Sam’s
Sacrament Meeting Talk in the Droubay Ward on December 18, 2016
Good
morning Droubay Ward! I’m excited to be with you today. My name is Samantha
Christensen, but all of my friends and family call me Sam. I am a member of the
Eastland Ward and three months ago I was called to be the Second Counselor in
the Stake Young Women’s Presidency. I was completely surprised by this new
calling but I absolutely love it! I serve among the most amazing women; Sister
Howland, Sister Nay and Sister Walker are the absolutely the best. Their
knowledge of the gospel and their willingness to serve selflessly inspire me. My
inner social butterfly loves having the opportunity to meet with and serve all
of the young women leaders and young women in the Stake.
I
am from the beautiful, green and very wet Pacific Northwest. I grew up in
Snohomish Washington which is 40 miles northwest of Seattle. My husband also
grew up in Snohomish, which reminds us a lot of Tooele. It’s a smaller town but
isn’t far from the city. My husband, Sean, and I met at a Stake Youth Dance
when I asked him to dance. I never wanted to be a wall flower and I was never
shy about asking boys to dance. Sean and I became instant friends and we
eventually dated. We were married six months after he returned home from his
mission in Peru in the Seattle temple. Our tenth wedding anniversary is this
coming April.
I
have my dream job, the best job but also probably the hardest job! I’m a
stay-at-home mom. I have four beautiful children. Lexi is 8, Avery is 6, Eli is
4 and Ruby is 2. And we will be welcoming another baby boy, our 5th
child, into our family this spring.
…
Today
I was asked to speak about one of most favorite words in the entire world. It’s
also my middle name. Joy! I’ve always loved my middle name and been so proud to
bear it. I love it so much that I even gave it to one of my daughters as her
middle name.
Joy
is an essential part of the Plan of Salvation. Not only did our Heavenly Father
send us to earth to be tried and tested but He also sent us here that we might
have joy! Lehi testified, “Adam fell that men might be, and men are, that they
might have joy.”
In
his most recent conference address, President Nelson explains, “The prophet
Lehi taught a principle for spiritual survival. First, consider his
circumstances: He had been persecuted for preaching truth in Jerusalem and had
been commanded by the Lord to leave his possessions and flee with his family
into the wilderness. He had lived in a tent and survived on what food could be
found on the way to an unknown destination, and he had watched two of his sons,
Laman and Lemuel, rebel against the teachings of the Lord and attack their
brothers Nephi and Sam.
“Clearly,
Lehi knew opposition, anxiety, heartache, pain, disappointment, and sorrow. Yet
he declared boldly and without reservation a principle as revealed by the Lord:
“Men are, that they might have joy.” Imagine! Of all the words he could have
used to describe the nature and purpose of our lives here in mortality, he
chose the word joy!
“Life
is filled with detours and dead ends, trials and challenges of every kind. Each
of us has likely had times when distress, anguish, and despair almost consumed
us. Yet we are here to have joy?
“Yes!
The answer is a resounding yes! But how is that possible? And what must we do
to claim the joy that Heavenly Father has in store for us?
“My
dear brothers and sisters, the joy we feel has little to do with the
circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.
“When
the focus of our lives is on God’s plan of salvation… and Jesus Christ and His
gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening—or not happening—in our
lives. Joy comes from and because of Him. He is the source of all joy. We feel
it at Christmastime when we sing, “Joy to the world, the Lord is come.” And we
can feel it all year round. For Latter-day Saints, Jesus Christ is joy!”
…
I
would like to share with you a personal experience. It was actually one of the
most frustrating and depressing things that my husband and I have ever gone
through. But it was also one of the times that we felt God’s love for us and
our family the most.
Sean
and I earned our bachelor’s degrees at BYU-Idaho. While living in Rexburg we
also had our first two children. A month after Sean graduated we moved to Albuquerque
New Mexico. Lexi was 22 months old and Avery was one month old. We had never been
to New Mexico before but several experiences let us know that that was where
the Lord wanted us to go. So we found an apartment online in a ward that a
friend had served in as a missionary and loved.
We
felt very nervous about the long drive. We had a lot of work done on our car in
preparation for the move but the mechanics could not get our check engine light
to turn off. When Sean went to pick up the moving truck that we had reserved,
Budget informed him that they had given it to someone else. So they gave us
what was left, their biggest truck. It was literally bigger than our apartment
and could have fit all our belongings and our car in it!
I
drove our little car with the girls and Sean followed me with the mini semi. In
between Price and Green River, our car’s engine overheated and blew. I stayed
on the side of the road as Sean drove to go find cell phone reception. This was
before smart phones so he could just Google the number of a towing company. He
called his dad who then looked up the number and made the call. I remember
waiting there with my two babies as the sun set and it became completely dark.
I had no idea what was wrong with our car or when my husband would return. I
felt so alone and so hopeless.
Eventually
we got our car towed to Green River and we stayed in the grossest old hotel.
The walls were dark and dingy, the bathroom floor had a hole in it and the bedding
looked like it had never been washed. It was a depressing place. It fit my mood
exactly. The next day we got the news that it wasn’t worth it to fix our car.
We had no clue what to do. We talked about Sean going to Albuquerque alone and
then getting a car and coming back for me and the girls. But eventually we
decided that we’d all go together. And that’s when we knew why Heavenly Father
had let Budget mess us our truck rental. The moving truck that we had reserved
only had two bucket seats. The mini semi that we got had a bench seat. So we
put Lexi in her car seat in the middle and I held Avery in my arms and we left
for New Mexico without our car.
I
called the Elder’s Quorum president of our new ward and informed him that our
drive was going to take much longer than we had before anticipated and told him
that he shouldn’t wait for us like we had previously arranged. But when we pulled
into the parking lot of our new apartment complex it was nearly midnight and waiting
for us was the entire Elder’s Quorum Presidency, the Ward Mission Leader and the
Relief Society President. Our hearts were filled with so much gratitude. I
remember when I stepped out of the truck and Pat, the Relief Society President
hugged me, I felt so much love and relief. It was as if my Heavenly Father was
there holding me. They all stayed until after one in the morning on a week
night helping us completely unload the truck. And the next day the Ward Executive
Secretary showed up to take Sean to get a rental car.
Although our situation appeared to be dismal
and uncertain, Sean and I felt such joy. We knew that Heavenly Father was aware
of us personally and that He was looking out for us. And that experience turned
our hearts to the Lord. We learned to trust Him and rely on Him.
It
was at the time that I learned that what President Nelson taught is true. “The
joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything
to do with the focus of our lives.”
…
In
our home, we have a sign that reads, “Someone else is happy with less than what
you have.” I have seen firsthand that happiness does not come from worldly
belongings. Before we bought our home here in Tooele nearly two years ago, we
were living in an apartment complex in West Jordan. Our entire complex formed
the boundaries of a branch. That’s right we were in a branch in the Salt Lake
Valley! The members of our branch were young families who had not yet bought
their first home, older couples who no longer owned a home, there were many individuals
and families who had recently gone through a divorced and were starting over, and
there were a lot of minority families and a lot of part member families. We
jokingly called ourselves the misfits but we were a tie knit group. There was
so much love and willingness to serve in that branch. Even those who had the
least were willing to give the most and they were happy doing so.
...
True
joy, pure joy comes from living the gospel of Jesus Christ. Keeping the
commandments and being faithful to our covenants brings happiness. President
Thomas S. Monson taught, “Sacred covenants are to be revered by us, and
faithfulness to them is a requirement for happiness.”
My
parents were not married in the temple. As a child I was heartbroken that my
family did not have the promised blessings of eternity. It broke my heart when
we’d sing “Families Can Be Together Forever” in Primary. So I made a promise to
myself that I would be married in the temple and that my family would have the
promised blessing of eternity. I cannot describe the joy I felt on my wedding
day when Sean and I were sealed to each other. I finally had the blessings that
I had wanted my whole life. I testify that making and keeping sacred covenants
brings joy and purpose into our lives.
…
Ordinances
and covenants are the “spiritual milestones” President Henry B. Eyring referred
to when he taught: “The Latter-day Saints are a covenant people. From the day
of baptism through the spiritual milestones of our lives, we make promises with
God and He makes promises with us. He always keeps His promises offered through
His authorized servants, but it is the crucial test of our lives to see if we
will make and keep our covenants with Him.”
Keeping
our covenants demonstrates our love for the Savior and our Father in Heaven. Of
all the reasons we ought to be more diligent in our covenant keeping, this
reason is more compelling than all—love.
Who
of us is not moved by Jacob and Rachel’s biblical love story as we read, “And
Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days,
for the love he had to her”? Do we keep our covenants with that kind of deep
and devoted love?
In
her October 2013 conference address, Sister Linda K. Burton tells a perfect
example of love when she shares: “Why was the Savior willing to keep His
covenant with the Father and fulfill His divine mission to atone for the sins
of the world? It was His love for His Father and His love for us. Why was the
Father willing to allow His Only Begotten and perfect Son to suffer pain beyond
description to bear the sins, heartaches, sicknesses, and infirmities of the
world and all that is unfair in this life? We find the answer in these words:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.”
Today
I invite each of us to evaluate how much we love the Savior, using as a measurement
of how joyfully we keep our covenants. The Savior said, “He that hath my
commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me
shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to
him.” How we all need a regular manifestation of the Savior in our daily lives!
...
“Of all the titles of respect and
honor and admiration that are given to deity, He asked us to address Him as
Father.” As Ladder Day Saints we have the blessing of knowing that God, the
Almighty, is our Father. We are His children.
I know that as a mother, there is
nothing that I want more for my own children, then for them to learn and choose
the right and to be kind and happy. And now I can see that that is exactly what
my Father in Heaven wants for me. He wants me to have joy. And He has taught me
how to have it.
I testify to you this day that peace,
comfort and joy come from living a life based on the teachings of Christ. If we
pattern our lives after the life of the Savior we will be able to feel joy
regardless of whatever may be happening in our lives. I challenge you to focus
your lives on the Savior and to feel the joy that comes from having a Christ
centered life.
This week is a great week to start focusing
on the Savior as we prepare to celebrate His birth in a week. I hope that you
all will have a very Merry Christmas. And that you will feel the joy of Christ
in your life now and always. I leave these things with you in the name of the
Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
