Earthly Identity: "Here on earth, we identify ourselves in many different ways, including our place of birth, our nationality, and our language. Some even identify themselves by their occupation or their hobby. These earthly identities are not wrong unless they supersede or interface with our eternal identity - that of being a son or a daughter of God."
Trials in Lives: "In real life, we face actual, not imagined, hardships. There is pain - physical, emotional, and spiritual. There are heartbreaks when circumstances are very different from what we had anticipated. There is injustice when we do not seem to deserve our situation. There are disappointments when someone we trusted failed us. There are health and financial setbacks that can be disorienting. There may be times of question when a matter of doctrine or history is beyond our current understanding."
Our True Identity: (Elder Hallstrom sharing story about the conference in Liberia - after referring "How Firm the Foundation"...) We live in a world that can cause us to forget who we really are. The more distractions that surround us, the easier it is to treat casually, then ignore, and then forget our connection with God. The Saints in Liberia have little materially, and yet they seem to have everything spiritually. What we witnessed that day in Monrovia was a group of sones and daughters of God who knew it!"
<Scriptures>
Hymn 85: How Firm a Foundation
Hymn 301: I Am a Child of God
The Family: A Proclamation to the World
<Thoughts>
Here are a few thoughts I had as I was reading this talk:
- I am a son of God
- Understanding eternal identity of ourselves help us overcome obstacles in our lives
- Knowing who we are help us serve others
- Learning our true identity that we are children of God helps us gain our faith and testimony that we say "I'll never, no never, no never forsake!"
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