Family History is Personal

I don’t want to forget what I have learned today. So before we sit down for dinner, I am taking time to type up what has happened.

I have received my commission into family history in a most extraordinarily personal way. We are coming out of a weekend of stake conference and I’ve just recovered from another personal bout of mental sickness, but which also was nothing less than an afront of the adversary of my soul, perhaps one of the most powerful that I’ve received in recent history. But the revelation that has opened upon my mind and heart this afternoon is multifaceted and expansive.

As I was in the kitchen with my oldest son, Aaron, I stood musing with him about this state of mental illness that indeed has been a part of me for a very long time now. As I tried to explain this observed phenomenon to Aaron, Rachel came in and also began to contribute to the conversation. She aptly pointed out that there may be some inherent family trauma that is influencing this “illness”, “weakness” or whatever I want to call it.

It’s a field of study that is being developed that links family trauma to generations, past, present, and future. This idea of family trauma as an influencer of current behavioral challenges is a compelling argument for temple and family history work, because it allows me to both understand what is wrong in myself and affords me the opportunity to heal what has been broken in my past and in my family’s past.

So many eternal truth “puzzle pieces” started falling in place for me, once I realized that the gospel of Jesus Christ is an intimately, personal thing because family history is personal. This kind of rapid fire, personal revelation within a matter of moments seldom happens for me. But today, it came very fast and very clear. I feel as if I could expand upon this subject, or really any other gospel theme or topic ad hoc ad infinidum (when needed or as necessary, forever). The Spirit of the Lord is that strongly with me in this matter.

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