6 Month Mark
It is hard to believe that it has been 6 months since our beautiful daughter Brooke returned to the loving arms of her Heavenly parents. How our hearts ache as we mourn her daily presence in our lives. Happy days like Rebekah and Samuel glorious wedding day, are now tinged with longing and loss. Brett and I have quite literally been carried through our darkest hours by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our precious daughter Brooke was also carried through the deepening trials of her life. Her Faith in Christ never wavered. She found strength as she continually turned to Him for hope, peace and relief from suffering.
These pieces of artwork are Brooke's original, unfinished pen & ink drawings and below is Brooke's powerful testimony of the Savior that she shared in Sacrament Meeting at the tender age of 15. One year after moving to Danville.I found this handwritten talk in one of her notebooks.
Danville 1st Ward May 16, 2010
Moving to California was not easy. I felt alone, I was scared, and I thought that the feeling of HOME would never again come to my pained heart. I knew what I had been taught, that the Lord was always with me, yet at that moment I rejected it. I didn’t accept the fact that He was there and I was not alone, and for that I suffered more than needed.
Everyone in California was so nice to me and so welcoming. Yet, all were strangers and I simply did what a teenager might do, I would not truly accept the friendship others gave me. I shut them out. And I did not accept the actual fact that Cali was my new home. By not accepting this, I drew further and further away from friends, family, but most of all God. I did not like this feeling, but I was scared to make new best friends. My parents tried hard to make me happy here. They took our family to do fun things and I was happy then, but the happiness was only temporary. I would still find myself crying in the silence of a small, unwelcoming room. This is how it was until one day something happened that changed my whole outlook on everything. This thing was The Living Christ. I had memorized it a while back, and as I rehearsed it in my head over and over again, I felt warmth enter my cold, lonely heart. A warmth that only the Spirit of God could bring. I felt as though I had been blind this whole time and suddenly opened my eyes and saw the world in front of me as it was.
I would like to quote The Living Christ for you…
(Brooke recited The Living Christ from Memory)
As I realized all the many things our Savior did for us, my heavy burden suddenly felt light. Tears came to my eyes, as I now understood the real definition of ALONE. I suddenly felt NO connection to the word. I have friends, a wonderful family, a warm bed. I have Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, always there, ready to raise me up at any moment, if all I do is ASK. But where were all of these things for our Savior when He suffered in Gethsemane? When His friends fell asleep on him, where were these things when our brother, our Lord, even Jesus Christ bled from every pore of His body, literally sweat out blood? Because of me, He took on great burdens willingly for each of us. Where were these things when His people forsook Him and held greater respect for a criminal? Where were his friends and family and bed when He was whipped and beaten, stripped of His fine clothing and mocked? Where were these things when He had thorns pushed into His head and when He was spat upon? Where were they when He was nailed to a cross and hung to die? And yet, through all of this, He uttered no complaint. How could someone so perfect and so powerful allow these things to be done unto him? How could our brother be so alone? The answer is because He loved us unconditionally, because He never wanted us to go through such darkness and be utterly Alone as He was.
I would like to end with my testimony, that we are Not Alone, and that there is a God, and He is by our side every step of the way to pick us up when we stumble. He will never forsake us. I bear testimony that He loves us. Our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ (our heavenly brother) both love us, and I love them. In the loneliest of times all you have to do is pray and without doubt, He will answer. I would like to end by sharing a concept that has been hard for me to grasp. This concept is how important this gospel is to me in my life. And I would like to say that I would die for this gospel, and that I will live for it also. I will not only think this in my thoughts, but show it through my actions.
I say these things in the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
-Brooke Folkman
