In 1995, the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles issued a proclamation to the world, declaring that “the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.” [1] I want to spend a few minutes talking about families. These are pictures of my families. I say “families” because I have my immediate family with my children and grandchildren, I have my family through marriage, I have my family that I was raised in, and then I have families of ancestors. Each picture reminds me of who I am, the struggles that others have overcome, and people trying to do the best they can. I am reminded that each one of us is a child of God and we have loving Heavenly Parents. I know that each person in these pictures wants me to have success and to follow the plan my Heavenly Father has for me. We have those who love us on both sides of the veil who are supporting us and cheering for us.
Last week, Brother Shane Goodwin discussed the joy in finding connections. Let’s continue that concept in a short activity. I would like you to take a moment and open your FamilySearch Tree app on your phone. Go to the Relatives Around Me option. Let’s click Scan for Friend together. I hope you will see there are others around you that may be your relative. If not, we all have family history work to do to display that connection. I hope I didn’t ruin any marriage plans. No matter what the app displays, we are a family. You are my brothers and sisters.
In 1957, Naomi W. Randall wrote the words to the primary song “I Am a Child of God” at the request of the Primary general presidency. Sister Randall described the process of writing the words to the song:
“I got down on my knees and prayed aloud, pleading that our Heavenly Father would let me know the right words.
Around 2:00 a.m., I awakened and began to think again about the song. Words came to my mind. . . . I immediately got up and began to write the words down as they had come to me. Three verses and a chorus were soon formed.
I gratefully surveyed the work, drank of the message of the words, and returned to my bedroom where I knelt before my Father in Heaven to say ‘Thank you!’”
Sister Randall sent the words to Sister [Mildred T.] Pettit, who spent many hours working on the music. [2]
I have a pre-sleep ritual. Every night, once in bed, instead of focusing on one thing like counting sheep to get to sleep each night, I sing the song “I Am a Child of God” in my head over and over. I have done this for over 20 years. This pre-sleep ritual helps me to continually focus on one thing and helps me to rid my thoughts of worries and concerns. I have repeated the words of this song thousands of times.
The words are
I am a child of God,
And he has sent me here,
Has given me an earthly home
With parents kind and dear.
Lead me, guide me, walk beside me,
Help me find the way.
Teach me all that I must do
To live with him someday.[3]
Now look at the words this way. We will replace “parents” with “leaders,” “teachers,” “roommates,” “friends,” and “co-workers.”
Isn’t that fabulous? We have a larger family that now includes your ward family, your apartment family, teachers, co-workers, and many more. You are my brothers and sisters and family. There is strength in understanding your divine identity as a child of God and that we belong to a larger eternal family. We are in this together. We are here to support each other.
I would now like to share an experience my husband, Dave, had when he was reminded of his divine identity.
About six years ago, he was accepted to a Holocaust education conference in New York City. He is a high school teacher here in Rexburg and teaches classes on the Holocaust and human rights. A significant portion of the two-week conference was to be on “identity”—rebuilding and celebrating the identities of those killed in the Holocaust. One of the activities they would complete as an introduction to the other attendees was to build an “identity box.”
Before Dave left for the conference, he was told that each of them would be given a box roughly the size of a regular piece of paper, but about 1 inch deep. They were asked to bring small “artifacts” to decorate their identity boxes that would illustrate their lives and that they would use to introduce themselves.
He thought it sounded like an interesting exercise and set about thinking what he would take for his identity box. He grabbed a Boise State University keychain for his alma mater, a picture of one of his most recent Holocaust classes, an identification card he had from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, trinkets from his travels, a snowmobile key, pictures of our family, and a photo of the last note his mother wrote him before her death. He thought these items did a pretty good job of illustrating different aspects of his identity, but he had yet to illustrate the single most important element, which is his identity as a child of God It took him days to think of something that he could take that would adequately illustrate that identity. He finally settled on something. He bundled up his artifacts and flew to New York.
As a Holocaust educator, Dave has attended several conferences in several locations around the United States and Europe. He is almost always the only member of the Church in attendance. He has never shied away from discussing his faith, but it can be lonely when you are a minority of one.
As promised, the morning of the first day of his conference, they were set to work on their identity boxes. As you can see, he decorated his box with the items I’ve mentioned. He thought it was fitting to put the more superficial aspects of his identity on the outside and the more personal items on the inside. But what about his core identity as a son of Heavenly Parents? He chose to use his temple recommend. The divine destiny that this recommend represents is at the core of his identity. The path that this recommend represents is one of hope in Christ. It is a path of repentance, covenants, strength, and eternal life. The end of that path is certain; the only thing in question is if Dave, or any of us on this path, will do his part and keep those covenants and thus share in exaltation. He summarized this experience by stating, “Knowing my identity as a child of God helps me build the faith to move forward in a difficult world with infinite distractions and temptations. It helps me build faith in a Father in Heaven who loves me and wants more for me than I can imagine or ever plan for myself.”
Elder Boyd K. Packer stated,
You are a child of God. . . . Fix that truth in your mind and hold to it. However many generations in your mortal ancestry, no matter what race or people you represent, the pedigree of your spirit can be written on a single line. You are a child of God! [4]
We are all sons and daughters of Heavenly Parents, and we also have an earthly family.
Does this description of a family sound familiar to you:
This family was living in a world of increasing wickedness, but the Lord promised them that if they would follow Him, He would lead them to safety. Along the way they had good moments and bad moments; they experienced great blessings and miracles, but they also had their fair share of arguments and contention . . . a father struggling to inspire faith in his family, sons deciding whether they will believe him, a mother fearing for the safety of her children, and brothers dealing with jealousy and contention—and sometimes forgiving each other. [5]
This is a description of Lehi’s family from Come, Follow Me. It could also be your family or my family.
Another family in the Book of Mormon includes Alma and his son Helaman. Alma taught his son,
And now, O my son Helaman, behold, thou art in thy youth, and therefore, I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day. [6]
Alma continued to teach Helaman of his experience of when God sent His holy angel to stop Alma and his companions from destroying the church. Alma stated he was now “born of God, and . . . filled with the Holy Ghost.” [7] He testified to his son that
I have been supported under trials and troubles of every kind, yea, and in all manner of afflictions . . . and I do put my trust in him, and he will still deliver me. [8]
The scriptures are more alike to the circumstances we are experiencing now than one might think. We have parents giving counsel, contention and disagreements within our families, and, hopefully, forgiveness. Individuals and families in the scriptures experienced trials as we do, and our Savior will deliver us too.
A favorite story from the scriptures is in the Old Testament about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. They lived during the rule of King Nebuchadnezzar. This king had created a golden image that all were commanded to fall down and worship whenever they heard the sound of “the cornet, flute, harp . . . and all kinds of musick.” [9] If they did not do this, they would be cast into a burning fiery furnace. The king was told of these three Hebrews who would not worship the golden image. Shadrach, Meshack, and Abed-nego were brought before the king. Nebuchadnezzar told them again that they would be cast into the fiery furnace if they did not do as he commanded. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego said to the king,
If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou has set up. [10]
The scriptures continue that they were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace, [11] yet they were not consumed by the fire.
I doubt any of us will experience a literal burning fiery furnace. However, we have figurative fiery furnaces we will face in this mortal experience. Are we prepared to say “But if not” when we have those times in our lives when we are feeling the heat of the burning fiery furnace of trials? “But if not”—these are the words that have taught me faith in Jesus Christ. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego had faith in their God in their trials.
I would like to share with you a “But if not” moment in my life.
In early 2002, my husband and I were living in Rexburg. He was teaching junior high school, I was working here at the University, and we had four young children ages 12 to 2 years old. During this time, Dave was having some health issues. After discussing with medical professionals, our parents, and counseling with each other, we decided to move forward, and Dave was going to have laparoscopic surgery that was to help with the health issues he was experiencing. So in mid-July, we drove to Jackson, Wyoming, for the surgery the next day. That evening, we had a wonderful time by ourselves going to a movie and getting dinner.
The next day, the surgery went as planned. As Dave came out of the anesthesia, he was in a significant amount of pain. So we worked with the doctors and other medical providers to address the pain. By the next morning, the pain was still unbearable for him. The physician ordered tests and scans to try to determine why this was happening. The tests came back without any information as to why he was in so much pain. We were told that Dave needed to have another surgery to determine what was wrong. This time it would be more invasive and not completed laparoscopically. My parents came to support us during this time while Dave’s parents watched our children. Dave and I were both given priesthood blessings before his surgery.
I was so relieved that we were on a path forward to determine what was wrong and that he would be out of pain. As I waited for him while he was in recovery, a nurse I had talked with previously had told me that everything went well and the surgeon was very thorough. With this good news, my parents returned to Rexburg. So on that beautiful July day, I was filled with hope. I waited in his hospital room while he was in the recovery room. I was told it would not be long when he would be joining me. I waited and waited.
Eventually, a nurse came to me where I was waiting and asked me to go with her to speak with the doctor. He informed me that during the surgery he searched for anything that would be an indication of what would be causing the pain. He checked the sutures and looked for infection. He could not find anything wrong. He then proceeded to tell me Dave was unresponsive to their attempts of bringing him out of the anesthesia and they were going to transfer him from the recovery room to the intensive care unit. He asked if I would wait a bit longer as they continued to treat him. As the doctor went to the ICU, I slumped against the hallway wall and slid to the floor in tears. I have never felt so alone.
As I sat on the floor sobbing, I thought to myself that “I can’t do this.” Dave was always first in my life. We had known each other since high school and have always been together. I was later allowed to be in the ICU room with Dave while the doctors and nurses worked on him. At this point, his heart rate was a steady 160 beats per minute, his blood pressure was dropping, and his temperature was rising. This wise doctor informed me that the best thing he could do was to have Dave transferred to another hospital with a trauma unit. He did not think Dave would make it through the night if he continued to treat him.
After the initial shock of his statement, I felt I needed to find a quiet place to pray to my Heavenly Father. I recalled there was a small individual restroom in one of the hallways in the hospital that I had walked by many times. Once I was there, I knelt down on the cold tile, and through many tears I poured my heart out to my Heavenly Father. I told Him I couldn’t do it, and then cried some more. I finally asked for peace. I needed to know I wasn’t alone. I needed to know all would be okay. I asked my Heavenly Father to take this hard moment away from me—but if not, please grant me peace. At that moment, my anxiety left and I knew that I needed my Savior to be first in my life and that all would be okay. This was my “But if not” moment during this time. I left that restroom not knowing what “okay” would mean. Again, I was in tears. I kept thinking, “But if not, I know my Savior loves me and that I was not alone.”
There were many more “But if not” moments for me during the next two weeks. Dave was life-flighted to another hospital. He remained in a medically induced coma for several days. During this time, the doctors could not give me a positive prognosis for him. Over time and after many uncertain nights sitting in his hospital room, his health did improve. He remained in the hospital for over two weeks until we were able to go home.
I do not believe there are many of us who want to experience trials or adversity, but they will come. Recently, many of you have experienced a semester like no other. You may have gone home unsure of the future of your education. For some it may be a lingering illness or death of a close family member or friend. It may be disappointment, or hurt because of one’s own pride or other’s choices. Some endure financial struggles, experience loneliness, or the bitterness of divorce. These circumstances and many others are “But if not” moments. How can you prepare for your “But if not” moments?
I invite you to pray to know that you are a child of God. That knowledge helps each of us understand that Heavenly Father does not send us here to fail. He wants us to succeed! This mortal experience is designed to help us grow, develop attributes we need, and, if we submit to His will, to become more like Him.
I enjoyed reading the discussion board comments this week. Debby Blackhurst made this observation: “It has been a great learning experience for me to see the difference in viewing God as our Father instead of just God. It makes my relationship to Him personal, and helps me see Him as a God that not only has a vested interest in me and my life, but loves me enough to intervene, warn, listen, and encourage.”
President M. Russell Ballard stated,
[The Lord never leaves us alone] . . . . He is . . . able to make us strong, teach us new lessons, and prepare us through failures and setbacks for a much different future than we imagine. [12]
When things are hard and I am in the middle of a “But if not” moment, I remember the words of Nephi “I know that he loveth his children.” [13] I am loved by our Savior. You are loved by our Savior. He atoned for our sins, for our pains, for our disappointments, and for our sorrows. He is the author of our joy and knows our righteous desires.
In True to the Faith, it states:
Because he has experienced your pain, He knows how to help you. If you look to him in faith, He will strengthen you to withstand any trial you experience. [14]
You notice He will not remove your trials. He does not give us trials just to see if we will survive them. He wants us to grow and reach our potential.
The Prophet Joseph Smith experienced adversity as he was in Liberty Jail. He was told “that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good” [15] and to “fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever.” [16]
By knowing your divine identity as a child of God, your faith in your Savior will grow. This prepares you to say, “But if not, I know my Savior loves me.” “But if not, I will still have hope.” “But if not, I will still be faithful.” “But if not, I will trust in the Lord’s plan for me.”
I leave this with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” Ensign, Nov. 2010, 129.
[2] Abbey Olsen, “Beloved Song Turns 50,” Ensign, Feb. 2007, 76.
[3]Hymns, no. 301.
[4] Boyd K. Packer, “To Young Women and Men,” Ensign, May 1989, 54.
[5] “January 6–12,” Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families: Book of Mormon 2020.
[6] Alma 36:3.
[7] Alma 36:24
[8] Alma 36:27.
[9] Daniel 3:5.
[10] Daniel 3:17–18; emphasis added.
[11] See Daniel 3:24.
[12] M. Russell Ballard, “How the Lord Prepared the World for the Restoration,” Ensign, Jan. 2020.
[13] 1 Nephi 11:17.
[14] “Adversity,” True to the Faith, 2004, 10.
[15] Doctrine and Covenants 122:7.
[16] Doctrine and Covenants 122:9.