When It Is Hard To Wait, or Claim the Exceeding Great and Precious Promises

http://lds.org/liahona/2007/11/claim-the-exceeding-great-and-precious-promises?lang=eng&query=elder+condie+promises

Meet Boo, or I Want To Go To Busch Gardens!

This is Boo. He's such dear and clever child. He loves to go to Busch Gardens. He loves to see all the animals and he knows a lot about them. Busch Gardens is a big deal. He even dreams about it sometimes.

Sometimes Boo wants to go to Busch Gardens but there are other things to do that day, or the plan is to go on Saturday instead of on Tuesday. He will get to go eventually, but when it's best for everyone in his family.

Boo doesn't like to get his fingernails clipped. He hates it. However, if his mom and dad didn't clip his fingernails just because he didn't want them to, they would actually stop doing something that just simply must be done. Also, they would be doing him no favors by giving into his demands to not take naps, to only eat popsicles, or to play with cutlery or fragile things. At this stage in his life, Boo doesn't necessarily know what is best for him. He certainly knows what he likes and what he thinks is best, but his parents can see the danger in sometimes giving him exactly what he wants when he wants it.

The parallel is clear. We may feel that the very best thing for us right now is being withheld by God. Perhaps we desperately want to find our "someone." Perhaps we are struggling with health challenges, emotional or physical, that seem to rule our lives. Or we struggle seeing loved ones suffer and lose their faith or their purpose in life. The difficult thing is knowing that God has promised He can do anything but He's not giving us what we feel we want and need more than anything else. 

But, God is the Perfect Parent. He knows us individually. He knows Boo. He knows how much Boo loves Busch Gardens, what his favorite animal is, how Boo loves Dopey from Snow White, and that Boo gets so excited each time he hears a fire engine. God loves us each in the very same way. He knows our heartaches and our desires, and tenderly acknowledges them. But, at this stage of life we do not fully understand what is best for us. We certainly know what we like and what we think is best, but God can see the reason why it isn't time to give us all we want and need right now. It is so critically important to know God at times like these. Not to just know about Him, but to know and trust Him. To trust that He really does want us to be happy, to trust that He really does love us.

I know with a knowledge that is deep, real, and personal that God is our loving Father. He withholds those things we want so dearly because He knows what is good for us and when it will be right and best for us to receive what we want. I know that He weeps with us when we suffer. He wants nothing more than for us to be happy. But, He wants us to be happy for forever. He knows what we will need to learn in order to enjoy perfect happiness. This life is not the reward; it is the test. But, what wonderful comfort we can feel as we remember that God is leading us through it. He's leading us back to Him.

Meet Babykins, or Lessons From Learning to Walk

Meet Babykins. He's such a kind and warm child. He's also very determined. There are lots of lessons about life and our relationship with God to be learned from children.  

Babykins is learning to walk.

-1- Babykins' parents do not get mad at him when he stumbles. They are not disappointed that he isn't a perfect walker yet. They know perfectly well that he will learn how.They are very familiar with the whole "learning to walk" thing and understand that it is a process. There are no expectations for perfection. God is no different. He sent us to earth to gain experience and to be changed through that experience. He has no expectation for immediate perfection. That's the ultimate goal and reality, but certainly not even a possibility in the present.  

-2a- Even though Babykins is learning to walk and focusing on that, he's still developing in other ways. He likes to make sounds and talk on the phone, to try new foods, and to play new things with his brother. His overall progress has not halted because he hasn't learned to walk perfectly. He'll learn. We're all struggling through our individual challenges. While they must be worked through, God can still help us learn and develop in other ways while we work on those things.

-2b- Focusing solely on our problems is unhealthy. It's not helpful or appropriate to identify ourselves as a problem or a concern or a behavior. Babykins is not a "learning to walk" or  a "sometimes falls down,"  just as we are not a "temper," an "addiction," a "health concern," a "lazy attitude," or a "weakness." We may have some of those things; we are children of God. God's love for us and our relationship to Him does not change based on what we do or struggle with. Babykins will always be his parents' child. And they will always, always love him, no matter how many times he stumbles.

-3- The only thing that will keep Babykins from learning to walk is if he stops trying. If he got discouraged and lost hope that he would be able to learn to walk, and then refused to even try, he would never learn. But, he hasn't done that. Each time he falls, he just crawls to a desk or a chair and pulls himself up. He's even learned to stand up without any support now! For us, the only thing that will keep us from becoming like God and living with Him again is to get discouraged and to lose hope that the future can be different from our present. If we sit down and refuse to try to follow Christ and to let Him help us back up, we won't live with God again. All God wants us to give Him is ourselves. He has asked for our hearts. Along with our hearts comes our lives, our actions and decisions. If we will keep trying, I know that the Lord will help us. He does strengthen those who trust Him and in His ability to keep His promises. I know that, just as I know that we can be changed and healed as we just keep having the faith in Him to repent and obey over and over and over again.

The Birthday Party, by Katharine Brush

They were a couple in their late thirties, and they looked unmistakably married. They sat on the banquette opposite us in a little narrow restaurant, having dinner. The man had a round, self-satisfied face, with glasses on it; the woman was fadingly pretty, in a big hat.

There was nothing conspicuous about them, nothing particularly noticeable, until the end of their meal, when it suddenly became obvious that this was an Occasion—in fact, the husband’s birthday, and the wife had planned a little surprise for him.

It arrived, in the form of a small but glossy birthday cake, with one pink candle burning in the center. The headwaiter brought it in and placed it before the husband, and meanwhile the violin-and-piano orchestra played “Happy Birthday to You,” and the wife beamed with shy pride over her little surprise, and such few people as there were in the restaurant tried to help out with a pattering of applause. It became clear at once that help was needed, because the husband was not pleased. Instead, he was hotly embarrassed, and indignant at his wife for embarrassing him.

You looked at him and you saw this and you thought, “Oh, now, don’t be like that!” But he was like that, and as soon as the little cake had been deposited on the table, and the orchestra had finished the birthday piece, and the general attention had shifted from the man and the woman, I saw him say something to her under his breath—some punishing thing, quick and curt and unkind. I couldn’t bear to look at the woman then, so I stared at my plate and waited for quite a long time. Not long enough, though. She was still crying when I finally glanced over there again. Crying quietly and heartbrokenly and hopelessly, all to herself, under the gay big brim of her best hat.

Copyright © 1946 The New Yorker. All rights reserved.

Originally published in The New Yorker.

Timing

This is a very good talk by Elder Dallin H. Oaks that was given at a BYU Devotional in 2003.

https://lds.org/liahona/2003/10/timing?lang=eng&signmein#footnote1-23990_000_005

Re-post from 5/23/11: What Rain and Challenges Do

I've been thinking about this topic recently and wanted to share again some of my thoughts about how trials are actually beautiful and loving blessings from God.  I am so grateful for who I have become as I have gone through difficult things.

It was sunny yesterday and today. That’s a big deal. It seems like it has been raining for weeks and weeks. It normally doesn’t rain this much here. I was so happy to go outside and see the blue sky.

I realized though that I have lived through many sunny days and never realized how great they were or how blue the sky was, or anything. If it’s been sunny for a long time, I stop noticing sun. Rainy days, along with making the plants nice and green and everything, help me appreciate sunny days. Without rainy days, the beauty outside would disappear.
 

It seems that most people I know are going through really difficult things. Maybe it’s because I’m growing up and becoming more aware of others and their lives, but I don’t remember this many people going through this many challenges before. But, I’ve learned from my own experience that challenges are some of the greatest blessings God gives us. One of the purposes of our experience here on earth is to gain experience in order to change our character, who we are. God wants us to become like Him, to enjoy all the blessings He enjoys. But, we aren’t yet. So, He sent us to earth to learn by experience and to progress.
 

Challenges will both teach us wonderful things and help us develop deep relationships with God and Jesus as we work through them. Or they will destroy us. They can turn us to God in humility or turn us away from Him feeling hurt. It can sometimes feel that He has given us too much to handle or that He isn’t giving the help that we need. But, as I look back on the past few months, I see that that God was right there with me through all of my challenges. There were times that, in those moments, I didn’t know where He was. But, He was with me. He was supporting me and helping me and giving me strength to try again and again. I know that as we accept the help of Jesus Christ, He will carry what we cannot. He will fill our hearts with peace and reassurance. He will let us know that He knows how we're feeling and He'll encourage and love us. He knows us. And He knows how to help us. He knows what we, together, can handle. He understands how hard things can be for us. He is patient and compassionate. He's willing to work with us where we are, as we are.

The more we know about our purpose in life and God’s love for us, the more we can understand challenges. Challenges help us appreciate life and who God is. Challenges are rainy days. They actually are beautiful blessings that help us recognize all that God does for us; they help us learn and become more like Him. Many of them take a long time to work through. But, I know that if we will not give up on Jesus Christ, we will make it though them eventually. The trick is just to hold on to Him when it seems that we may not be able to hold on for much longer. But, He can help you hold on. And He will. 

To learn more about the purpose of challenges, go here to learn more about God’s plan for our progression and happiness: http://mormon.org/plan-of-happiness/

People Who Seem to Help, or Emotional Support

I've recently discovered how incredibly uplifting it is to be with someone during hard times, to let them help me, and to feel encouraged by them. I've historically tried to do things all by myself, but that's not how it needs to be done. Or should be done. Frankly, I believe that many if life's problems can't be resolved or endured well by oneself.

I've made three observations about the people who have helped me most.

1. I love being with people who love me and not just my behavior. When I'm in trouble, I will turn to those who have loved me at my best and at my worst. I feel comfortable with them because I know that they love me. This allows me to share myself with them and not just what they want me to say or expect me to be like.

2. Those who help me tend to listen more than they offer advice. There is something relieving about sharing difficult and personal things with others, and usually people can help me most by listening and asking questions rather than telling me what I should be doing. Feeling validated is healing. Advice is wonderful, but for me it is only helpful when the setting is right and I'm ready for it. Giving advice to one who doesn't want any is akin to trying to pour water into a Tupperware that already has a lid on it.

3. People can discern much of how others feel about them. Insincerity, doubt, judgment, and distance can be felt. So can genuineness and love. When someone assumes the best of me, I feel invited to be closer to that person. I feel that I can be my best self and they will value it.

Monotonous Prayers, or It's Hard To Pray Sometimes...

"We can and must go often and carefully to the word of God. If we become casual in our study of the scriptures, we will become casual in our prayers. We may not cease to pray, but our prayers will become more repetitive, more mechanical, lacking real intent. Our hearts cannot be drawn out to a God we do not know, and the scriptures and the words of the living prophets help us know Him. As we know Him better, we love Him more."

-Henry B. Eyring (read this talk)

"As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are his children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part (Matt. 7:7–11). Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship."

Bible Dictionary (see the entire entry here)

How To Find Happiness

Will The Future Ever Change?, or Discouragement

Discouragement is fear that the future won't change, that what has happened and is happening will always happen. It is a lonely place. It feels like it needs to be dealt with alone; it makes it hard to let others close. It is dark and overshadows life to the point that there is no future, just an overwhelming sense of confusion, disappointment, and frustration.

When I was 9 or 10, I played in a big group violin concert in Salt Lake City. I played in the two easiest group pieces of the night, but I was rather proud of them. However, the last group of the concert, which included a little boy very much younger than me, played the 3rd movement of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor. It is one of my favorite pieces; it's fast, beautiful, and terribly difficult. As we rode home in the van, I can still remember how terribly discouraged I felt. I felt like I had been left behind, that my violin playing was worthless. I thought of giving up violin altogether. Certainly I would never be able to play anything like that piece. Ever. 

My parents helped me through my discouragement and I didn't give up the violin. And I'm glad I didn't.  However, as I've grown up and gone through serious situations which have left me feeling deeply discouraged, I've certainly had thoughts of "nothing will ever change." But, I've learned from my own experience that allowing the Lord to be with me as I am and as I feel truly helps me calm down and see things clearly. Lots of times He hasn't changed what's going on. But He often reminds me of the Plan of Salvation and how this life is a time of education, how trials are essential facilitators of that education, and how I have a Savior who does help me and strengthen me and understand me and pick me up and help me keep going. Or, God will simply validate my pain or remind me how much He loves me.

Though it can be hard to remember, it's ok if God has helped us with a certain problem before and we are again afraid or sad or discouraged about it. God never gets annoyed or tired of helping us.

Giving up is not the only option when we face discouragement. Turning to our Heavenly Father over and over and over again through honest prayer, and trusting again and again that His true desire is actually for us to be happy, and accepting that He really does have a perfect personal plan for us puts us in a place where we can accept the solace and perspective we need. We can hold onto God with our trust (faith), even though we are down. God will never give up on us. Never. Even if our commitment gets a little soggy. If we will just hang on to Him,  He will lead us back into the light.

A Thought on Prayer, or Honesty

Honesty in prayer is one indication of our understanding and acceptance of God's love for us (meaning that He doesn't just love our behavior or our compliance to His will). We show our trust in Him by approaching Him in prayer as we are, not as we hope to be or appear.

The Savior was very honest in His prayers. He told God how He was feeling when He said, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me."

We will learn about God's personality as we pray honestly to Him. We will learn of His perfect understanding, His compassion, and His complete love for us.

But I'm So Weak, or I'm Having Enough Trouble With Myself

 

I have recently been struggling with feeling so very weak and down. Especially during times like this, I often struggle with fierce feelings of independence. I want to do things by myself. I want the Lord to strengthen me just enough so I can start doing things on my own again. However, as I have been taught again and again, I both cannot and am not expected to go through hard times by myself. Or easy times. I am not strong enough. And that's kind of the point.

All of our strength and ideas to do good things come from the Lord. All of our hope is in Him, not in ourselves.

And Jesus is a person, not an idea.

While we are weak, He is not. He's really understanding. And patient. And persistent. He won't ever give up on us, even if we give up on ourselves or on Him for a little while. Our perspective is sometimes blurred, and we're not perfect, but we aren't expected to be right now. The point of living the gospel is to receive His strength and to have Him tutor us, to teach us to become like Him.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell expressed an interesting thought: "Though we feel weak, our help is much needed by those...who will be undertaking the very same 'mighty change' in their hearts and lives."

There are people in my life who are such strengths to me, and it's odd to think that they are having their own challenges, but they are. The point is that we are all living through a difficult experience. We may need help, but everyone around us does too. We don't need to look very far to find someone who needs encouragement. The Lord has given us families and friends who we are sometimes uniquely able to help. While we are not able to help solve or take on everyone's problems, we can lift when we can and encourage others to allow Christ to help them.

As we lean on each other, we can help each other look to Christ, our Friend who is also our only true source of comfort and strength. He will shoulder (for He already has!) and lift our burdens in personalized ways as we give them to Him. And He will help us to help "succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees (Doctrine and Covenants 81:5)" of others as He lifts up and strengthens our own weak hands and knees.

Did I Misunderstand?, or Was Something Supposed to Happen?

One time when I was sitting at General Conference, I had the distinct impression that I should teach seminary for my job. I had prayed for direction regarding what I should do, and this answer had come. I registered for a seminary teaching class that next semester at school. While taking that class, I realized that I didn't want or need to be a seminary teacher and that I have a different skill set that I am to use in a different job. Since then, I have never known quite what to do with those feelings and thoughts I received at General Conference. If I had prayed and God gave me an answer, why did that answer suddenly change? I must've just misunderstood or something.

Or maybe not. I've since learned that God was guiding me. Looking back, that seminary teaching class was one of the most helpful classes I ever took. It helped me be a better teacher at work. I learned valuable teaching skills that I will need and use for the rest of my life. Those skills are so valuable for me and for what I'll be doing that I think God directed me to look into seminary teaching so that I would take that class, a class that I never would've taken without being directed to it.

Sometimes we can feel that maybe we've made a mistake - we received guidance but the end result was disappointing. Nothing worked out like it was supposed to. We know God doesn't make mistakes, but sometimes it's hard to understand what He's doing. He leads us by the Spirit, but then things don't appear to work out. But, in reality He is perfectly and purposefully guiding us to where we need to be, who we need to be with, and to experiences that will help us learn what we need to learn.

God loves us. That knowledge is essential for us to have in order to accept that He has a purpose and plan for each of His children. He's got it all straight in His mind; He doesn't get confused or make mistakes. He does guide us. He speaks to us through the Spirit in a way that we will understand what He's saying. He's got everything under control. And one day, we will be able to look back and say, "Ok. Now I understand. Things had to work out just like they did for me to get here."

Being clean and obedient is so important because as we are, we can feel confident that we are feeling the Holy Ghost and being guided. If we are doing our best, we can pray and then listen with confidence (Doctrine and Covenants 121:41-46). We can be assured that God is talking to us in a way that we will understand. We can then walk forward with confidence that He is leading us to where we need to be, even if we can't quite see how or why He's taking us in this certain direction. But, He knows why. And we can find peace in knowing He's got things under control.

I Will Lead You Along, or The Uncertain Future

I'm getting ready to take the GRE (the required test to get into some graduate programs). In just a little while, I will need to make some big decisions that will determine where I will be living for the next few years. The future is unknown to me, but I want to be where I should be, yet I really don't know where that is.

However, as I look back on my life, I can see that the Lord has gently led me to where I need to be, and most of the time I didn't even know I was being led. When I got home from serving my mission in New York City (which was exactly where the Lord knew I needed to be - more New York later), I was heading back to BYU. I was the first of my friends to come home, so I had to find an apartment for us to live in. I went down to Provo with my mom to try to find a place. We looked around all morning, but when we came to a certain apartment complex and went into the model apartment, I just said that we would live there. But, it wasn't really a very dramatic feeling or anything like that. It was just where we would live. I ended up living there for two years, and it was there that I met some of the most important people of my life. I was taught and supported and loved by some of my best friends I've ever had. But, that morning I didn't know I was being led. But I was.

Jesus knows how to perfectly guide us. We hear and are influenced by His voice through the Holy Ghost. Sometimes He'll guide us through our own feelings. Or other times, other people are inspired to help us; we can be led through the words of a teacher, a prophet, friend, family member, or stranger. Either way, knowing Jesus helps us trust Him and that He will never leave us alone. He loves us. He's our friend. He will lead - and by doing so, teach - us in the perfect and most effective way. And we can find peace in knowing that He always, always keeps His promises. 

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are little children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in His own hands and prepared for you;

"And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for
I will lead you along."

Doctrine and Covenants 78:17-18

Relationships: How

Jesus Christ is our perfect example. As we follow His example and live His teachings, we will be happy. His example includes how to interact with others.

He showed us how to put other people's needs before our own. He showed us how to forgive. He taught us to be kind, to love, to listen and to be compassionate. He taught us to repent and to apologize, even when we must admit we have been wrong the whole time. He taught us to understand others, to be patient with them and with ourselves. He taught us to love and pray for our enemies, to do good to them. He taught us to not seek revenge and to avoid anger. He showed us that we can turn to God in prayer to receive help.

I know trying to be like Jesus makes me happy. "What would Jesus do?" or "How would Jesus treat this person?" really are awesome questions that can help us quickly choose to uplift and encourage others. We feel closer to Him as we do.

Understanding and Leadership

"Jesus saw sin as wrong but also was able to see sin as springing from deep and unmet needs on the part of the sinner. This permitted him to condemn the sin without condemning the individual. We can show forth our love for others even when we are called upon to correct them. We need to be able to look deeply enough into the lives of others to see the basic causes for their failures and shortcomings."

Spencer W. Kimball

Read "Jesus: The Perfect Leader" here. 

All, That, His

As we follow Jesus Christ, we often have high hopes for ourselves.When we give into old temptations, or we do, say, or think something we thought we weren't going to do, say, or think again, we can easily feel embarrassed or discouraged. 

There are three words that are worth emphasizing in some verses found in the scriptures:

All - Nothing is more inclusive than 'all'

That - So That, 'a fin de que' in Spanish - both suggest purpose, motivation

His - Jesus'

"Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;

"For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore He suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto Him.

"And He hath risen again from the dead, that He might bring all men unto Him, on the conditions of repentance.

"And how great is His joy in the soul that repenteth!"

Fear, or I've Stopped?

When I was younger I loved roller coasters. I thought they were the most beautiful things on earth. I knew everything about them, including the stats of the record holders (tallest, fastest, etc.), the ground-breaking ones that changed the industry, and the famous parks that housed the good ones. I knew everything except for what it felt like to be on one  I had gone on little ones, but when opportunities came for me to ride the ones I knew about, I was too afraid to.

Fear is fascinating. It stops things. It becomes a problem when we are governed by it, when we let it influence important and meaningful decisions. And when we let it influence our relationships.

Relationships are built on honesty and commitment. Fear can stop us from being honest. And it can stop us from being committed. It can keep us from pursuing or developing relationships.

Fear is subtle. It can be hard to recognize when we are being motivated by our fears. But, if we don't recognize them, we'll continually be negatively inspired by them.

The opposite of fear is confidence. Or faith. Faith in Jesus Christ is just that: confidence in Jesus Christ. We trust Him and what He says. We trust that as we live His teachings, we will be happy. Even though our lives may seem to be a mess or out of our control, or our future seems unknown and unnerving, we trust that He knows what is best for us and that He has perfect control over our situation. We trust that He wants to help us and that He has all power to do so. He will always keep all of His promises. 

We fight our fears through faith in Him. We trust that He can and will help us become who we really want to be.

Prayer - Daisy

Faith to See God's Hand

Character Trees

My friend Morgan is a missionary.  Check out her most recent blog post. 

My name is Morgan...and I am a Mormon Missionary: Character Trees

2 of 8 - What Does Follow Mean?

This is part 2 of a potential 8-entry post about how we can come to know God and enjoy our relationship with Him, what He expects of us, how He continues to guide us now just as He did during Bible times, and how we can have peace in this life and prepare to live with Him again as we live the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

God's plan for us to follow while we're on earth is called the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As we live the gospel, we will become more like our Heavenly Father, we will find true purpose in life, and we will be happier.  

The gospel of Jesus Christ is a lifestyle. We begin by learning about what Jesus has taught us to do. We then try to change what we're currently doing or not doing to fit with what He taught. As we do so, we learn that we can trust Him. We can then make promises to God that we are willing to follow Jesus Christ. We make those promises when we are baptized. By keeping the promises we make when we're baptized, we are blessed to have the Holy Ghost to guide us at all times. The Holy Ghost will help us know how we can be more like the Savior. We then try to serve and help others as God would want us to. We do our best to follow the example of Jesus Christ.

We may feel that we don't know enough, don't really believe enough, or have messed up too many times to follow Jesus Christ. But, the gospel was designed for imperfect people! Us making mistakes is just a reality of life. There is nothing limiting us from receiving the blessings of the gospel besides our own decision not to live it or to give up trying because of despair or frustration.  

When we make mistakes, disappoint ourselves, or leave God for awhile, we can begin again by trusting that Jesus can and will forgive and help us. And He will. Knowing or hoping this, we repent - we try to change, we try to live Jesus' teachings, we ask for forgiveness. We make promises with God, or we renew those promises by going to church and taking the sacrament. We try to listen to the Holy Ghost and live Christ's teachings, including His invitation to keep on repenting. We can start living the gospel at any point in our lives, no matter where we are or what we've done or what we know. The perfect starting point to begin to follow Christ is wherever we are right now.

Living the gospel helps us understand ourselves and it makes our relationships with others better. We become more like God, so we can love even more. Life becomes even more full and meaningful when we live the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

1 of 8 - Who God Is

This is part 1 of a potential 8-entry post about how we can come to know God and enjoy our relationship with Him, what He expects of us, how He continues to guide us now just as He did during Bible times, and how we can have peace in this life and prepare to live with Him again as we live the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

God is the Supreme Being of the universe, the Creator of all things, and the person who gave us life. He is a person. He has a body. He has feelings and emotions; He can see and hear and laugh and sing and run and everything.  

We are related to Him; He is our Father. He loves and knows us. We lived with Him long before we came to earth. He is loving and understanding. He wants to be close to us. He is patient with us and our weaknesses. He loves us no matter what we do or how we act or how we feel about ourselves. We are His children. We can trust Him.

We can talk to Him. We do this as we pray. As we humbly and sincerely express our feelings and thoughts, He listens and answers us. He can respond in many ways, including through the Holy Ghost (to learn more about the Holy Ghost, go here). We can learn how kind and understanding and forgiving He is as we have experiences with Him.

He wants us to be happy. This is easier to accept when we know for ourselves who He is and what He is like. He wants us to enjoy all the happiness He enjoys. In order for that to happen, we need to become like Him. He sent us here to earth to gain experience and to learn so that we could become more like He is. This earth life is can be very difficult. "He weeps with us when we suffer and rejoices when we do what is right (Preach My Gospel, pg. 31)."   

 He has given us guidance for us to follow during our time here on earth. This plan includes principles and truths we can choose to accept and follow. This plan is called the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  

God sent Jesus Christ to earth to help us. Jesus Christ has made it possible so that every person who wants to return to God can. He suffered for our sins and made it that death does not end our existence or our relationships. If we will live His gospel, we will be able to live with our families and loved ones forever. We will be able to live again with our loving Heavenly Father.

To learn more about God, visit here.