I know that God lives and loves me and that he loves all his children. We, individually, might not always have his approbation but we always have his love. The times when I have felt shut out from his love have been those times when I have been demanding that he love me in the way I want to be loved instead of allowing myself to feel his love as he gives it to me. When I build up barriers and make demands; want him to take away my pain, or heal a relationship or change my circumstances before I will believe he loves me, I am left feeling unloved and still in pain. When I open my heart and mind, no matter what circumstances I am in, and just let my heart reach out to him in yearning, willing to abide where I am if that be his will, then I am flooded with a sense of his love and I know joy. I have known joy in the midst of agony.
I know that Jesus Christ lives and is my Lord and Savior. He is my Redeemer and my exemplar. He reaches out to me in love and mercy. He grants me hope of salvation. He helps me see my sins and weaknesses and forgives them as I repent of them. Without him there is no hope. He is the personification of God�s love. Through him all things are possible. I wait upon him, willing to grow where he has planted me, trusting he knows who I really am and who I really can become.
I know Joseph Smith was a prophet of God in these latter days. Through him the Lord has restored many truths and made plain much that was lost and misunderstood. The Book of Mormon contains the word of God as surely as the Bible contains much of his word. I have received God�s witness that it contains his truths. The church he organized, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is God's church and its work is God�s work. Its members and individual leaders are not perfect. Sometimes there is much to endure and much to forgive. But the work is God�s work and he uses who he has. That means sometimes he uses people like me. He has raised up some great leaders. But most of us are just people, like me, trying to keep our covenants, trying to serve the Lord and our fellow man, doing much better when we remember to seek the Spirit as we strive to fill our callings in his service.
I know Gordon B. Hinckley is God�s prophet on earth today. I have received a witness of this. We have not received all truth. There is still a need for a living prophet. He is here to direct the affairs of the church, prepare a people for Christ�s second coming, and to give us warnings and advice as we face today�s challenges. He speaks with inspiration: if we have the Lord�s Spirit with us we can be inspired as he speaks. Occasionally he even speaks by way of commandment. He is not here to solve my problems. I have been given the gift of the Holy Ghost to help me do that. But often the Holy Ghost directs me as I listen to and study the words of the prophets, including those of Gordon B. Hinckley.
I believe in the power of prayer and in the efficacy of the priesthood.
