Once upon a time, for that's how all the great stories go, there lived a couple who had fallen in love in high school, were married shortly after graduating, and a few years later had a baby girl. That baby girl is yours truly, Ashton Widdison, born in October of 1992.
I've had a good life my twenty-two years, surrounded by family members and friends. I grew up mostly in St. George before moving to northern Utah when I was fifteen. I haven't known any other home besides Utah, though, and to some that would be a bad thing. I can't tell you the amount of times I've heard people bash on Utah. I'm sure most places get that from at least a handful of their citizens. All I have to say is that my home's pretty awesome, even with the flaws.
I'm not much of a city dweller and tend to enjoy smaller towns. I hate traffic, but then again, who doesn't? The perfect day is when I don't have to go into work; when I can sleep in until after nine, sit on the couch with a good book or, hey, even write my own, or going out with my mom for lunch. Olive Garden is my favorite restaurant currently; I could probably eat my weight in pasta. I'm an author, a scanning coordinator at a local grocery store (aka the person who prices and signs all the items in the store), and a Mormon.
What is a Mormon? I'm sure there's some people who would love to tell you how crazy them Mormons are. I'm going to start with the basics. First off, we were once given that nickname many, many years ago because of the book we study along with the Bible, which is The Book of Mormon. We're actually members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Woo! What a mouthful. We can also call ourselves LDS for short.
We're a worldwide religion and, as said before, we're known for having The Book of Mormon. Sometimes people are confused because they think that's our replacement for The Bible. Actually it's not. It's a companion to The Bible, adding another testimony to our Savior, Jesus Christ. Specifically, it's the history of the people that came to the Americas long before anyone else did. With every civilization, there must be a record of some kind, a sign that they were there. The Book of Mormon is one such record, as well as the testimony of ancient prophets and the history of the Gospel.
Basically? It's a pretty important book. And no one has yet to find fault with it! It doesn't contradict itself. Pretty miraculous, if you ask me.
So what does the Church have to do with me personally? My beginning? Well, the Gospel teaches a pretty amazing story that has to do with me and everyone else that has set foot on or has yet to set foot on the Earth.
First, there was a time called the pre-mortal existence or pre-mortal life. It's where we all were, as spirit children of our Heavenly Parents (we existed as intelligence before then, but we do not know much about what that means). Having no memory of that place, I trust that we were very happy there, but there was something more available to us. Our Heavenly Parents weren't just spirit children; they were that something more. They were able to have children, they were powerful. We were just spirits. Not a lot of progression there.
Heavenly Father, who loved us so much, wanted us to be able to have all that He had. So he devised a plan. He would send us down to the home He created us in mortal bodies, and we would go through trial. We would have no memories of our lives with Him, so we would have to rely on faith in order to come back to Him.
But He knew that if we were sent away and sinned, we would not be able to return again. It would not be possible for us to live perfectly, however, so we stood in great need of a Savior; of a person who could live that perfect life and suffer for all mankind and be sacrificed for a great Atonement. With that sacrifice, we could be clean again and able to stand in the presence of our Lord. We could repent. We could be resurrected after death and brought to a great glory, which is Eternal Life, meaning we could become as God is, parents of our own spirit children and creators of our own worlds.
Already seems pretty fantastic, right? But who would be the Savior? A council in heaven was held, and Heavenly Father laid the plan down for us to accept. Of course we accepted it! We could see what He had in store for us. Then Heavenly Father asked who He would send.
Two of our brothers volunteered. The first was our oldest brother, who we know today as Jesus Christ. The second was Lucifer.
There was one plan, God's plan. These two brothers had different ways of making it happen.
Christ would pay the price for our sins, would suffer and die, all in God's name. The glory would be Heavenly Father's alone. We would have our freedom to choose which direction, but if we chose the Savior's path, if we accepted him as our Savior and lived the best we could, his Atonement would heal us.
Still, even with such a great sacrifice, there would be brothers and sisters who would not return home. They would make the worst of decisions and would reject our brother, Christ. Lucifer provided a second idea. He would force all the children of God to obey, and by doing so, he'd bring all the children back to God. In return, Lucifer wanted God's glory. Lucifer wanted to rule as God did.
Heavenly Father chose Christ, the first. Why? Because we needed the freedom to choose our own way. We needed to rise and fall and rise again, and we needed to learn lessons in order to be worthy to be as God is. It was for our own good and eternal happiness that Heavenly Father chose Christ.
Lucifer brought war into heaven, arguing against the choice. He pulled many children away, even a third of all of us, and the rest of us (you know because you are here in a body) fought for our freedom for the first time. We won the war and, as punishment of going against God, Lucifer was cast out of heaven with the third of our spirit family. They would never be given a mortal body. They would never possess what eternal glory God has, nor any other kingdom of glory. They were in outer darkness. They were called the Sons of Perdition, and Lucifer was renamed Satan, or the Devil.
That was the official beginning of my story. Flash forward and I was sent down from heaven, through the veil that took my memories, and born to my mortal parents. What destiny I have here, I'm not certain, and what I will become in the future and even in the next life, I can't say. But right now I'm travelling forward to the future, ready or not.
And Satan hates me. He hates us all, because we have bodies and we have the opportunity for an eternal life. He knows me and wants to see me suffer and fail. The only way he can hurt Heavenly Father is by taking down more and more of God's children.
But on the other hand, Christ and Heavenly Father know me. They love me. They protect me every day. Heavenly Father has given me his Holy Spirit when I was baptized at eight, and that Spirit tries to guide me (when I actually listen) down the right path.
I make mistakes. So many terrible mistakes. But my story hasn't ended yet. I still have time to change myself for the better and to keep building myself up. This life is about learning and progression. I hope to do many great things before I reach The End. But even then, it's not really The End. A new story just begins.
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