Have we all, including you dear younger sisters in Primary and Young Women, had the opportunity to hold a newborn baby in our arms and have him or her look up into our eyes? Have we sensed the sacred and holy feeling surrounding this celestial spirit, so recently sent by our Father in Heaven to its newly created, pure little body? I have seldom experienced feelings quite so sweet, so tender, and so spiritual.
Our bodies are sacred gifts from our Heavenly Father. They are personal temples. As we keep them clean and pure, we can be worthy to help our Heavenly Father create bodies for His beloved spirit children.
Sisters, Satan has raised a Korihor-like banner in our day with increasing success. What are some of his tools? Seductive romance novels, TV soap operas, married women and old boyfriends connecting on social media, and pornography. We must be so careful, dear sisters! We cannot play with Satan’s fiery darts and not get burned. I know of nothing that will qualify us for the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost as much as virtue.
Many in today’s world are looking for instant gratification and instant knowledge on the Internet. In contrast, we will be exceedingly blessed if we exercise faith and patience and go to our Heavenly Father, the source of all truth, with our concerns. So many answers and assurances can come through daily searching and studying the scriptures and with sincere and pleading prayer, but there are no such promises on the Internet. The prophet Jacob testifies: “For the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be.”
None of us is perfect, but when we have sinned, President Packer reminded us:
“The promise is: ‘Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more.’ …
“… The Atonement, which can reclaim each one of us, bears no scars. That means that no matter what we have done or where we have been or how something happened, if we truly repent, He has promised that He would atone. And when He atoned, that settled that. There are so many of us who are thrashing around … with feelings of guilt, not knowing quite how to escape. You escape by accepting the Atonement of Christ, and all that was heartache can turn to beauty and love and eternity.”
Accepting the Atonement isn’t just deciding that you don’t have to do anything. It means changing behavior, attitudes, and habits in ways that demonstrate a change of heart and a turning ourselves to God.
Sisters, I do not know why we have the many trials that we have, but it is my personal feeling that the reward is so great, so eternal and everlasting, so joyful and beyond our understanding that in that day of reward, we may feel to say to our merciful, loving Father, “Was that all that was required?” I believe that if we could daily remember and recognize the depth of that love our Heavenly Father and our Savior have for us, we would be willing to do anything to be back in Their presence again, surrounded by Their love eternally. What will it matter, dear sisters, what we suffered here if, in the end, those trials are the very things which qualify us for eternal life and exaltation in the kingdom of God with our Father and Savior?
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