Of This I Am Certain: God Calls Prophets

Noah was a prophet in Old Testament times

I want to follow God's will because I know that what He wants most of all is for me to be happy and return to Him. Sometimes though, amid the crazy world it is hard to know what His will is. There are a lot of ideas about how to live, and it can be confusing knowing what God wants. Thankfully, God didn't send us here on earth with nothing more than a lucky rabbit foot and a call of "Hope you figure it out!" No, God loves us too much to let us try and guess our way back to Him. Rather, He calls men to serve as prophets so that they can reveal God's will to us.

A prophet is a man called by God to speak for Him. Adam--the first man on earth--was also the first prophet. Since then, God has called many worthy men to be prophets, including Moses, Abraham and Noah.

Today's prophet, President Thomas S. Monson

I believe that God continues to call prophets today. The living prophet on the earth today is President Thomas S. Monson. I know that when he speaks from the pulpit that he is speaking God's will. I also know from personal experience, that when one follows the prophet's counsel, one is happier and feels closer to God.

In today's modern world, we are lucky to have easy access to the words of latter-day prophets like President Monson. Every 6 months he, and other men called of God, deliver messages in a meeting called General Conference. These messages can be accessed on lds.org to be read, watched, or listened to. Not only are these messages powerful and inspiring--they are from God.

Latter-day prophets are proof that God still cares about us, still hears our prayers, and still loves us. That is just one of the many reasons why I'm grateful to know that there is a prophet living on the earth today, and why I invite all others to come to know the same.

Of This I Am Certain: God Places Us In Families

One of the ways I know that Heavenly Father loves me is that He sent me to earth to a family. I believe that the family isn't a man made social unit, created only to provide order and stability to society. No, I believe that the family is created by God, and it is the way He intends for us to live on this earth.

It is so wonderful to me that we are not sent to this earth to figure out things on our own. God places us in families so that His children--you and I--have a safe and loving environment to grow-up in and to learn right from wrong. He also wants us to have families so that we can get a sense of what our relationship with Him is like--that just as our earthly parents love us dearly, He loves us dearly too.

Though the family I grew-up in is far from perfect, my parents did a fantastic job at creating the type of home I have just described. Their and my sisters' unfailing love for me has taught me so much about the love God has for me. Like my Heavenly Father, my family takes me for who I am, they want me to be happy, they sacrifice for me, they cheer me on, and they help me become a better person. My life is richer and more meaningful because I have all six of them in it. I can stem every one of my life's successes and triumphs back to them, and I know I am who I am today because of their loving influence. Truly, having them in my life is one of the biggest ways that I know my Father in Heaven loves me.

One of the best parts of this all is that it doesn't stop here. Rather, God has continued to bless me by giving Jon and myself the opportunity to create a family of our own. One of my life's greatest desires is that I may create a home like the one I grew up in for my own children so that they too may feel God's love. In just a few months I get to start on that journey, something which I am nervous and excited and grateful for.

I testify that the family is ordained by God. He is the creator of it. He is invested in it. He cares about it. Regardless of each of our own individual family circumstances, I know that if we approach God and strive to pattern our family relationships after the manner in which He has laid forth, that we can feel an increase of His love for us. It is His intention for us to feel His love, we merely have to reach out and find it where it exists, like in our families.

Of This I Am Certain: God is My Loving Heavenly Father

People of all religions and faiths around the world believe in some sort of higher power. Generally, people believe that this higher power created the earth, is powerful, and should be respected and worshiped in some way. I believe all these things in regards to God in my religion—The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One thing that differs from the way I view God from many other religions, though, is this: I believe that God is my loving Heavenly Father. 

Let me clarify what I mean when I say that God is my Father. I have an earthly father whom I love very much, but this is different. What I mean is that I believe what the apostle Paul taught in in the Bible, which is that God is “the Father of our spirits” (Hebrews 12:9). In other words, I have an earthly father who is the father of my body and my father here on this earth. In addition to that, though, I have God, who was the father of my spirit before I came to this earth, and who still watches over me as a father today while I’m here on earth.

Seeing God as my Father, rather than just as a powerful being, makes my relationship so much more meaningful than it would be if I just viewed him as a god. I don’t see God as some disinterested, third party who created me and then left me to be, or who is constantly mad at me for being less than perfect, or who puts up with me because I am here and put the time in to worshiping Him. No. That is not what I know of God. Instead, I see God as a being who loves me. Who cares about me and wants what’s best for me. I believe that because I am God’s daughter, that makes me special to Him. He knows me personally and intimately and wants me to return to Him some day. Because of this, He is invested in me and my life. My successes make Him rejoice while my sorrows make Him mourn.

Believing that God exists toys with the mind; believing that God is our Father touches the heart. My life is more full and joyful when I recognize and feel the love that comes from Him, and I know that such will be the case for any person that does the same, for we are all His children.