Remember

There is a series of books put out by Deseret Books that I love and wonderfully stumbled upon at Christmas in a set and got them! And I'm currently reading them. They are by Chris Stewart and it's called The Great and Terrible series. [Highly recommend reading them, member or not! So good!]

So I just finished the first book last night and came across an amazing section at the very end, and decided I'd share it, because it seems so powerful to me.

Let me set it up for you. So this whole book is based in the Pre-existence, which is where we lived before we came to this life, in the presence of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. [If you have questions about this, feel free to ask !] The characters in the book are getting ready to come to earth and are having a last little chat with Heavenly Father before they are sent here. He kind of gives them a little pep-talk about coming to this life. As much as I know this book is the authors interpretation and based on beliefs within the church, I feel so strongly about this part. So let me share it !

Sweeping his arms across eternity,
the Father explained, "I am sending you to earth
at a very treacherous time. Once you are there you
will forget everything. And the things you will
deal with will seem so important to you. Your
everyday problems will seem incredibly large-
your work and your school, your family and friends,
what to wear, how you look. Are you fat?
Are you strong? Are you pretty? Are you smart?
Do you make enough money? Do other people like you?
Why weren't you chosen for a game or group activity?
Why isn't life always fair?
Worries such as these may consume you and
take all your time.

You may obsess with disappointments;
you may put all your focus on the pain.
It will be easy to forget that life is always good-
that whether you are here or on earth,
you are meant to find joy.

So on quiet nights in the summer,
when you are still and peaceful,
I want you to look up at the heavens, the moon and the stars,
so your spirit can remember these
things I have shown you
today. And if you do, you will remember,
somewhere deep in your soul,
that you are a part of a heavenly family,
a heavenly plan, something eternal and
wonderful and incredibly large. You will remember
that your family is up here cheering for you,
that family is the only thing that matters,
the only thing of any significance.
And though your human language won't have
words for the feelings I will place in your hearts,
your spirit will remember and you will long to be with me again."

I don't even know how to transition into talking about this. It's just so amazing to me. We do put too much time and effort into the small problems, the temporal problems, things that won't matter after this life. And we do focus on the pain and the disappointments. [I am guilty of this more than anyone else!] But we are here to find joy in this life, and all we have to do is look for it and find it.

And we have a heavenly family cheering us on. Doesn't that just make you feel good? There are so many people that back you up, that pray for you, that are wanting the very best. Even if you feel so alone, you have them.

And in regards to the last part, I know I have felt those feelings that I cannot describe in any language. You just feel it. And I like to think this author put it beautifully into words. I do feel like my spirit remembers and recognizes that feeling, or recognizes something from our lives before. And every time I can remember having those feelings, I do want to return to my Heavenly Father. I do long to be with Him, and want to live my life the very best so that I can return to Him someday. And that's exactly what He wants for each of us.

Riches of Eternity

Today in church, we talked about so much! And I really wish I could put it all down on here and share it all with you. Maybe if I didn't wait two weeks to update... We won't go there...!

In Sunday School, we were talking about Esau and Jacob, particularly when Esau sells his birthright for pottage [refer to Genesis 25]. My first thought was wow, he sold this amazing birthright, the blessings that were in store for him, for food. Hunger is such a temporal appetite, something momentary, and carnal. Because he thought in that moment that satisfying his hunger was all that mattered and he'd trade the richest blessings for it. Obviously he didn't understand all that it entailed, but I'm not here to dwell on that.

But this caused some reflection in my life and on my past and situations I have been in. Is there a time when I have been so overwelmed with some worldly feeling, desire, appetite, that I thought was so important that by choosing to follow that appetite, I was in essence "selling my birthright?" Are we making decisions contray to the commandments, to counsel we've been given, that are causing us to give away our blessings and our promises from Heavenly Father? Because living in accordance to the Gospel allows us all the blessings of Heaven, and living in a way contrary, obviously we won't get those blessings. So comparing our lives to Esau, are we selling our birthrights for some simple pleasures of this life?

In relation to this I stumbled upon this scripture as a reference to the Hymn "Count Your Blessings." It's found in D&C 78:17-18:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are little children,
and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings
the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you;

And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless,
be of good cheer, for I will lead you along.
The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours,
and the riches of eternity are yours.

The kingdom is ours. The blessings are ours, the riches of eternity ! We can't even begin to understand that. It even says, we cannot understand the great blessings that our Heavenly Father has for us. This is what we give up; we give up small parts of these blessings, of the kingdom, the riches of eternity, anytime we follow Satan. We need to remember now what we are striving for. We need to remember so we have the strength to choose the right when everything around us is screaming to choose darkness. Remember who we are, children of our Heavenly Father, who is waiting, patiently, lovingly, to give us all He has. His Kingdom. Countless blessings. The Riches of Eternity.