Real Happiness

Today I'm thinking about the sweet joy of family life - especially the joy of children. I tended a niece and nephew of mine yesterday for a few hours and it just made me so  so so so so so so so so so so happy. They are such beautiful little souls and I love them so much. I am so excited for the time in my life when I will get to have my own little family and be privileged and blessed to raise my own children in a home centered on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love children and look forward so much to the bond that I will have with my own children.


I'm also thinking today about the beautiful joy found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Every doctrine of the Gospel is so beautiful and freeing. I have been thinking particularly about the joy for those who at some time for whatever reason have not actively lived the Gospel and the especially sweet joy it holds for them when they come back. Living the Gospel is happiness. My sweet boyfriend has said this in a way that has really touched my heart. He was telling me one day of his concern for some family and friends who do not live the Gospel. He told me how he had tried to be a good influence on them but that they just "want nothing to do with real happiness." That sweet conviction of what the Gospel really is- real happiness- pierces my heart. It is so true. He, like so many others has felt the sweet peace and happiness of living the Gospel and you can see that in the outward countenance of him and every other person who truly lives the Gospel. I feel so grateful and blessed to have the peace and joy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my soul. It is the most wonderful thing in the world. It is the safety net in a world of spiritual poisons. It is the only true anchor for us against waves of disbelief, tolerance, and sin in this world. I know that we can pray every day for help in this world. I know the Atonement to be a strengthening power. I know our God to be a God who changes our hearts, who teaches us, who leads us, who will help us each day to be clean and to be true in a world of filth. God is faithful. God is good. He will uphold us as we lean on Him. As we do so, we are sanctified, made clean from the stains of the world and the stains of our sins and we can pass through this world as a light to those who are in dire need of Jesus Christ but do not know that He is the answer to their ills, and ultimately we will return to Him clean and pure, even as He is pure. In the Book of Mormon, it says: "When he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen." I love that scripture possibly more than any other. To be "purified even as he is pure" is my greatest desire.

I am so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I testify that it is true happiness. I know God hears and answers our prayers. He loves us and takes care of us. Always.