God Loves Us
If you were raised in the Church, you grew up singing
the words “I am A Child of God, And He has sent me here.” And if you were a young women prior to 2019,
you’ve said the words-- ” We are daughters of our Heavenly Father who loves us
and we love Him.” In 2019, it was
changed to-- ”I am a beloved daughter of Heavenly Parents with a divine nature
and eternal destiny.” Also in 2019- for the young men a theme was
announced: It starts—“I am a beloved son of God, and He has a work
for me to do.” Worldwide in wards, branches, and tiny groups of Saints—these
words are sung or repeated every Sunday in one form or another.
We are children of Heavenly Parents who truly love us. But what
does that mean? And how does it matter to us as we go about life on this very
mortal place?
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland taught: “The first great commandment of all eternity is to love God with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength—that’s the first great commandment. But the first great truth of all eternity is that God loves us with all of His heart, might, mind, and strength.”1
Think about that for a moment—the Eternal God-the ruler over all
of the universes! The God Almighty loves us with all of His heart, might, mind,
and strength. And not just us
collectively as billions of people who have lived on this earth...but each of
us individually and personally. As
recorded in scriptures and as I have experienced in my personal life, He knows
our names and He seeks after us as a tender parent always would. Through modern
revelations as in times of old, we know that we are literally His spiritual
children. Knowing that can make all of the difference in our lives.
Do you sing “I am a child of God?” by rote or do you truly witness
that you are a cherished spiritual offspring of Him? Do you acknowledge your true relationship to
divine Heavenly Parents in your deeds and actions...or is that relationship far
from your daily life? Do you know that you are beloved by Them and actively try
to fulfill Their plans for you in your own mortal journey or do you feel that
your life is simply here to do with what you would like? And like the questions asked by Alma in his
great sermon in Alma 5:“..if ye have experience a change of heart, and if ye
have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?”
Can you feel God’s love now? When is the last time you have felt
that love which most often comes through the witness of the Holy Ghost? What
are ways that we can seek to hold on to His Love in our day-to-day lives in
this very loud and confusing place? Like
the fruit in the tree of life that we have been studying in Come Follow Me—we
need to partake and continue to partake as we stand at the tree of life and its
fruit—the Love of God.
Elder Alan T. Phillips said:
“Do not misunderstand or devalue how important you are to your Father in
Heaven. You are not an accidental by-product of nature, a cosmic orphan, or the
result of matter plus time plus chance. Where there is design, there is a
designer.
Your life has meaning and purpose. The ongoing Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ brings light and understanding regarding your divine identity. “
This is the work of a lifetime. Our task is to find God in our
lives and love Him with our heart, might, mind, and strength. It is not always
easy, but it is why we are here. Maybe one or all of the following suggestions
might help you to look and to feel God’s love for you.
Number one: I know God loves me and all of us, because I see His
handiwork in the world around me.
The story of the creation starts the Old Testament and other
accounts are given in the Book of Moses and in Abraham. Why?
Because God needed a place for His children to continue their
journey. He directed Jesus Christ in the
creation of this earth so that “we will prove them herewith to see if they will
do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them.” Aba 3:25 Thus
the earth stands as a witness of God love for us. As you are on this earth,
look for ways in nature that you can see God’s love for you. Flowers, oceans, the songs of the birds, the
power of the wind testify of the Creators.
For others, it might be the beauty of a piece of music or a well-written
poem that testify of the nearness of God and His love. I have heard some who love numbers or physics
or the stars and find God’s touch there.
If we intentionally look for Him, we will find Him and feel His love. And then the remembrance of those things can
bring those feelings back to us—when we are far from that moment in time.
Many years ago, Gary and I had the opportunity to learn to scuba
dive. One time, we were diving in the Philippines along a cliff of rocks,
practicing some skills where there was little coral and few fish. All of a sudden, several tiny red fish swam
in front of me—bright red and beautiful—but so little. I thought, “Why did God waste time making
cute red fish to live in this rock wall where no one would ever see them?”
Immediately-my mind was filled with the words, “For you!” It was a tiny little
moment in my life—but I knew and I know-- that God knew me and was aware of my
thoughts and feelings. This is a moment
I will treasure throughout eternity. Tiny red fish testified that God love
me. What in nature testifies that God
loves you? Write it down, remember it,
share it with others. Intentionally look for God’s love in the gifts of nature,
in the arts, and in the stars.
Second, we see and can seek God’s love through prayer. The scriptures give so many accounts of
people seeking God in prayer and receiving answers and aid—Enos, Daniel,
brother of Jared, Esther and more!!
Elder Alan T. Phillips
reminds us: “You are His child. If you are feeling lost, if you have
questions or lack wisdom, if you are struggling with your circumstances or
wrestling with spiritual dissonance, turn to Him. Pray to Him for comfort,
love, answers, and direction. Whatever the need and wherever you are, pour out
your heart to your Heavenly Father. For some, you may want to follow President
Nelson’s invitation and ask “if He is really there—if He knows you. Ask Him how
He feels about you. And then listen.”29
Third, we can know our Heavenly Father loves us
because of the tender mercies which we can see in our own lives and in the
lives of others.
Elder Michael Ringwood
shared the following event from his friend, Paul: While attending school on
a military base in Germany, Paul noticed two sisters who seemed to have a
spiritual light. Asking why they were different brought the answer that they
belonged to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Soon
Paul began meeting with missionaries and was invited to church. The next
Sunday, as he got off the bus, he noticed two men dressed in white shirts
and ties. He asked them if they were elders of the Church. They answered yes,
so Paul followed them.
During the service, a
preacher pointed to people in the congregation and invited them to testify. At
the end of each testimony, a drummer gave a drum salute and the congregation
called out, “Amen.”
When the preacher pointed to
Paul, he stood up and said, “I know Joseph Smith was a prophet and the Book of
Mormon is true.” There was no drum salute or amens. Paul eventually realized he
had gone to the wrong church. Soon, Paul found his way to the right place and
was baptized.
On the day of Paul’s
baptism, a member he didn’t know told him, “You saved my life.” A few weeks
earlier, this man had decided to look for another church and attended a service
with drums and amens. When the man heard Paul bear his testimony of Joseph Smith
and the Book of Mormon, he realized that God knew him, recognized his
struggles, and had a plan for him.”
What a remarkable experience for both of
them—and a testimony of God’s great love for each of His children.
Elder David A. Bednar said about tender mercies:” We should not underestimate or overlook the power of the Lord’s
tender mercies. The simpleness, the sweetness, and the constancy of the tender
mercies of the Lord will do much to fortify and protect us in the troubled
times in which we do now and will yet live. …..when mortal experience and
evaluation are insufficient to produce a desired outcome, and when it seems
that perhaps we are so totally alone, truly we are blessed by the tender
mercies of the Lord and made mighty even unto the power of deliverance.”
God’s love is poured upon us through tender mercies. Don’t be so rushed in your life that you
don’t look and remember these moments in our lives.
Fourth—the most important tool of them all—Jesus Christ. In a common scripture, posted in fields in
Arkansas and shown in the stadiums at football games—John 3:16
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life”…and the following verse “For God sent not his son into the world to
condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” Like the common words of “I am A child of
God,” we might skip over the power of these verses—but I testify it is true—God
loves us SO much that He did give his only begotten Son—
Dieter F. Uchtdorf stated: “
When we feel insignificant, cast off, and forgotten, we learn that we may be
assured that God has not forgotten us—in fact, that He offers to all His
children something unimaginable: to become “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with
Christ.”2
….My
beloved friends, your Heavenly Father loves you with a perfect love. He has
proven His love in endless ways, but above all by giving His Only Begotten Son
as a sacrifice and as a gift to His children to make the return to our heavenly
parents a reality.”
Elder Alan Phillips said: “You are a beloved child of Heavenly Father. ..God loves you so much that He sent His Son to heal, rescue, and redeem you.4”
We know God loves us because he gave His only begotten Son to
“heal, rescue, and redeem you.”—This is the matchless gift from God to us.
It is hard to always feel God’s love for you especially when you
are in the middle of the “beginnings” of your lives—There are questions to
figure out, directions to be decided, major life choices still ahead—the world
is loud and demanding and Satan does not want you to pause a moment to feel
God’s love for you and to learn of His plan for your life. But pause you must—in nature, in prayers to
God, in looking to see the tender mercies in your life, and most of all, in
reaching out to Christ for aid, succor, forgiveness, and hope—and most of all
to feel His love and the love of our Heavenly parents.
In conclusion I would like to share a tiny piece of an
experience—from a week that I describe as the worst one of my life. As background, my sweet mother-in-law after a
quick decline passed away on a Monday morning.
On that same day, our son, Ben, who struggles with schizophrenia, was
admitted to a local inpatient unit for treatment. Because of his level of symptoms,
he was transferred first on Wednesday and again on Thursday to a local ER which
led to a 96-hour ER stay because suitable placement couldn’t be found. So, we were planning for a funeral and
dealing with a crisis at the ER. It was
a bad week but was filled with amazing answers to prayers, manifestation of
God’s love, and the power of Christ to bring peace to us. Here is one of those tender mercies—I will
share the account as I wrote it in my blog—This happened on Thursday the day
before my mother-in-law’s funeral.
In the afternoon, I got a text from my sister-in-law, Vonette,
checking on Ben and telling me that Maggie (Charon's mother-in-law) had dropped
off an apple pie and a cherry pie.
My response: "Save me a piece of cherry pie...that is my all-time
favorite pie. It is what my mom made me for my birthday every year since
I was ten or so. It feels like a tender mercy that Maggie would bring one
today."
Later that night, Tosha texted me and said that Charon had
dropped off a whole cherry pie with instructions that I was to get the whole
pie. When I got home around 9:30, Tosha and I had a piece and talked for a
while in the quiet house before I went to work on my talk. It was great
and it was just a perfect thing in the middle of a very hard week. Again,
it felt like my mom was watching and helping me each day.
Now for the rest of the story:
In the limo after the funeral, Charon turned and asked how I
liked the pie. "I loved it," I said. She and Vonette
exchanged glances and started laughing and I knew there was more to the
story. It turned out that Maggie had brought over an apple pie and a
STRAWBERRY pie, not cherry. However, when I responded the way I did, my
sisters-in-laws became determined to get me a cherry pie. They called all
the bakeries in the area but could only find a cherry pie in South Salt
Lake. They were actually thinking about going to get it, but realized
that they had too much to do to prepare for the funeral and the family
gathering to make that trip especially in the late afternoon traffic. So,
Charon called Maggie and asked her to bake me a cherry pie. Maggie had
never made a cherry pie before, but headed to the store for pie filling and
baked an amazing and beautiful pie …It was that pie that was delivered to my
door after a long day at the ER.
And that, my friends, is how God works through other people to
remind you that you are loved, you are known, and therefore you can do another
day!
In the words of one of my favorite hymns-- (second verse)
In ev’ry condition—in sickness, in health,
In poverty’s vale or abounding in wealth,
At home or abroad, on the land or the sea—
As thy days may demand, as thy days may demand,
As thy days may demand, so thy succor shall be.
I testify that our Heavenly Parents and our Savior,
Jesus Christ, know us and love us and that They have a plan for our lives. I
invite you to look to feel that love in nature, through prayers, noticing
tender mercies, and most of all through Jesus Christ. We must learn to love
Them with all of our heart, might, mind and strength so that we can return
again to live in Their presence. Of this I testify, In the name of Jesus
Christ. Amen.
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