When life's too fast I take a longer road

I have been pondering a lot lately about the pre-earth life, the Plan of Salvation, and what will happen after this life, and why we are even on the earth. As I have had this in the back of my mind these last few months I have received some amazing insights!
Where did we come from and why are we here? Lds.org had a great quote and video on the topic-"Your life didn’t begin at birth and it won’t end at death. Before you came to earth, your spirit lived with Heavenly Father who created you. You knew Him, and He knew and loved you. It was a happy time during which you were taught God’s plan of happiness and the path to true joy. But just as most of us leave our home and parents when we grow up, God knew you needed to do the same. He knew you couldn’t progress unless you left for a while. So he allowed you to come to earth to experience the joy—as well as pain—of a physical body.

One thing that makes this life so hard sometimes is that we’re out of God’s physical presence. Not only that, but we can’t remember our pre-earth life which means we have to operate by faith rather than sight. God didn’t say it would be easy, but He promised His spirit would be there when we needed Him. Even though it feels like it sometimes, we’re not alone in our journey."

We had spirits, personalities, relationships on the other side! We lived with God, Jesus Christ, and everyone else we will ever come in contact with! After reading the Great and Terrible Series by Chris Stewart I really got to thinking about the Pre-Earth life. The series starts out in heaven and follows a family as they make their mortal journey. We are the same spirits that existed with our Father in Heaven . We had the same talents, and personalities there that we have now. The purpose of our mortal life is to prefect our spirits, and return to live with God. One of the most interesting thoughts I heard recently was that the trials we are now enduring are individualized specifically for each of us so that we can work on the short comings we need to overcome which we didn't conquer in the pre-earth life. We need to prefect these flaws in order to return to live again with our father in heaven. How comforting to know that our individual tests are things that we didn't quite get right in the pre-earth life, things that we still need to figure out, and not just a random pile of unfortunate events. We need the trials we are going through to learn and grow. 

Another interesting thought I've had is about choices. 1/3 of the hosts of heaven chose not to make choices. They chose to follow Satan's plan. Everyone that ever has been, or ever will be on the earth ultimately chose to be here. I imagine waiting in line to ride a roller coaster, we were excited to come to earth, but also completely terrified, not knowing exactly what to expect. One by one as our friends disappeared before us, we wondered if we would make it back, if we would see our loved ones again. 

The fact that we chose to come to earth shows that we wanted to be here, we knew what we signed up for. We knew there would be hard times, refiner's fires to go through, but we believed that ultimately it would be worth it, and it is the only way to return to live with our beloved Heavenly Father again. 

God did not leave us alone. he did not send us out on the roller coaster of life defenseless. He sent his Son to atone for our sins, and to succor us, and to comfort us in times of trial. Jesus Christ is our ultimate friend and confidant. He endured every single mental or physical pain every single inhabitant of earth will have to endure. He knows how we feel in any situation because he has felt it. He knows us, and loves us. He, along with our Father in heaven "..Do not want us to fail, but to succeed gloriously!" They want us back, but the choice is ours. 

We also have amazing tools like the gift of the Holy Ghost, priesthood blessings, patriarchal blessings, and so on. I am going to take a little detour and talk about patriarchal blessings. I was talking to a friend yesterday and she was telling me about an acquaintance who's patriarchal blessing specifically listed what tribe her husband would be from. She ended up marrying someone not from the tribe listed in her blessing, and now every time anything goes wrong in their marriage she questions if it was ever right to begin with. My friend and I then concluded that maybe our subjective individual blessings are okay after all! They are up for interpretation. God does not want to take away our agency in any way. He wants to give us help and guidance, but we ultimately have to be the decision makers of our own lives. My friend and I were discussing how confusing it is that our blessings are so vague, and could mean a myriad of different things, but I think that is just how God intended it. It is a guideline, not a cheat sheet, and depending on decisions we make it could change dramatically. 

One of the most amazing connections I have made is the fact that God loves his children so much that he created plans, then back up plans, then back ups to the back up plans. God does not give up on his children. He gives us endless opportunities to choose the right, and find the gospel. he wants all of his children to know the truth, understand the plan, and return to live with Him once again. 

When we sin, we are given the chance to repent.

When we repent, and sin again, we can repent again.

All throughout life we have chances to humble ourselves before God, and get back on the straight and narrow path back to Him.

Even in the after life God doesn't leave us stranded. If we don't accept the truth on earth God hands us one last back up of back up plans, and allows us to have that last opportunity to accept the truth, and be baptized into his church by proxy work on earth. 

Working in the Temple has been such an amazing blessing and testimony of God's love. I see his plans for us becoming a reality every time someone does their own temple work, or the work for the dead. 

"The most dangerous things on earth are the things that keep us from returning to our Heavenly Father." 

Understanding the Plan of Salvation means that we know where we want to go, and what outcome we want to receive from this life. Satan tries to lure us with sin, and lusts. He tries to make us focus on the "thou shalt not's", but does not mention all of the freedom we really do have. He wants us to feel suffocated and controlled by rules, and commandments. The irony of the whole thing is that When we choose God's way we really choose freedom, and choice. When we give in to sin, we are suffocated by addiction and controlled by oppression.

Now that we better understand The Plan, what can we do to ensure we get back to our loving Heavenly Father, and be happy? Bishop Summerhays gave an amazing talk about how to do that, so I will share his insights:

First we need Hope-We need to choose to be happy. Make a bucket list and achieve your goals! All God wants is our heart in exchange for His help. Once we give him our heart we will see it change. 

Second we need Faith-Keeping the commandments brings peace to our lives. God will not ask us to do anything without a reason. We are given commandments to keep our lives tied to the truth, and with no room to allow Satan in even just an inch. Eliminating sin will make us happy. 

Third we need Charity-look for opportunites to serve others. Helping others helps you!

Fourth we need to Love-The greatest commandment is to love God, then to love others, and before we can love others we need to love ourselves. Forgive others, don't fill your heart with hate and anger. Focus on the positives and show gratitude. Overlook your faults so you can love yourself.