it sounds crazy

I grew up where I had a keychain on my beltloop with favorite scriptures...
and I memorized them.

I never went out on a Friday night to a bar...
23 years old, and I just entered my first bar.

I've never touched alcohol...
and I never will.

I mention casually to friends that I am going to listen to a living prophet of God...
and I can only guess what they're imagining up.

I talk of my mission, mentioning that for a year and a half I basically gave up using a cell phone and internet, didn't talk to/flirt with/date boys, communicated with home only once a week via email, read scriptures for at least two straight hours daily, and....
I liked it.

In relationships, the greatest way I know to show respect and love is complete abstinence before marriage...
something which surprises some.

The environment I'm accustomed to is when I heard a swear word, I cringed...
now, I think I don't even notice.

I've always been taught that a career was second to the eternally rewarding career of raising a family...
and now I find myself in a world quite contrasted with that belief.

I went to a school where talking of an afterlife was a light lunch conversation....
now it seems to be too delicate of an issue to discuss.

I was always so used to God being a common ground...
now I find myself stepping into shoes where that common ground is no longer held.


I know...
it sounds crazy.


I won't lie, it does sound crazy.
Sometimes I take a step back and look into it as someone who hasn't grown up in it.
And yes, it sounds crazy.

It sounds crazy to say that I know--yes, know--that there is a Savior of this world, and that He literally lived and died for us.
It sounds crazy to bear testimony that that knowledge is what gets me through the darkest of days--the fact that I have an Elder Brother who understands my pain perfectly.
It doesn't sound logical.
It doesn't sound normal.
It sounds, let's be honest, a little weird to say.

But, it's true to me.