I am a Child of God

by Todd Wood

In the summer of 2006 my best friend invited me to join him at EFY in Rexburg, ID. My parents didn’t have much money, but I saved enough from my first job to cover the registration fee and my friend’s parents covered my airfare. I had never flown on an airplane before. I rarely had been away from my family overnight, let alone in another state, with my best friend, with little supervision.

We left early on a Sunday morning, which happened to fall on my birthday. My uncle met us when we landed in Idaho Falls, took us to church, then drove us to Rexburg to check-in at BYU-Idaho.

As my uncle pulled up outside the Taylor Chapel, I noticed there wasn’t anyone else who looked like they were attending EFY. In fact, there was hardly anyone around at all.

“So, where are we supposed to check-in?”, I asked. “Should be in the Taylor building”, was the reply. After a couple laps around the Taylor building, it was apparent there was no check-in today.

We borrowed my uncle’s cell phone and called my friend’s parents. They booked us a room at the Best Western Cotton Tree Inn, about a mile from campus. We had an excellent dinner across the parking lot at Frontier Pies.

The next morning we trudged the mile to campus, uphill, with our luggage in tow, in 95 degree weather. Despite all the obstacles, it remains one of my most memorable birthdays.

As I re-read my journal entries from that week to write this, I smiled at the juvenile teenage problems that were of note to me at the time—mostly girls and insecurities— but It’s still amazing the change that came over me during my time at EFY. The entries slowly shift focus from a negative outlook and worldly concerns until they’re filled with hope and positivity, focused on the spiritual experiences I had and the wonderful things I learned.

The spiritual experience that has stuck with me most after all these years, happened during the musical program at the end of EFY. It was held in the Taylor chapel and I was one of the narrators, so I sat on the stand.

Towards the end of the program, they played a message from the then prophet, President Gordon B. Hinkley. In it, he broke down in tears as he expressed his love for us, testified that we are sons and daughters of God, and encouraged us not to fall short and always press on. At one point he said, “you know you are children of god”, at which point the spirit filled my soul and overcame my emotions. At the end of his talk, we all joined together in singing I am a child of God, with these lyrics added as a bridge:

You know what I go through
I come to you
You give me the strength to make it through
You’re my Savior
You’re the one
Yes you

As I stood singing this song, looking out at the hundreds of young men and women who were attending, pondering on the words of a prophet of God, the spirit testified to me in a way I can never deny, these words are true. I knew I had a Father in Heaven, I knew I was his son, and that he loved me. I knew Jesus Christ was my brother, Savior, and friend.

Words can’t possibly describe the feelings I felt that day, or that I still feel every time I bare my testimony about these things. This memory stands as a foundation for that knowledge. It has become an unchanging part of me that remains despite any of my doubts, and something I can fall back on in the hardest of times.