With Uplifted Hands
Unto the Most High

Section 11

Meditation and Worship

Mediation and worship is the most important component of my daily life. Nothing brings more peace and comfort, more inspiration, more strength and resolve or more power to overcome. In short, success in life springs from those moments in the wee hours of the morning when I reach out to make contact with God the Father, his Son, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. So much more than just one-way prayer, spending time in meditation and worship is an exchange of emotion, a meeting of the minds and a receiving of power far beyond my own.

In my personal evaluation of life on Earth, there is no greater privilege that we have as humans than the ability to contact and converse with our Creator. To have the privilege to enter into his throne room unannounced and be welcomed with open arms because he knows us, and remembers us and loves us.

Our Savior Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of our Father in Heaven. The Father has set him higher than any other because of the great capacity he has to love, the great power he has to face any and all danger to protect others and the great wisdom he has to rule and reign over all things without error. He is the only one who endured life’s tests and challenges without making any errors or having any regrets. He is the only one who had the capacity to end his life voluntarily in the most excruciating of all deaths as he took upon him the pain of every soul along with his own. He was a “man of sorrows and well acquainted with grief.” What an understatement!

The Father looked away when Jesus hung on the cross. He couldn’t bear the sorrow. It was a moment in the history of all creation that will never be forgotten because it changed everything for everyone who ever existed. Sin was paid for in the currency of heaven with human life given willingly for another, out of pure intent and loving devotion. I finally understand what his death on the cross meant: Jesus would rather die than to live without me.

All that I have is so little in comparison, but I give it all freely in gratitude for his love and belief in me. He died having faith that I would not only need his atonement, but that I would receive his atonement with all my heart. He had faith that I would not turn away when I heard his voice. He had faith that I would come running to him and remember what we had between us long before I came to this earth. Knowing this, he thought the suffering he experienced was worth the possibility that I would return to him expanded so far beyond the person I had been when I left his side. I was a child living in heaven with limited opportunity for growth and development, but he provided an amazing way for me to grow beyond all expectations. He gave me free agency and gave me a trip to earth. Like sending a student abroad to school, knowing the experience could not be duplicated here at home, he sent me and paid my way so that I could realize my fullest and highest potential. It was worth it all for him to provide this opportunity for me, knowing that I would return to him with fresh awareness, fervent devotion and lasting appreciation. He would have me with him for all eternity, not just as his child but as his peer.

I love my Heavenly Father more deeply than I could ever put into words and it seems fruitless to try, but somehow when I combine my meager words with the song of my heart I am able to express all that I feel for him fully and completely. When I sing, I address my love and appreciation directly to my Father and directly to my Savior, Jesus Christ. I don’t sing songs “about” them, but “to” them. And I always am filled with such a flood of love returned back to me. Heaven loves my worship. They all stop and listen and cry with me as I express the fullness of my heart. This is the highest place I can find on the earth and the answer to every unfulfilled chamber of my soul. I testify that when you enter into the throne room of God, bowing deep and low with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, you will find love, joy, peace, endurance, strength of character, hope, forgiveness and fulfillment and I promise that nothing will be impossible to you.

Teré Foster