Today we started another general conference challenge and the talk was the first one given was given by Elder Soares entitled, How can I understand? I remember distinctly how I felt as I listened to him speak and immediately receiving answers to some of my questions. I have an amazing family both extended and immediate and I love seeing them discover what they believe and what they want out of life. At times my heart also aches for blessings I see that they are missing in their life. The last few years and months I continue to be taught that the most important thing I can do is to LOVE them, exactly where they are and for exactly who they are.
As a mother, lately, each morning I think, "Today I am to LOVE all those within my path." Doesn't that simplify things. To be PRESENT and to SEE them. My days have been very fulfilling when I think and act this way.
I wanted to share some insight, that I have been taught by others and by the spirit.
This was shared with me from a dear friend about their daughter. I loved it and it puts into words what I have been taught.
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"As I have prayed about this, as I have prayed about you, as mom and I have talked and prayed about this, as I have gone to the temple and sought answers I have received very distinct and powerful revelation regarding you. The Lord has basically told me - Look as Your child was growing I have given you, over the years, great insight into her true nature and character.
I have given you glimpses of her greatness and majesty.
You have great belief and confidence in her.
However, if you allow yourself to overly worry and agonize about her salvation those are wasted energies and it is something that does not come from me.
That type of worry is in direct conflict with the belief and confidence I have helped you to gain. Satan will try to use those wasted energies to build judgment, strain, and conflict in your family
instead of acceptance, love, and harmony.
If you trust her to run her life then you should also trust her to work out her own salvation with
me.
Remember, she is my child before she was your child. Don’t ask me to help you with your child. Instead, ask how you can help me with my child. You love her with all you have, and yet I love her more than you are even capable."
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Isn't that so beautiful! I trust my Heavenly Father, Heavenly Mother and Savior so much. It gives me hope to have the knowledge that they LOVE my children and family even more than me. And especially more perfectly than I ever can love.
Recently, while praying for guidance for my family, I received this:
Heavenly Father has taught me that HIS time is not the same as mine. And even if it has been years that my loved ones have chosen to forsake their faith, in HIS time it is only a few minutes.
He has taught me that this life is a very small part of eternity and that my job is to stay true to my covenants. And to do all I can to be obedient and keep those covenants. And then LOVE my family exactly where they are. Because that is how I will become whom the Lord needs me to be.
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Elder Soares said this last conference:
Maybe some of you are at this exact moment asking yourselves, “Elder Soares, I have been doing all these things and have been following this model both individually and as a family, but unfortunately, some of my friends or dear ones have distanced themselves from the Lord. What should I do?”
For those of you who are right now experiencing these feelings of sadness, agony, and maybe regret, please know that they are not totally lost because the Lord knows where they are and is watching over them. Remember, they are His children too!
It is hard to understand all the reasons why some people take another path. The best we can do in these circumstances is just to love and embrace them, pray for their well-being, and seek for the Lord’s help to know what to do and say. Sincerely rejoice with them in their successes; be their friends and look for the good in them. We should never give up on them but preserve our relationships. Never reject or misjudge them. Just love them!
The parable of the prodigal son teaches us that when children come to themselves, they often desire to come home. If that happens with your dear ones, fill your hearts with compassion, run to them, fall on their neck, and kiss them, like the father of the prodigal son did.
Ultimately, keep living a worthy life, be a good example to them of what you believe, and draw closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ. He knows and understands our deep sorrows and pains, and He will bless your efforts and dedication to your dear ones if not in this life, in the next life.
Remember, brothers and sisters, always that hope is an important part of the gospel plan."
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HOPE is essential in this beautiful, crazy life we are blessed to experience.
This is the last thing I wanted to share today.
Elder Eyring from April 2019 conference:
“You will find some of your greatest joys in your efforts to make your home a place of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and a place that is permeated with love, the pure love of Christ. The Restoration of the gospel started with a humble question pondered in a humble home, and it can continue in each of our homes as we continue to establish and practice gospel principles there. This has been my hope and my deepest desire since I was a little boy. You have all had glimpses of such homes. Many of you have, with the Lord’s help, created them.
Some have tried with full heart for that blessing, yet it has not been granted. My promise to you is one that a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles once made to me. I had said to him that because of choices some in our extended family had made, I doubted that we could be together in the world to come. He said, as well as I can remember, “You are worrying about the wrong problem. You just live worthy of the celestial kingdom, and the family arrangements will be more wonderful than you can imagine.”
I believe that he would extend that happy hope to any of us in mortality who have done all we can to qualify ourselves and our family members for eternal life. I know that Heavenly Father’s plan is a plan of happiness. I testify that His plan makes it possible for each of us who has done the best we can to be sealed in a family forever.
I know that the priesthood keys restored to Joseph Smith were passed on in an unbroken line to President Russell M. Nelson. Those keys make possible the sealing of families today. I know that Heavenly Father loves us, His spirit children, with a perfect love. I know that because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can repent, be cleansed, and become worthy to live in loving families forever with our Heavenly Father and with His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.”
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I share these with all the love in my heart. I am so grateful for modern day revelation that comes to our leaders and to us as well.
I know that as we love as the Lord does, hope comes naturally. HAve a happy day!
