Sisters and Brothers,
Happy Sabbath day to you. We hope you are doing well. You are in our prayers. We love you and appreciate you. This past week in our Come, Follow Me studies we had the opportunity to study instructions given by the Prophet Joseph Smith as recorded by his then secretary and scribe William Clayton. In Doctrine and Covenants section 130 is a collection of, I would call, highlights from Joseph Smith. Such highlights as when Christ appears "we shall see him as he is" and "that he is a man like ourselves". That angels reside in the presence of God. Where God resides is a great Urim and Thummim. "Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life" will "rise with us in the resurrection". The Father and the Son have bodies of flesh and bones but the Holy Ghost does not, but is a personage of spirit, "otherwise he could not dwell in us". Wonderful truths! The one that comes to me the most powerful in this chapter is found in verses 20 and 21: 20 There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated-- 21 And when we obtain any blessings from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated. Throughout my life, through the experiences I've had, the choices I've made, one clear truth has always come to the forefront, three simple words: Obedience brings happiness. It's a phrase I've strived to remember, though imperfectly, throughout my life, in good times and bad. Happiness is, indeed, a blessing that can only come from and through our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. This does not mean we will not have struggles, trials, challenges, pain, suffering, problems. We must have these in life (2 Nephi 2:11). What it does mean is, through obedience to the laws that we, as sons and daughters of God, are commanded to obey, we will receive blessings. What are those blessings. One is, as I pointed out, happiness. Other blessings depend on what our Heavenly Father knows that we need and when we need it. President Gordon B. Hinckley said, as we feel the same: "Please know that we are not without understanding of some of your problems. We are aware that many of you carry very heavy burdens. We plead with the Lord in your behalf. We add our prayers to your prayers that you may find solutions to your problems." We all face challenges in life, problems that can be very difficult. What may be difficult for us, others may find easy and what's difficult for others may not be so for us. This being the case we need a perfect being, capable of knowing us individually, better than we know ourselves, a Father with perfect love to help us with these problems. We need his blessings, we obtain these by obedience. President Noel Jackson
First Counselor Washington Utah Stake