Relief Society Lesson 1/17/10

Our Heavenly Family

(Excerpts from Chapter 2 from Gospel Principles)

God is not only our Ruler and Creator; He is also our Heavenly Father...Every person who was ever born on earth is our spirit brother or sister. Because we are the spirit children of God, we have inherited the potential to develop His divine qualities. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can become like our Heavenly Father and receive a fulness of joy.

We were not all alike in heaven...We possessed different talents and abilities, and we were called to do different things on earth. We can learn more about our "eternal possibilities" when we receive our patriarchal blessings.

A veil covers our memories of our premortal life, but our Father in Heaven knows who we are and what we did before we came here. He has chosen the time and place for each of us to be born so we can learn the lessons we personally need and do the most good with our individual talents and personalities.

Our Heavenly Father knew we could not progress beyond a certain point unless we left Him for a time. He wanted us to develop the godlike qualities that He has. To do this, we needed to leave our premortal home to be tested and to gain experience.

Our Heavenly Father called a Grand Council...At the Grand Council...we learned that all of us would have trials in our lives...But we understood that these would be given to us for our experience and our good (see Doctrine & Covenants 122:7).

At this council we also learned that because of our weakness, all of us except little children would sin (see Doctrine & Covenants 29:46-47). We learned that a Savior would be provided for us...We learned that if we placed our faith in Him, obeying His word and following His example, we would be exalted and become like our Heavenly Father. We would receive a fulness of joy.

*Sister Coles taught this lesson and encouraged us to discover our talents, work to improve them (practice! practice! practice!), and share those talents with others. If you don't know what your talents are, you can pray for help in discovering them, ask others to point out some of your qualities, or look through your patriarchal blessing. We all have something to share and give.