Lessons for the Weary - Conference 2018 - Am I a Child of God

 

Romans 8: 16 -  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God

 

Am I a Child of God

by Elder Brian Taylor

 

President Boyd K. Packer’s words are plain and precious: “You are a child of God. He is the father of your spirit. Spiritually, you are of noble birth, the offspring of the King of Heaven. 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!”

“When you … see our Father,” Brigham Young described, “you will see a being with whom you have long been acquainted, and he will receive you into his arms, and you will be ready to fall into his embrace and kiss him.”

 

This talk reached out to my heart and reminded me that no matter what you DNA says, you are identified as a Son or Daughter of God.  You have worth in His eyes, and He loves you.

 

The one who seeks to confuse us, wants our identities to be confused also.  He wants us to embrace our differences and to allow them to divide us, not bring us together.  You have only to look around you at the world today and you can see the evidence of confusion and anger.  You can see that we are challenged always in a world that doesn't want to acknowledge our spiritual identity. 

 

I invite each of us to seek God and His Beloved Son. “Nowhere,” President Nelson directed, “are those truths taught more clearly and powerfully than in the Book of Mormon.”²⁷ Open its pages and learn that God does “all things for [our] welfare and happiness”;²⁸ that He is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, long-suffering and full of goodness”;²⁹ and that “all are alike unto [Him].”³⁰ When you feel hurt, lost, scared, upset, sad, hungry, or hopelessly abandoned in life’s extremities³¹—open the Book of Mormon, and you will come to know that “[God] will never desert us. He never has, and He never will. He cannot do it. It is not His character [to do so].”³²

Coming to know our Father changes everything, especially our hearts, as His gentle Spirit confirms our true identity and great worth in His sight.³³ God walks with us along the covenant path as we seek Him through prayerful pleadings, scriptural searchings, and obedient strivings.

 

The message of this talk to me is so clear.  We need to turn our hearts to Him, to seek to know Him, to know how very much we are loved by Him.  His hands are reaching toward each one of us.  It is up to you and me if we will reach out to take those hands, and the comfort and hope that they offer.  We are truly children of God.