Have You Forgotten

...how it felt that day?
{if you haven't heard this song, go HERE. i love it.}

i had forgotten today was 9/11 until i logged onto facebook and saw the status of many friends; some told where they were or what they were doing when everything was happening on that morning eight years ago.

i was sleeping in, since i didn't have morning classes. i heard distant voices saying things like planes, attacking, war, and towers and thought i was dreaming. then someone knocked on our dorm room door and told us what had happened. it wasn't a dream.

the campus-wide tuesday devotional was canceled and turned into a prayer meeting. i remember feeling anxious to meet in the Marriott Center, thinking we'd be a target with so many people in one place. {i obviously knew very little at that point.} as we walked there, i was thinking, "do i know anyone in new york? should i fill my car up with gas because there might be a shortage? is my family ok?" some of it was silly, some valid. i felt anxiousness, uncertainty and fear. these feelings continued into the prayer meeting and even through Pres. Bateman's message.

then we sang "Come, Come Ye Saints" for a closing hymn. slowly but surely, i felt comforted and sustained as we sang. so much was still unknown at that point, the future was uncertain - mine and our country's - but i felt so much peace. this hymn brought reassurance and strength.

"Come, come, ye saints, no toil nor labor fear;
But with joy wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
Tis better far for us to strive our useless cares from us to drive;
Do this, and joy your hearts will swell -
All is well! All is well!

Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?
'Tis not so; all is right.
Why should we think to earn a great reward if we now shun the fight?
Gird up your loins; fresh courage take.
Our God will never us forsake;
And soon we'll have this tale to tell-
All is well! All is well!

We'll find the place which God for us prepared,
Far away, in the West,
Where none shall come to hurt or make afraid;
There the saints, will be blessed.
We'll make the air, with music ring, Shout praises to our god and king;
Above the rest these words we'll tell -
All is well! All is well!

And should we die before our journey's through,
Happy day! All is well!
We then are free from toil and sorrow, too;
With the just we shall dwell!
But if our lives are spared again to see the Saints their rest obtain,
Oh, how we'll make this chorus swell-
All is well! All is well!"

if you are unfamiliar with this song, watch/listen to a beautiful rendition of it HERE by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

lastly, is a video about a 9/11 survivor (made or endorsed by the church) that i watched on a friend's blog today. {thanks andrea!}

let us remember what happened that day.
let us remember those lost and living.
let us remember those fighting for our freedom.
but mostly, let us remember that "all is well".