"They Were Forgiven"

Forgiveness is such a central aspect of the gospel, but sometimes it feels like it doesn't apply to us, like no matter what we do, we will never be good enough. In Moroni 6:8 is says, "But as oft as they repented and sought forgiveness, with real intent, they were forgiven." Along with this I think of D&C 58:42: "Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more." It is amazing to me that God will continue to forgive us as often as we repent. Everyone has this opportunity. No matter how many times we mess up, how many times we say we'll be better and we slip again, if we keep repenting, we will be forgiven. He loves us, He wants the best for us, and He  believes in us. He has faith that eventually we will overcome our problems. Even when we think there is no way that we can be forgiven or that we will ever be able to become the person we are meant to be, God is there for us, and if we sincerely go to Him, He will help us. And when we repent, He won't remember our sins. He won't hold them over our head and remind us of all the mistakes  we've made. He lets them go and lets us move on. President Gordon B. Hinckley once said, " The Lord did not send you here to fail." He doesn't leave us with no way out of sin. He wants us to come back to Him, become like Him, and receive all the blessings He has to give us.

Trust Him

In Ether 6:5-6 it says, "And it came to pass that the Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters, towards the promised land; and thus they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind. And it came to pass that they were many times buried in the depths of the sea." Sometimes it is so easy to wonder why God lets us be tossed around and why things have to be so hard. Why can't he just ease up on us a little. It is often hard to see how these trials will ever help us. What good will come of me being sick, losing a loved one, not having friends. I think the best thing we can do when we run into these doubts is to just know that God knows what he's doing, to trust Him, and to know He loves you with an unconditional, eternal love. I had a friend who once said that when he's a dad he would want to protect his kids and make it so they were never hurt. He then went on to say that it shows a lot about how much God loves us knowing that He lets us go through these painful things. He must love us a lot and have so much in store for us if He lets us go through all the horrible things we go through in life. If we will put our faith in God, remember that He knows more than us, and know that He wants us to be happy and will help us to become the incredible person that he knows we can be, then in our times of furious winds and trial, even though they will be painful, we can know that everything is going to be okay.

God's Will For You

Ether 1:41-42 teaches a very important lesson. In this God is telling the brother of Jared to gather all the animals and his family and friends, to go north, and He will meet them there. This shows that we need to follow God's plan for us because our endpoint isn't necessarily God's endpoint for us. He will give us instruction because He knows exactly where we should go. It is often so easy to make plans for our life and think we know exactly what we're doing. We know what we want concerning our education, career, family, etc. It's important to remember that we don't know everything. When we make decisions we need to go to the Lord and make sure that we are aligned with His will. God has so much more to offer us than we could ever imagine. If we only rely on ourselves we will never reach our full potential. Even though we might not always go in the direction we originally thought we would, when we are with the Lord, we will go in the direction that will be best for us, the direction that will lead to us becoming all that we can be. Gordon B. Hinckley once said "I believe that God has likewise chosen each of you for something of consequence in his grand design" and the General Young Women Presidency said "Our Heavenly Father...knows you. He has confidence and faith that you will use these years...in being an obedient child of God who can be molded and shaped for the special mission and destiny he would have you fill." God knows what we can be and if we go to Him we will go places and become someone greater than we ever thought possible.