Priesthood Power

 Story on the power of God available to us:)

We gave an immensely powerful blessing to our friend who said it was the most incredible experience of his life. He's met with missionaries for years, lives with a member family, but isn't married to his less active girlfriend yet. They are working on a date for that. He has experienced a lot in his life, though. More trama than I can comprehend, at a very young age, too. He was struggling really bad with depression when we had a lesson with his family. He was NOT into it, which is completely not normal. He's the Spiritual leader in that whole family! When we gave him a blessing, he told us when he closed his eyes during the blessing, he felt he was swallowed in darkness. It was just suffocating him, and he felt so alone. It's how he's felt for a while. But it was getting worse. But then, during the blessing, he saw us at the end of a long, long tunnel, holding a light. And he ran to it and suddenly heard a scream (there was no scream that we heard) and felt his entire body explode with the Spirit and light in every fiber of his body. It was so powerful that he was shocked to the core. It was so powerful he couldn't even comprehend what happened. In the blessing when I spoke, the Spirit flowed easily. He said I said things that he never told anyone and was hiding deep inside. At the end, I told him, "God is with us RIGHT NOW. And I know it with EVERY part of my body and into my VERY BONES, and you know it too." And what I said was TRUE. He broke down crying, I was crying, and everyone was basically crying. The whole room was thick with the Spirit. He said he was changed forever because of this experience. He said his testimony was concrete, but this experience made it steel. He's been trying to fix himself mentally for months, and in 5 min, the Lord did 10x what the months of effort did for his mental health. He has experienced astonishing miracles before, but this felt like something you read about in the Book of Mormon. Quoted Nephi and the power he had. He said he will never forget us and what the Lord did for him. 

I can just bear my testimony that God has power. It's there. It's available. We just need to live a life worthy of it. As we sanctify ourselves and truly SEEK God's will, we can access all of His glory. I know that I bear God's Priesthood. I've seen with my own eyes people crying for the comfort and council they received, people being healed of sicknesses and injuries, evil spirits getting cast out, and heavenly hands upon my shoulders lending strength. God is real. His Son, Jesus Christ, lives! He is with us when we choose to live like him. Don't be afraid to use that priesthood, and don't be afraid to ask for it. It has blessed my life. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Hurrah for Israel!

-Elder Higginson