Another symbol of God's love for us is his commandment to love him. We desperately need to love him. When we love him we learn to love obeying him. And that is the key to our happiest possible life. Loving God means letting go of our ways and replacing them with his ways. I love how the EFY 2015 theme song puts it.
“I lay down my will and my ways, And give Him the rest of my days. Here Am I, Ready and willing. Here am I, I'll go wherever He leads
Here to love, here to serve. To the ends of the earth. I surrender my heart and my life, So the world can see His light. Here am I.”
Every single person who has ever lived and will ever live, whether they believe in Christ or not, fought on Christ’s side. That means YOU fought for Christ. If you aren’t still on his side, now is the best time to choose to come back to His side. Give him the REST of your days. Surrender your heart to his side and let yourself become better. God is aware of every single decision that we make to draw closer to him, and not only is he aware of those choices, but he is so proud of them. When we find true and lasting joy within the walls of the gospel of Jesus Christ he rejoices with us. He celebrates every single one of our personal victories, no matter how small or insignificant they may seem. and on the other hand, when we experience heartbreaking suffering he will not abandon us. President Thomas S. Monson said "Only the Master knows the depths of our trials, our pain, and our suffering. He alone offers us eternal peace in times of adversity. He alone touches our tortured souls with His comforting words:
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Whether it is the best of times or the worst of times, He is with us. He has promised that this will never change." When we wander away from him he is waiting with open arms for us to come back to him. He knows when we are lost and he knows where we are.
Pray to see yourself how God sees you. To see the love that he has for you and the potential he sees in you. Each and every one of us are worth so very much in his eyes. He is here and he is listening, always waiting for us to reach out to him and strengthen our relationship with him. I challenge you to try to get to know him better. To talk to him and learn about him. Let him into your life, let him change your life. I have a testimony that a relationship with our Heavenly Father is the most important relationship. He can and will help you get through the seemingly impossible challenges and help you to come out better than you were. I know he loves each one of us so deeply and personally. I want to share one more quote, Elder Gerrit W. Gong said, "Heavenly Father’s plan of happiness invites us to be humbly at peace on our life’s journey to someday become perfected in Christ, not constantly worried, frustrated, or unhappy in our imperfections today. Remember, He knows all the things we don’t want anyone else to know about us—and loves us still."
I love the fact that I don't have to be constantly stressed about my eternal salvation. Making it back home to live with him again isn't a stressful or unattainable goal. As long as I am obedient and trying my hardest, that is enough. If there are some days where all I can manage to do is beg for his help, that is enough. Because he loves us, he made it enough. I love him and I hope that I can draw a little closer to him every single day.
