Estimated Reading Time 10 Minutes
Hey! Happy Mothers’ Day! I am so thankful for the opportunity to speak today and share some of the tender thoughts and feelings in my heart. To me the gospel is tender and ultimately when you get to the heart of everything we’re taught in the church, it all points to Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father and their great love for each of us. It’s my prayer that maybe some of my thoughts today can help you to feel their love through the spirit, to feel how precious you are, and to know that you have a purpose in this life.
The topic I was given today is Hope in Christ and Your Eternal Destiny. I love that because it’s basically a mission statement for the gospel. We are incredibly blessed to know about the Plan of Happiness, that there is hope for each of us through our Savior, Jesus Christ, and that each of us has an eternal destiny.
I was given Elder Dale G. Renlund’s talk from the women’s session of this last general conference as a reference, and I encourage you to go back and read it because it’s wonderful. Elder Renlund starts off by explaining that even though he is talking to women and that his thoughts are taken from the Young Women Theme, these truths apply to all of us, both men and women. So all you brothers out there need this too. 🙂
I thought about having all the sisters stand up but I won’t make you do that. But I still can recite the Young Women theme from back in my day. It’s changed a little since then. One thing that strengthens my testimony is continual revelation for the church in general and for us individually. And even though things change periodically to help in the specific times we are in, the roots and core principles of the gospel stay the same. So on one hand we remain rooted in the truth of the gospel and on the other hand we continue to adapt and grow.
In the current Young Women theme, Elder Renlund explains that there are four truths found in just the opening sentence. “I am a beloved daughter of heavenly parents, with a divine nature and eternal destiny.” First, you are a daughter or son of God who loves you. Second, we have heavenly parents, a father, and a mother. Third, we each have a divine nature. And fourth, we have an eternal destiny.
A couple of weeks ago I was talking with my family and my sister made a great point. She said that most of the reasons people struggle come from losing sight of who they are as children of God. And if we all remembered that we are children of God the world would be a dramatically different and better place. That is so true!
What is one of the first songs we learn as children in the church? I’m A Child Of God, right? That is the fundamental truth of our existence. If you get nothing else from my message today, I want you to know that you are a child of God and that he loves you.
Sometimes it’s easy to understand that we’re children of God, but harder to believe it and actually feel that love. Personally, there have been times in my life when I have seriously struggled to feel the love of Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ. I’ve battled with anxiety and depression since I was thirteen or fourteen. I’m thirty-six now. So for over half my life, I’ve been dealing with these issues and while I feel like I’ve learned how to manage things a lot better these days, these challenges have never been taken away from me.
I remember talking to my bishop a few years after these difficulties started, so I was maybe sixteen and I told him I was so tired of dealing with the same things. Little did I know, right? My bishop at that time was wonderful but I remember he compared my situation with Paul in the bible. Let me read Paul’s words to you from 2 Corinthians 12:7–10:
And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
Now, there are a lot of great nuggets in there that can provide hope if you look for them. But all I heard in my sixteen-year-old brain was you are going to have to deal with this trial forever. To me, that felt completely hopeless. I dealt with these hopeless feelings off and on for a very long time. And a few years ago I even found myself becoming angry with God. Because I would pray and ask Heavenly Father to take these problems away and yet they still were a constant struggle. I felt that I must not have enough faith, or that I just wasn’t as worthy of love as other people around me. It’s funny, it’s never been difficult for me to see the light and goodness in other people. Other people are easy for me to love. But finding that love for myself has been a challenge.
But looking back with my thirty-six-year-old perspective. I can see that I’ve grown a lot from my trials. I’ve developed compassion for others and a sensitivity to hard things that I wouldn’t have otherwise. I’ve learned how to better manage my emotions and I’ve learned tools to help me. And when I look back I can see a guiding hand helping me along the way. Hindsight is 20/20, right?
More recently, I’ve been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, and I’ve had some challenging health problems physically. Sometimes, I find myself praying to Heavenly Father and thinking, really? Really, Heavenly Father I finally got to a good place mentally and emotionally and now you hand me this to deal with? But I find myself full of gratitude for the lessons I’ve learned in managing my mental health because that knowledge has kept me afloat in my current situation. We came to earth to learn and grow and be tested. Life is hard for all of us. There isn’t a person in this room who isn’t going through something difficult.
But the good news is that we don’t have to go through it alone. Jesus Christ atoned for each of us. He knows exactly how we feel and what we’re dealing with when no one else does. His atonement enables us to press forward with hope, whether we are dealing with hardships due to things outside our control, or even if we brought the difficulty on ourselves through sin.
Repentance is a gift and there is nothing you have done or that you might do that can’t be worked out through the atonement. In his recent conference address, Dallin H. Oaks said, “The revealed doctrine of the restored Church of Jesus Christ teaches that all the children of God—with exceptions too limited to consider here—will finally wind up in a kingdom of glory.” It’s just up to each of us to choose how much love we will let into our lives, and then we must each live up to that love.
If you talk to me long enough, chances are I’m going to recommend a book to you. I love to read. One of my all-time favorite spiritual books is Believing Christ by Stephen E. Robinson. It’s a short read and I can’t recommend it highly enough. The premise of this book is that we may know that Jesus Christ is the Savior in our minds, but we don’t just need to believe in him, we need to believe him. We need to trust in what he says and that he is talking to us personally.
Brother Robinsons explains, “We often think that having faith in Christ means believing in his identity as the Son of God and the Savior of the world. But believing in Jesus’ identity as the Christ is only the first half of it. The other half is believing in his ability, in his power to cleanse and to save—to make unworthy sons and daughters worthy.” You don’t have to be perfect today my friends, you just have to do your best. If you simply keep repenting, keep trying, and keep moving forward. Our brother, Jesus Christ, makes up for every shortcoming. It’s important to sincerely believe that. I know it’s true.
All of that just points to the love both Heavenly Father and Jesus have for us. And if you are currently having a hard time feeling that love, don’t give up. It can be a journey. It’s definitely a process for me. But I do have a testimony of that love and I hope you can catch a glimpse of it today.
Let’s talk about our divine nature. Back to the Young Women theme, we learned that we have heavenly parents, a heavenly father, and a heavenly mother. While we don’t know a lot about Heavenly Mother, we know that she exists and that she also loves us dearly. A scripture I like to reference in regards to this is in The Pearl Of Great Price. In Abraham 4:26 we read:
And the Gods took counsel among themselves and said: Let us go down and form man in our image, after our likeness; and we will give them dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
This is my own opinion, but I feel certain that Heavenly Mother is included in the collective us and our and we. She absolutely plays a significant role, but we tend not to mention her as much out of respect. The world tends to disrespect sacred things, unfortunately, and I was taught that Heavenly Father didn’t want that for her. Elder Renlund also explained that we have been taught to pray directly to Heavenly Father and that we should not address our prayers to Heavenly Mother.
But just the knowledge that we are formed in the image of God including Heavenly Mother is helpful. Because every woman has spiritual qualities like our Mother in Heaven. Just as men do from Heavenly Father. And I don’t want to focus on this too much, but I think men and women do have separate and equally significant roles. If you want to study more about this I’d recommend going over The Family Proclamation.
But I do want to focus on the divine nature that we see in examples all around us. It makes me a little emotional to think about. I have been so blessed to know many beautiful women in my life and each teaches me and lights up my life in unique ways. Going back to Young Women. I was so lucky to have leaders who exemplified what it means to be a righteous woman. And I connected with them all in different ways. Some of my leaders were silly and played with us. They showed us how to have fun in good and wholesome ways. Some of my leaders were bold and unafraid to teach us what was right. Some of my leaders were shy and reserved and served us quietly in the background. We all have different talents right? But I made many lasting friendships with my different leaders over the years and each one made a difference in my life.
And of course, my Mom has been the ultimate example of a righteous woman in my life. She is kind and generous, and thoughtful. She continues to teach me the importance of everyday things like reading your scriptures and saying your prayers. She serves those around her wholeheartedly. I hope I can grow up to be like her.
The same is true for the women of this ward. You are amazing sisters! And you brothers are amazing too! Honestly, you astound me with your goodness. But some of us are more athletic, or artsy, or quiet, or outgoing, or academic. Some of us are sensible with practical heads on our shoulders, and some of us are more free-spirited and adventurous. Our personalities play a big part in part in our divine nature. And we all have different spiritual gifts. In the Gospel Library under Spiritual Gifts, we learn that ‘each faithful member of the Church has at least one spiritual gift, and the Lord encourages His children to “seek … earnestly the best gifts, always remembering for what they are given”
So it’s important to know that who you are, the essence of you, your personality, your talents, your strengths, and your weaknesses are all part of your divine nature as a child of God. And though we are all different we all have that spark of our Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother inside of us. When we recognize this light in others and in ourselves, we are also recognizing them.
The last thing I want to touch on is that we each have an eternal destiny. Elder Renlund explains, ” After death, we will receive what we have qualified for and “enjoy only that which we are willing to receive.” Realizing our eternal destiny is dependent on our choices. It requires making and keeping sacred covenants. This covenant path is the way we come unto Christ and is based on absolute truth and eternal, unchanging law. We cannot create our own path and expect God’s promised outcomes.
Sometimes people mistake covenants as things that hold them back. Like there is this list of rules that restricts us in life. But the opposite is actually true. I think when you truly understand who you are as a child of God, and when you truly feel his love for you, then you understand that you are meant to be like him. And the only way to truly become like Heavenly Father is to live as he lives. That is our eternal destiny, my friends. We are destined to become like Him. And because of our Savior, it’s okay to make mistakes. Again, as long as we do our best and repent and keep moving forward, our eternal destiny is promised to us. Don’t just know that in your head, believe it.
I’m so grateful for the gospel in my life. I know this church is true. I know that we are children of God and that he lives and that he loves us. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
