Our Father Sends Us Trials

We read Ether 3-15 this past week. There were a few things that really helped me to feel closer to Heavenly Father that we have spoken about. The first thing is from Ether 3:14 when Christ shows himself to the Brother of Jared. Christ says, “Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters.” From this verse, it makes it seem as if we believe in the Trinity. However, Christ is not saying that He is Heavenly Father, rather that because He is to perform the Atonement, that He becomes our Father. This is because to be father is to give new life. Through that Atonement, Christ becomes our Father because it is only through Him that we can have eternal life. Also, Heavenly Father gave us our spirit bodies, our earthly fathers have given us our physical, mortal bodies, and Christ gives us the resurrected body, and we are also spiritually begotten of Him through repentance, which is also called a rebirth. When we repent, we accept Christ as our Father, and not just as our spirit brother, and because of Him, we can inherit all that the Father (Heavenly Father) has for us, and we are joint heirs with Christ. The second thing that has helped me feel closer to Heavenly Father is from Ether 6:5. This is after the Jaredites have entered their boats, and are ready to travel to the Promised Land. It says, “it came to pass that the Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters.” The question is why did the wind need to be “furious”? Couldn’t it have been a strong wind, or even a light breeze? The answer to this second question is no, because when the winds of life are “furious,” that is when we grow the most. If we were to never go through trials, we would never grow to become more like Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. When life is all smooth, and we don’t have any problems, how often do we forget our Lord? From the wonderful hymn Come Thou Fount, “Prone to wander Lord I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love.” When we are going through trials, we more readily accept Christ as our Savior, and our Redeemer, and not just as another good man who lived on the Earth.