My Cousin, Chucky

To listen to My Cousin, Chucky, click on the link below:

http://theresasneed.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/My-Cousin-Chucky.mp3

When I was a little girl, I had this cousin, Chucky. He was actually a first cousin once removed - is that how you say the child of my father's first cousin? It was cool, because he was close to my age, cute, and really nice to me. We were more than just cousins, we were friends. He was fun to be around and just a great kid. I remember the day he died. Snowmobile accident. I cried for three solid days because I didn't know where he was, or if I'd ever see him again. The funeral was horrifying. They propped him up in the coffin so you could see him through the whole service.

That's when I figured it out. I remember walking down Lincoln St. in Dover deep in thought. The body I had been drawn to stare at throughout the funeral, wasn't Chucky. It was the mortal body he had "worn", but had stepped out of. I know now that his physical body, made from corruptible matter, was dead, but his spirit made from heavenly matter, was not. Back then, I couldn't really put that into words, but I felt it in my heart, and it gave me comfort.

The day will come that we will all be resurrected from death - reunited with our perfected bodies. Everyone will, no matter your creed, belief, or even your unbelief. It's called Salvation.

What that means is that I will not only see Chucky and the many others who have returned to heaven, but that I will have a full and complete association with them again.

So, what is eternal life? Is it the same thing as salvation? It is not. We will pass through a keen judgment - down to our very thoughts, and if found worthy to inherit eternal life, we will - if not ~ we won't.

The most important thing that we can do in mortality is to keep the commandments ~ don't pretend you don't know them, you were born with them etched in your heart ~ choosing the right over the wrong in every aspect of your life, and don't pretend that you don't know right over wrong either. Christ will pierce you to the very center of your soul, and you will not be able to say ... I did not know.

Who Was It?

I wanted to write this down while it’s fresh on my mind. Last night I had the coolest experience. I woke up and someone was standing beside my bed—someone I love a whole lot, but I don't remember who it was. When I saw this person, I was so excited, I reached behind me and tapped Bill three or four times rapidly and firmly to get him to see too. I was smiling so big that it hurt, so it must have been someone I was extremely happy to see and also someone that Bill knew too. The feeling that I had was that this person was someone he loved as well, but he only mumbled a few words and did not look up.

Immediately, whoever it was—was gone and a faint, rectangular light remained, almost as if the image was quickly peeled away from the dull scene of the side of my bed. But my big smile still remained while I studied where the light had been and tried to pull back from memory who it was. I tried for several seconds then came to the conclusion that I was not supposed to remember the person, but just the feeling and the light.

I love experiences like this, because they strengthen my conviction of life after death and that this life is but a moment in the eternities, and also, and most importantly, that the ones we love and hold close to our heart are not far from us and watch over us. One day, we'll be together again. I look forward to that time when mortality will be but a glimpse of a memory, and we are settled back into our true existence once more.