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.
