The Importance Of Difference

My understanding of God's plan for us on earth is that we are each sent to have experiences that will prepare us to return to live with Him. Here we can learn the necessary lessons to prepare us to receive everything that He wishes to give us, and that without this learning we would be unable to enjoy these blessings even if we had them.

No two people live the same life; everyone appears to suffer and prosper differently. It is extremely common to wish for a different situation in life. Some people wonder why they had to be born in the country they were born in; others wonder why their career isn't what they wanted, why they get sick so often, so severely, younger than they thought, or wish to change any number of things that can't be controlled.

I think perhaps one of the greatest challenges of this life is accepting God's will when we wish it were different. It is one of the largest acts of faith that He asks of us, and in the times where I have actually managed to accept His will over mine I've learned that His plan is better than my plan. The Lord knows what we need more than we do, and how to shape us into what we need to become better than we do.

This is what makes me the most uncomfortable with the idea behind OrdainWomen.org. I can understand the idea behind the organization, but I do not understand where it is anyone's place to demand that Church doctrine be changed, or that the Church receive a revelation to match their will.

I think that asking questions and having dialogue are infinitely valuable. In my experience, doubts and serious questions do not vanish if you ignore them. However, my faith is that God leads this Church through Thomas S. Monson, His ordained prophet. I don't believe that everything in the Church is perfect, but I believe constant revelation is far superior to public opinion.

Finally, I think that all of the worst trials in life will be things we wish didn't happen to us. In the moment we are going through them nothing will be more valuable than the faith to accept God's will and the confidence to wait on the Lord. I pray that those eagle wings may come to us, and that we may work now to develop such faith.