Ye Are Not Your Own

This morning I was taking a shower while my baby stood in there and drew in the condensation on the window I reflected on how much my life has changed over the past few years. In just a few short years, starting a family has brought people closer into my life than ever before and it has changed my outlook on a lot of things, including principles that I knew before but understand better now. Today I want to share some of my musings on a particular principle and how my perception of it has changed over time.

Ingrown Toenails and Virtuous Living

Repentance, Toenails, and Prostitutes

While I was a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I spent a lot of time walking around. Walking, less than ideal shoes, and poor care on my part led to an ingrown toenail that eventually became so painful I couldn't walk normally anymore and a piece of the nail needed to be surgically removed.

The afternoon after I had the piece of my toenail removed, I went out to work. Normally, we would walk around and talk to people, but with the big bandage on my toe, not to mention the throbbing toe within, I wasn't up for much walking. We prayed that the people would come to us, since I wasn't up for finding the people.

It wasn't long before we found ourselves waiting at a bus singing hymns waiting for the Lord to answer our prayer. It was answered when Cecilia came over to talk to us. We had talked with her before, and though she hadn't told us what she did for work, we had a pretty good guess when we saw what she was wearing on her way to her first day at a new job. As we sang "How Great Thou Art", something inside of her felt peace and hope that she hadn't felt for a long time. We talked with her and tried to help her know that God loved her. She still had doubts whether she could be forgiven or be accepted at church when she was working as a prostitute.