God’s
Plan of Happiness for Us (Part I)
To understand the purpose of life it is
first important to understand where we came from.
We lived as spirit sons and daughters of
God before this life. We lived with
God and Jesus Christ and made the decision to come to earth to receive a
physical body and experience mortal life. This was God’s plan for us.
God first sent Adam and Eve to the
earth. They lived in the Garden of Eden. God told them not to partake of the
forbidden fruit. If they did, they would be subject to physical death-they
would die. They would also be subject to spiritual death-they could sin. Satan
tempted Adam and Eve and they ate the fruit. Because they did this they were
cast out of the Garden of Eden. They could now die and could also sin. However,
Adam and Eve could also now have children and each of us had the opportunity to
be born and come to earth.
When we came to earth we passed through
a veil of forgetfulness or in other words, we forgot our pre-earth life with
God and Jesus Christ. This forgetfulness makes it necessary for us to walk by
faith on earth.
Our purpose in this life is to have joy
and to prepare to return to live
with God forever. What a glorious purpose! Seriously, how exciting! To have joy and get ready to return to live with
God! How do we do this? We must follow God and keep His commandments. Following
God’s commandments not only brings us joy but also helps us become more like
Him so that we can return to live with Him, Jesus Christ and our families after
this life.
Because of Jesus Christ and His
sacrifice for us we can do and overcome all things, even death. His sacrifice
is called the Atonement. It includes His suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane,
His death on the cross and His resurrection when he rose from the dead to live
again. As we turn to Christ, keep God’s commandments, and use His Atonement in
our lives, we will be prepared to return to live with God and our joy will be
eternal.
Knowing that this is my purpose on earth
has given me such direction in my life as I make decisions, as I interact with
others and as I face challenges and temptations. While joy is available to us
in this life, there is also a great deal of sadness, hurt, loneliness, anger
and so many other hard things. I know that each and every challenge that is
presented to us in this life can help us grow and can be endured and overcome
through Christ and His Atonement. I have felt this as I have overcome the sorrow
that comes from losing a cousin to suicide, another cousin to cancer, an aunt
to drug overdose, an uncle to cancer and the death of grandparents. Through
Christ, that sorrow has been replaced with greater understanding and peace and
comfort. I have been strengthened through Christ’s Atonement to do hard things,
things that are scary and wildly intimidating to me again and again. I have
felt forgiveness when I have done wrong and I have felt joy, so much joy, real joy.
I know that keeping the commandments will
always bring us joy. Sometimes that joy is not immediate and lots of times
other people may not understand why we choose to keep God’s commandments but I
know we will never regret the choice to be obedient to Him.
Remember your purpose. Have joy and
prepare to return to live with your Heavenly Father forever by keeping His
commandments. Let this guide your future and the day to day decisions you make now. Will you do this? I know that if we
do, we will see God again and that we can live with Him and Christ and our
families forever after this life.
