Inspiring Blackfoot...

Last summer I was doing my internship in Blackfoot and I had the assignment to speak in sacrament meeting my last Sunday - I hadn't spoken in church since my junior year in high school and I was extremely nervous. On the one hand I like talking in front of people, sharing my ideas and being in front of people, on the other hand it scares me, I start vibrating and my voice is very wobbly. My Branch President had told me I had 15 minutes to speak - I was understandably nervous, I wanted to leave a good impression and I wanted my talk to be flawless.

I knew from the beginning that this talk would be different and as such treated it so - I knew about it for a month, I started preparing for it right after I found out about it. My talk was written a week or so before I gave it, I practiced it all the time and had memorized parts of it - which for me is a big deal. The day of, my roommate had left for church and I was practicing in front of the mirror, again. I was feeling nervous but I was okay.

On my way to church I said a prayer asking God to help me get through this, to calm down and for composure, and to give my talk with dignity and grace. Feelings of nervousness remained but they were bearable and I was doing okay. And then during sacrament meeting I started hyperventalating, my butterflies returned and transformed into angry vicious velociraptors, feelings of dread overcame me, I started to feel sick to my stomach and the thought "I can't do this" kept repeating itself in my head.

I prayed and asked God to help me. And in the middle of sacrament meeting when I was suppose to be thinking about the Savior and the atonement, God answered my prayer. My velociraptors disappeared, sleeping moths remained, I calmed down, all feelings of dread and sickness left and a calm peaceful feeling took their place and the thought "I can do it" came into my head.

My calf gave one quiver but otherwise my talk went off without a hitch and was the best I'd ever given or prepared. Because it was so important to me and I'd done my part, it was important to the Lord and He helped me present the talk I'd prepared. It was a big testimony building experience for me because I learned how much the Lord cares about us and that prayers are answered even during sacrament meeting.