The scriptures say that all things testify that there is a God (Alma 30:41). One Mormon scientist, a convert from atheism, said it takes more faith to rely on science than to believe God is in control.
Those who are certain that God is real are they who have had direct experience with Him. These spiritual experiences tend to imprint upon one’s soul more deeply than earthly experience. In many ways they seem more real.
When Mormon missionaries first asked me to pray, I didn’t quite know how to go about it. If anyone had asked me before that moment whether I believed in God, I would have answered in the affirmative, I think because I was raised in a believing society, and the idea just seemed natural. But I had no definition of God, and could not have named His attributes, nor could I have told you how He works, or if He was a personal God, or not. My first prayer was essentially, “Is there anybody up there”?
Something flowed through me in response. It was comprised of love, peace, recognition, and approval. It came from above, and when it did, I knew. I knew not only that there was a God, but that He loved me personally and was there at the very instant I called upon Him. He has personally been involved in my life ever since.
The Holy Ghost has spoken to me on many occasions in language I would never shape in my own conversation. His words, conveying the message of the Father and His Beloved Son, imprint and remain to anchor one’s faith. You feel, as much as hear, his words. It was a warm but windy Santa Barbara night when I prayed to know whether I should “wait” for a young man leaving on a Mormon mission. “He’s going to be the father of your children,” the Holy Ghost said with a force that nearly took away my footing. That experience gave me strength and patience to hang in there for three years, until a relationship began to bear fruit and we were married.
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often mistakenly called the “Mormon Church,” most worthy men hold the “priesthood.” In the Church of Jesus Christ, “priesthood” is the power and authority to act in God’s name. Men who hold the Melchizedek Priesthood are able to give blessings of comfort and healing by the laying on of hands, and God has manifested Himself to me very personally in these blessings. Through them, He has given me an inkling of who I was before I was born to earthly parents, and who I can be after I leave this earthly existence. He has also told me a lot about my children and who they will be as adults.
I have learned that He knows us better than we know ourselves, better than anyone knows us, and that He want s us to allow Him to make of us what would be impossible without His full involvement. Although He is all powerful, He is also all personal. I have learned that He is ever more involved and quick to hear when we are the most dedicated to keeping His commandments, praying often, and studying the scriptures. I have learned that the distractions of the world can keep us from feeling His love every minute. Over the years, as I have turned my self about in His direction and away from the world’s, I have been aware of Him and received His guidance constantly.
I testify that God is not only our Creator, but our real Father in Heaven, who loves us so personally, He is like an affectionate, all-wise, Father to us. The more we turn to Him and abandon our attachment to those things that are impermanent, the more He speaks to us, guides us, heals and comforts us.
