One of my most powerful testimony building moments!

So, yesterday I was editing the facebook account that I used before my mission when I saw a post from a friend of mine. It was a post celebrating the two year mark of one of the best experiences of my life, and I feel inspired to tell you all about it. At the end of my sophomore year of high school, I auditioned and was accepted into the Chamber Singers at my high school. The Chamber Singers is the most advanced choir in the school. I was super excited and really nervous about the responsibility and the challenge that was going to be mine. Before the school year ended, we had a meeting where they measured us for our concert attire and talked about the upcoming year. At the end of the meeting, my choir teacher asked all the Chamber Singers and their parents to stay behind. In this meeting, he told us of an exciting possibility that might possibly be ours if the school board approved it. We had been invited to sing as part of a national choir in Carnegie Hall in New York City! My excitement went from pretty excited to SUPER STOKED! NYC! I had never been so far away from my home before! We were told not to talk about it until it was final.

Well, the possibility became a reality. The school board approved it. We were going to NYC! We also applied and were accepted to be the featured choir at our concert! This meant that besides performing as part of the national choir, we would get 15 minutes to perform our own music. Nothing this big had ever happened in the history of my high school! This was the big stage! We worked so hard throughout the year on the pieces we were to perform and finally the time came. We enjoyed a couple days of touring and sightseeing NYC and rehearsals, and the night came. I had never been so nervous in my life. Really from the time that we had gotten on the plane, I knew that I was going to be nervous wreck. I was more than a nervous wreck. I was panicked! Here I was, in one of the most famous concert halls in the world, in front of thousands of people, and our rehearsals that day didn't go very well...I was a scared little puppy dog.

Now...at this point some of you are wondering what this has to do with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Where on earth is Elder Sowards going with this? Well before we performed, I took some time by myself to pray. We had been praying all day as a choir that the performance would go well and we would be calm, but it wasn't working. So I prayed...no...I pleaded with my Heavenly Father for His help. I don't cry very much but this is a time when tears flowed. I don't know how long I prayed, but afterwards I felt better but still nervous.

However, and this is when it becomes one of my most powerful testimony building moments, when we walked on that stage, my fear completely disappeared. It was the best performance of the year. I know that was because God was with us. He answered my prayer and the prayers of my fellow choir members. A scripture in the Book of Mormon really reminded me of this experience:"But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul." (2 Ne. 32:9)

I'm grateful that our Heavenly Father is kind and loving enough to answer our prayers when we need Him the most. I know He will hear your prayer in your hour of need. He loves you. Go to Him when your burden is heavy and He will give you rest. I know that to be true beyond a doubt.

*This post was not intended to be this long, but in order for y'all to get the whole story, I went into detail a little bit. Hope you enjoy!!!*