What Mormons Believe: Establishing a Relationship with God, the Father

Who can I always turn to? Is there someone who loves me, even with all of my little quirks and struggles? Everyone on the planet desires to feel loved and accepted; yet sometimes we find ourselves searching for the right outlet. Instead of exploring unstable venues, let us remember the one who remains constant: our Heavenly Father. Imagine in your mind the perfect father figure: and there stands God. He knows us personally, we are his children. Since Heavenly Father knows each of us on an individual level: wouldn’t we want to know God, the way He knows us?

Establishing our relationship with our Heavenly Father brings the realization that He knows us. In our world of ever changing culture and shifting societal norms, it seems improbable to know who to turn to. Yet, our Heavenly Father always reaches out with extended arms. We, through effort on our part: praying, reading the holy scriptures, and doing as the Father asks in a form of what is called a covenant (a two way promise between you and God), helps establish our relationship with Him.  As we deepen our relationship with Him: you feel the power of His presence more in your life. With his spirit guiding you, it becomes easier to know what to do and say in certain situations. In prayer, that same spirit warms your heart even as you utter simple daily events.

A vivid example of God’s closeness with his children comes from our church’s early history. In 1830 a young farm boy in upstate New York asked a simple, yet profound question. “Which church do I join?” The boy asked. Have you ever wondered this? This child searched the scriptures and found his answer in James 1:5 KJV If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. His answer: pray! He went behind his humble log cabin home into a grove of trees and offered up a prayer asking which church to join. In his experience he described in his own words.

“I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. … When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”

God called this boy by his own name, Joseph. Joseph Smith, the humble farm boy with a third grade education saw our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ in the flesh. If god knows even a humble farm boy’s name, wouldn’t He know yours too?

Heavenly Father desires to be our source of comfort and council. All of us find ourselves lamenting over some events in our lives (myself included), that caused deep emotional pain. I wondered, as we all do: “is there anyone who understands how I ache inside?” In one of my moments of questioning, I stumbled across a three verse scripture passage that stay vivid in my mind to this day. In the Book of Mormon  1Nephi 21:14-16 reads;

 14 But, behold, Zion hath said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me—but he will show that he hath not.

 15 For can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee, O house of Israel.

 16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

Imagine the one who never forgets us, even in our lowest hour. How could you show gratitude for someone as gracious as He?

 

The chorus of “Lean on Me,” by Bill Withers my mother would occasionally sing, exemplifies God’s feelings for you. God wants us as individuals, families, and societies to rely solely on him. How can we put all of our trust in God? Heavenly Father: being the creator of all, knows all. Sometimes we need to take that leap of faith and give it to the Lord. This never proves easy, yet always possible. The scriptures always give the most vivid depictions of faith. In the book of Exodus, the Egyptian nation held the children of Israel in slavery generations before God called Moses to lead them to the Promised Land. Likewise in the Book of Mormon, we see the Nephites, the Lord’s scriptural choice people in the Americas: in bondage to their brethren the Lamanites. The Nephites also went through much strife and hardship before Heavenly Father liberated them. Faith takes time. God wants you to lean on Him constantly; He knowing your physical and mental capacities will never allow you to go overborne.

 

I know that God knows us. He knows when we get that dream job, to when marriages strain. With God knowing us at the most intimate fatherly level, why wouldn’t we want to know him for being the most incredible Father of all time and places? Getting to know our father takes only a simple prayer that even a small child can offer. He desires you to partake of his never ending love.  Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: (Matthew 7:7 KJV) I know that by continually learning and leaning on our Heavenly Father, we will learn more of His divinity. God knows you: find Him.