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The Smallest Part of What I Feel

Alma talks about the song of redeeming love.

Ammon glories in His God and His mercy, love, and mighty power.

These few chapters in Alma (chapters 24-26) express what every missionary who has ever righteously served has felt - that the Lord is truly great. There is a miraculous change that takes place in people - beginning with ourselves and extending to fill the immensity of space - that alters us, refines us, makes us clean and pure. Jeremiah said it was like fire in his bones. This is as accurate a statement as exists on the subject. There are many manifestations, and each one is personal to the individual receiving it, because each person is different and the way the Spirit interacts with ours is different. Yet it is indelible, unforgettable, and undeniable.

As a missionary, we have the opportunity to see that change come to people's lives. There are many different kinds of miracles - mountains moving, seas dried up, great signs and wonders in the heavens... But the greatest and most powerful miracle of them all is the miracle of this redeeming love that changes a man's heart from stone to flesh. It makes us want to do good, to abandon our selfish desires, and to become new creatures through Christ. We see this in the people Ammon and his brethren taught in the land of Nephi. They would rather die than even defend themselves through bloodshed. Is this not a great conversion?

It is only through Christ's redeeming blood that this is even possible. And praised be His ever-great Name forever for it! It has changed my life, made me want to be better... And each time I feel that burning - that fire in the bones - I feel to love and work and try harder to please Him, to exemplify Him, to purge my life of any/all ungodliness, and to share that with others. That is, in part, why I am writing this blog.

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