{My heart is full}

I spoke  at Youth Conference on Saturday. I taught two 45 minute sessions. I spoke on goal setting. It was a difficult topic, but i made it. I also taught the lesson in Relief Society today on Making Time for the Book of Mormon. That was a lot of teaching in a weekend. I am truly glad its over, but so thankful for the opportunity. I learned a lot about myself, about my life, and about my Savior.

Some things have been on my mind often because of all the reading and studying i have been doing.

When we come unto Christ he shows us our weaknesses. When we use the atonement to make our weaknesses our strengths, he then shows us more in our lives that we can make better. It's a continual process of growing and progressing. That's what we should strive for...to become more like Him. And he shows us the way when we come unto Him.  That's what we are here for. Our purpose here is to grow and progress to become more like Him so that we can eventually return to Him and have Eternal life. That's something we are to work for and strive for everyday. He will show us our weaknesses so that we can grow. He pushes us to fulfill the measure of our creation.  It's hard working on those weaknesses sometimes. Its hard trying to make it a strength, but we build character, we become better, we become stronger, and it builds our testimonies when we go through those trials and experiences.

Every person wants to know WHY they are doing what they are doing. We all want to know WHY because when we know WHY it makes it so much easier to do it.  We all have a purpose here and we want to know our purpose. It's built in us to know our purpose.  We are each supposed to figure out our purpose here and fulfill it.  Our Heavenly Father has every confidence and trust in us that we will be able to discover our true potential. He knows we can become MORE than we ever imagined in our minds. He knows what we need to do, and he knows our purpose. He pushes us in our life to fulfill our purpose here. If we don't KNOW our purpose here on earth then that can create confusion. That confusion can create insecurity. That insecurity can create doubts and fears. Fear is limiting. It limits us from becoming who our Heavenly Father KNOWS we can become.  If there is one way Satan can keep us from becoming who the Lord knows we can be, it is through fear.  But when we know our purpose here on this earth, and when we know our individual purpose it pushes us to become more. ANd more . And more. And through that process we learn who we are, and what we want in this life. We can become who He knows we can become.

And the thing is...our life here is so short in comparison to eternity. Take for example this illustration.
---------- . ------------------------------------------------------------------------   The first line, before the period, is our life in the premortal existence. We lived there and prepared to come to this earth. We learned the plan. We probably set goals, and knew what we had to do on earth and what we needed to become and achieve. That dot, after the line, is our time here on earth. Soooo short and it doesn't seem like much time at all. That would probably be similiar to ONE year out of our 100 years of life on earth. Our purpose on this earth is to GROW and PROGRESS, and we do that through trials, experiences, and testing. It's almost like everything in our life tests us to see our commitment to it. Our purpose is to have eternal families so that we can return to our Heavenly Father and have Eternal life.  What we do in that tiny span of existence here on earth matters so much.  We have so much to learn, to do , to become.  Our purpose is eternal life...so we should be striving for that everyday. We should be working on that everyday, in some way or another.  Because what we do here and now matters so much in the life to come. And the wonderful thing is that when we strive for these things everyday with faith, it makes us happier. It makes us happier because our eyes become more open to our purpose in this life, and more open to what we need to do. Somehow we see things more clearly and things start making so much more sense. I don't quite know how to explain how that happens, but it does.  Somehow the closer we become to our Savior, the more he reveals to us. It is through faith that he will reveal things to us. He is testing and pushing us to discover that. And when we start to discover he reveals more...he is blessing us for our faithfulness, and showing us the way. He gently nudges us along and lets us choose for ourself.  As we come closer to him its easier to Keep an eternal perspective, and it is so important everyday to have that because it reminds us of what matters , what truly matters most. We will see the big picture....for example...when someone says something to you thats rude, you don't get offended and BARK back. You, instead, are able to see that it doesn't really matter in the whole eternal perspective of things. And you move on. And might actually feel bad for that person who attacked you, wondering what difficult things they must be going through to act that way. BUT sometimes it is hard not to bark back. :) haha! That's where our human nature comes in. We are all human and will ALWAYS make mistakes. It's not possible to become perfect.  OR when you get caught up in the things of the world momentarily, you are able to keep grounded with that eternal perspective because you know it doesn't really matter because you know your purpose here. And knowing that purpose helps you stay grounded and helps you to become more loving  and kind and selfless. And its easy to keep an eternal perspective through scripture reading, attending church, filling your life with the spirit through prayer, and keeping the commandments and doing what Our Heavenly Father has asked of us. Those things bring us closer to him and fill us with faith and help us to see with an eternal perspective.

Our Heavenly Father rewards us when we show faith in Him and When we act in obedience. He blesses us in so many ways.  I am so grateful for the scriptures.  We have a Heavenly Father who loves us so much to bring us so much Scripture in our day.  All the sacrifices that so many had to go through to bring about the Bible and the Book of Mormon is amazing. He gave it to us because he loves us, and wants us to know how to live and how to return to Him. He is showing us the way home EVERY single day, we just have to notice and be aware of how he is doing it.  That's a huge blessing in itself.  He doesn't leave us alone. He is always there waiting for us to come to Him and is just WAITING to pour his blessings out on us for a faithfulness in Him. He loves us more than we can comprehend. I know its nothing we have felt on this earth. He wants us to succeed. He wants us to become GREAT. And i am so grateful for that.