I recently experienced one of the most  

personal spiritual moments of my life.

I have felt the spirit all throughout my life. It has never really been a big bang type of an experience. I haven't seen a vision, I haven't heard a voice. But I have felt the strong, undeniable prickling of the spirit day after day, night after night and come to know for myself who I am, who God is and how much love He has for us all.

But this time it was a little different. 

It was stronger than I remember it ever being before.

In recent times I have faced some personal struggles that have pushed me and stretched me and given me much reason to analyze my life, who I am and the person I want to be. At times I have felt hurt, at times I have felt numb and other times I have felt perfectly fine. I have thought and thought and thought. I have prayed. I have fasted. I have studied and prayed some more. I have wondered which direction to go and if there were changes I needed to make. I honestly was not sure what direction to go. The only thing I was certain about was I wanted to follow God's will.

Sunday morning we had Stake Conference. It was a broadcast from Salt Lake in which we were privileged to hear from our leaders. All the talks were wonderful, but one particular speaker reached inside my soul. There have been so many times in life when I've heard someone speak and knew it was exactly what I needed to hear. But this was different. It was deeper. I didn't feel like it was just exactly what I needed to hear...but it was everything I needed to hear. Everything I needed to feel. I felt like I was the only person in the room and he was speaking directly to me. Every point he touched on was part of the direction I was so hoping to find. I couldn't get enough. As he kept talking I kept listening. I kept thinking and feeling. Every word he said seemed to burn within me deeper and deeper, stronger and stronger. I felt so alive, so warm, so full. I didn't just feel the answer or the direction I needed to go. I felt God. I felt His presence around me. I heard his voice telling me, 'You are okay. You don't need to change. You are wonderful just the way you are.' I don't know that I had ever felt Him speaking so personally to me, to what I was facing and what I was experiencing. As the speaker finished and the song began I couldn't sing a single word. Tears streamed down my face as my body was filled with an overwhelming sense of God's presence and peace. I followed along as the audience kept singing. We came to the words, 

"Fear not, I am with me; oh, be not dismayed, 

for I am thy God and will still give thee aid."

Once again the spirit burned within me. A powerful fire of peace and comfort, of understanding and love. I had always known God loved me, knew me and was always by my side. But at this moment, I knew with a deeper understanding than ever before that God truly knew everything inside my mind. Everything inside my heart. Everything big and everything small. The frustration, the confusion, the hurt. The desire to do right. The desire to be better. The hope and the faith in following His will. He knew it all. 

And I knew that He knew it. 

He knows me. He loves me. He completely understands me.

I felt it. I KNOW IT. I will never forget it.