Before I received my own endowment, I remember someone telling me, “It’s not going to be like anything you are expecting it to be.”
I found that hard to believe.
But then it was true.
Receiving my own endowment in the temple was unlike anything I imagined it would be.
I honestly felt pretty neutral about the entire experience. It was just different. Unexpected.
I just felt a little whisper deep down of, “You’ll figure this out. You’ll love it.”
Going back time and time again brought familiarity.
And with familiarity, I was able to start learning. To feel the spirit. To feel the power. To study what I was experiencing.
I don’t have a big “a-ha” moment when the temple clicked for me.
It was a gradual, month after month, step by step process where I was suddenly able to say: “Wow, I absolutely love the temple and the covenants I’ve made there.”
In the temple endowment, we receive knowledge and power.
When I meet people who love the temple, I immediately want to be more like them.
To me, it’s almost obvious to see the power that flows from people’s lives who attend or work in the temple regularly.
It’s priesthood power flowing in everything they do.
That’s the power, that personal priesthood power, that the Lord knew the saints needed desperately in 1834.
“For behold, I have prepared a great endowment and blessing to be poured out upon them”. (D&C 105:12)
And it’s the power that’s available to us today.
To gain personal priesthood power, we need to make and keep covenants.
Which means, we need to know what those covenants are, remember them, and renew them each week at the sacrament table.
Understanding and loving the endowment of power I have received has been a journey for me.
But it’s also not a journey that’s complete.
Accessing God’s power is a continual process, a daily commitment. It’s a little bit vague sometimes and harder to measure than whether or not I’m reading my scriptures.
But deciding each day to keep my covenants brings me access to a blessing and a priesthood power I never want to lose.
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black
One Response
I find that the temple experience is different for everyone. I remember my first time to the temple. I didnt understand everything, but I was so touched by the Initiatory…I had tears running down my cheeks and marveled in the mercy and love of our Heavenly Father. Now, many years later, I serve as an Initiatory Coordinator in the temple. I have found that those who come to the temple spiritually mature and well-prepared have a wonderful experience and return again soon.