heart is here.

Half of my heart is missing.

Half of my soul is gone.

A feeling of complete incompleteness.

Little did I know how you would take half of me with you when you left.

But even without you here I'm falling each and every day.

Farther and harder than the day before.

I didn't know distance could have so little impact.

And at the same time weigh so much on your soul.

I set out, started out, determined to be strong.

But strength turns to weakness when you miss someone so much.

The longing, the aching is always there.

Sometimes I feel it more than others.

You're always on my mind.

Sometimes at the forefront,

sometimes in the background,

and sometimes somewhere in between.

I think of you.

In the songs on the radio.

In the night sky.
In the movies I watch.

In the long drives I take.

In the places I go.

I wish you were here.

I wish I could see your smile.
And hear your laugh.

I wish I could talk to you--tell you everything.

Hear your voice, your words.

The sound of your fingers on your guitar strings.

The sound of your footsteps on the pavement.

Hear how you are doing from your own mouth, in your own voice.

Hearing through other people just isn't the same.

Amidst all the longing, I know you couldn't be in a better place.

You are doing exactly what God needs you to be doing.

But missing you is one of the more painful things in my life.

I know I have to go on.

The journey has only begun.

I will continue to wish

but with a reassurance that I will see you again.

It will just take some time.

So for now I'll pick up the pieces

and try to survive

with half of my heart.

Christ Lives!

I testify that Christ lives. He lives, I know it with every fiber of my soul. One of my favorite hymns accurately describes my testimony of Christ:

He lives! All glory to his name!

He lives, my Savior, still the same,

Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives:

"I know that my Redeemer lives!"

(lyrics by Samuel Medley)

He lives. He lives and He is ever present and aware in my life. I know He lives because I see His hand guiding my every single day.

Because He Lives...

I witness the reality and divinity of our Eternal Father, of His Only Begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Ghost. I testify that our Father hears and answers our prayers. May each of us strive with greater resolve to ask in faith and thereby make our prayers truly meaningful.— David A. Bednar

I know that God is our Father. He introduced His Son, Jesus Christ, to Joseph Smith. I declare to you that I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know that He lives. He was born in the meridian of time. He taught His gospel and was tried. He suffered and was crucified and resurrected on the third day. He, like His Father, has a body of flesh and bone. He made His Atonement. Of Him I bear witness. Of Him I am a witness. — Boyd K. Packer

I testify of the renewing power of God’s love and the miracle of His grace. His concern is for the faith at which you finally arrive, not the hour of the day in which you got there. — Jeffrey R. Holland

I want to add my testimony to that of these apostles of the Lord. I know that my Savior Jesus Christ lives. I know that He came to this earth and lived a perfect life. He lived the perfect life and is the perfect example. He performed miracles and He still performs miracles today. I know that in the Garden of Gethsemane He suffered for my sins--every single pain and heartache and weakness I would every experience in this life. I know that He hung on the cross for me and He gave His life for me. I also know that He not only did it for me, but He did it for you. He did it for you, and every single person that has ever lived or will ever live on the earth. I know that on the third day He rose again, which was the greatest miracle of all. I know that because of Him and His Atonement I can overcome everything in this life, I can be healed, I can repent and be forgiven, and I can return to live with Him someday. I also know that through the power of His Atonement, I can become like Him, which is the thing I look forward to the most. He is my Savior, my Redeemer. He is my Best Friend, He is my King. He is my Brother, and my Shepherd. He is my everything.

"Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives: "I know that My Redeemer Lives!'" 

Christ Invites

I truly believe that the Book of Mormon itself is an invitation.

An invitation to come unto Christ.

Moroni 7:13 states,

"But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God."

From this we learn that anything in this life that invites or inspires us to do good, is of God.

The following are the words of the prophet Moroni, but I believe it was absolutely inspired of him to write the following invitation, one that I would guess came from Christ through Moroni:

3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.
4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.
(Moroni 10:3-5)

This invitation is open to all who read this holy book--the Book of Mormon. I testify that if you will read it, and pray to Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ, and ask if this book is true, the Holy Ghost will witness it unto you and you will know for yourself.

This next verse is among the very last in the Book of Mormon. I believe it states the central invitation for the Book of Mormon as a whole: Come unto Christ.

Moroni 10:32

"Yeah, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God."

I invite you once again to acknowledge this invitation and partake of it. And in so doing . . .

Come Unto Christ.

PC: https://teachhisdoctrine.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/come-unto-christ1.jpeg