When people hear that I am a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints they usually ask to me to tell my "Conversion Story". I usually smile and say something like , " oh it us not a very cool story. I took the missionary lessons and decided to get baptized." Then follows the question, " what got you interested in the church?" I say that my friends got me interested.
But that is not my real conversion story. The real story is much too long and personal to tell on the spur of the moment. But it is a very cool story if you are interested in reading it.
When I was eleven I was diagnosed with a bone condition called Perthes Disease. It is a rare degenerative hip condition that occurs mostly in young boys. For the onset of my Perthes to be at age 11 is very rare and makes for a difficult recovery. Still my doctor was optimistic that my condition would heal with physical therapy and rest within 18 months. That time frame seemed like forever to me. No running or jumping for a year and half? Despite my physical therapy my pain and condition worsened to the point that I need pretty intense surgery. So I started seventh grade in a wheelchair with everyone asking if I had become paralyzed over the summer. Luckily that was not the case. My pain continued to get worse and I had another surgery the summer my following seventh grade. It was during this surgery that my doctor became discouraged at my lack of progress and the discovery of severe Chondrolysis. This is untreatable demise of otherwise healthy cartilage. At this point my doctor told us that the only option was to wait until I my bones were done growing so we could replace the hip entirely.
It is hard to describe the pain I had during the next few years. My leg had become very atrophied because I favored it so much. A measurement showed a two inch circumference difference in my thigh muscles and a little over an inch difference in the length of my legs. My difficulty walking and pain had become so severe that I couldn't walk between my high school classes without taking a couple breaks. A little embarrassing to stop in the hallway for several minutes with no apparent reason. I continued physical therapy during these years but with no improvement. Finally at age 16, I was able to have my hip replaced. I felt less pain that day than I had since I was eleven. I was overjoyed.
Throughout these six years I had often wondered why this had happened to me. My thinking as a child was that I had tried to be nice and I never cheated in school so why did I deserve this? Although we didn't go to church my parents taught me to pray to Heavenly Father for help. My mom is my angel and I think she suffered more watching me go through this than I did actually going through it. She gave me a copy of my grandmother's old scriptures when I was thirteen. I had a series of very tender mercies and sacred experiences that only myself and maybe Tate some day will ever know about. I came to know the Savior the way we all come to know Him eventually, through experiencing a small part of what he suffered for us. And I came to know Him by applying the teachings in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Church has been the vehicle through which I have come to know the Savior of the World in a very special way. This is how I know it is true. I came to know the Savior.
This experience was planned for me and I am so thankful that Heavenly Father allowed me to experience it. It is difficult because I want Bennett to have a testimony like mine but I would die a thousand deaths before I would wish that experience on him. I guess we all earn our testimonies in a different way. That is the beauty of Heavenly Father. So when I don't want to pay tithing or get up early for church I remember these things. I am a very blessed daughter of God to have gone through this experience and to have literally had my heart and my hip healed by the Savior.
