God's Purposes

There was a scripture and comment that was made today in Sunday school that really intrigued me.

Here's the scripture:

(God is speaking here.) "For behold, this is my work and my glory--to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." Moses 1:39

Then, the visiting stake high council member made the comment, "If you had the responsibility of helping a soul obtain eternal life, how would you do it?"

 Woah, I'd never thought of that. Everything God does is to help us be prepared for eternal life and to become as He is, and to become as He is, well, we can't just be handed everything. So I thought about that. If I were a God and was in charge of helping people be prepared for eternal life, I'd have to give them trials. There would be no other way for them to grow, no other way for them to be prepared. You don't grow by only having blessings. We have to have an opposition in all things. Our trials are God's way of preparing us for eternal life. As hard and miserable as they are...there is a bigger picture. I don't think every trial comes from God by any means--many are results of our own disobedience or the disobedience of others, but there is an eternal, massive picture greater than any of us can see. It's just so hard to see when our spiritual eyes are blurred by dark clouds of depression or other trials. I also do believe that Satan so cunningly uses depression to his advantage in trying to destroy, tempt, and discourage us, but if we do everything within our power to help ourselves, while relying on the Lord, we will be lifted up, even if it isn't as soon as we would like.

God loves us so much, and wants us to not only return to Him, but to become like Him. Pause and think of how your trials have made you better. Maybe you're more understanding. You've likely been able to help others as well. You're definitely stronger. Your Heavenly Father is molding you into something bigger than our earthly eyes and mind can comprehend.