One of my favorite movies growing up was "Rudy". When I was a kid I was impressed not only by his determination but his faith I noticed that in the film there was sweat, blood, tears and prayer that guided Rudy to achieve his dream of playing on the Notre Dame team. Obviously he was Catholic and I appreciated that.
I was going through a particularity hard time in my life and I watched this film with my brother and it made me realize that I could do hard things.
Many years later going through a crisis of my faith. I ready a Deseret News article that the real Rudy, Rudy Ruettiger, was baptized into the church. My heart jumped for joy as I read this.
I was having a particularly hard morning when I read another article where it said somethings that really touched me:
"Ruettiger said his baptism was the result of a 10-year journey. A significant turning point came when he attended a cold BYU-Notre Dame game in South Bend, Indiana, with Mormon friends. On their flight back to Utah, Ruettiger asked the teenage son of one of the men to share his perspective on the gospel. What the young man said "at 40,000 feet" touched Ruettiger's heart.
"The Holy Spirit came in, you could feel it. It was a conversion moment, an alignment that was really awesome. That's when it all happened," Ruettiger said. "Ever since I joined the church, good things have been happening."" (Deseret News Article)
This made me think back to my testimony. Could I as a teenager been able to express my feeling on the gospel in such a way that the Holy Ghost could bring the message to the heart of a true seeker of the gospel? Could or do my own children have that ability?
I sure hope so. I have been bless so much, and needed to stop my pitty party I was having. I loved where Rudy said "Ever since I joined the church, good things have been happening." Just like in the movie, Rudy is a one tough guy, to be able to join the church when your family is all Catholic and probably very little support from family and also when you have experienced so much good from hard work and determination to take on becoming a Latter-day Saint would be tough thing. May we ever learn from Rudy's example to follow our dreams and to follow the Lord over all else.
Image Used Under Wikipedia Creative Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Daniel_Ruettiger.JPG