Welcome to a new semester at BYU-Idaho. President Clark and I are so happy that you are here. We love you. We want you to have great success. "May all your dreams come true!"
All of us have hopes and dreams. It is a gift from God that we live in a world where we can seek the fulfillment of our dreams. He has given us a promise that we can attain the ultimate of all dreams and inherit all that the Father has![1] And He has provided the way. It is a test and a very exciting adventure.
If all of our best, wonderful dreams came true just by wishing, without any effort on our part -what bliss! But that is not the plan. The scriptures teach us that Satan proposed such a plan, a plan that would ignore agency, a plan that in truth could not bring us the blessings our Heavenly Father promised.
Our Heavenly Father's plan is based on the necessity to make choices and to work hard. He loves us and has given us His Son, our Savior and Redeemer, to show us the way. The Lord Jesus Christ loves us with a redeeming love that never fails. He has all power over all things. That is why He said, "Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not."[2]
During difficult experiences when things are especially hard and dreams seem far beyond our reach, we may begin to doubt His love and His power. My hope for you today is that you will always choose Christ and with faith in Him follow the Father's plan. If you do, you will experience His Love and His power enabling you to embrace the difficult experiences you face without succumbing to fear and doubt.
When you face temptation or need to repent, when you have to choose between the words of the prophets and the ways of the world, or when you have to face adversity and don't know what to do, remember the Savior's great promise and His warning:
. . . ye are commanded in all things to ask of God, and that which the Spirit testifies unto you even so I would that ye should do in all holiness of heart . . . with prayer and thanksgiving, that ye may not be seduced by evil spirits, or doctrines of devils, or the commandments of men; for some are of men, and others of devils.[3]
Let me share with you an experience from my childhood. I was the third of four girls. My mother thought she would never have a little boy. Finally that little boy came, but he was born without life. As a four-year-old I know I didn't fully comprehend the pain my mother felt, but I had my own pain. I didn't get that new little baby brother to play with. I remember wanting to rectify my pain. I had a cute little cardboard paper doll family. I played with that little family and gave them experiences that were dream-like. One night I took the little baby paper doll from that family, wrapped him in his little blue paper bunting, and laid him on my pillow. As I prepared to go to sleep, I prayed to Heavenly Father that He would make that baby come alive during my sleep that night. Well, you know that dream did not come true.
Now I understand a little bit better from my own experience as a mother what my mother went through. I look back and admire her for being a woman of great faith. She worked through her grief and her doubts that she could ever have a baby boy. She looked fear in the face when she had thoughts that if she tried again that baby would die too. She didn't listen to the voices of the world telling her she had done enough or to the voice of the adversary telling her it was wrong to have another child. Struggling through all of that, she went forward with faith and prayed that the next baby would be a boy.
A loving Heavenly Father answered her prayer and the pain gave way to pure joy with the birth of my brother Malcolm. I was six years old when he was born. I held and played with him often. In fact, my mother went on to have three more baby boys! By the time the youngest brother was born, I was thirteen years old and experienced enough to be even more involved. I remember once even taking a turn in the middle of the night to help my mother get some rest.
Now I am a mother and a grandmother. I have four very big boys of my own, and also three beautiful daughters and eighteen grandchildren. Attaining this dream I have had to work through difficult experiences of my own, and I am so grateful for a mother who chose the Lord Jesus Christ and passed on that legacy of faith to me. Truly, the dreams of a little four-year-old girl have come true because of the mercy and grace of the Savior whose invitation to us all is: "Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not."[4]
My dear brothers and sisters, I pray with all my heart that when you face difficult experiences you will choose the Savior and the Father's plan. Please beware of anything that would draw you away from Christ. Turn away from it and come back quickly to the light of the Lord. I know if you do that your agency will expand. You will have greater capacity to do what is right and good, and God will protect you and bless you forever and ever. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] D&C 84:38; Romans 8:17; D&C 88:107
[2] D&C 6:36
[3] D&C 46:7
[4] D&C 6:36