A Part of The Plan

Sometimes life gives us pain, depression, troubles beyond our capacities, despair, etc. In those times when we feel all but happy, it hurts even more to hear about how the "Plan of Happiness" can make us happy. Believe me, I feel this all the time. However, hear me out, and perhaps this can help.

When Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden, they experienced no depth of joy. They experienced no depth of gratitude, no depth of peace. Why do I say this? Because they simply had no pain, no tribulation, no sorrows.


In fact, all of us in our heavenly surroundings truly didn't know what it was like to have true happiness.

With that said, God (The Very Father of Us All) came up with a plan. He loved us so much that he wanted us to experience what he had. Could you even imagine how many of us were so eager to be as He is. He called this plan The Plan Of Happiness. Now, does that mean we are supposed to be happy all the time with this plan? A resounding NO!! At least, not right away. In fact, one of the biggest pieces of this plan is the pain that we need to experience. Is that a hard thing? Definitely.

There are a few reasons we need to experience this horrible depression, the feeling of complete loneliness, the sorrow that comes when we do something we knew we shouldn't have.

Reason #1:
I already mentioned it, but obviously, in order to know sweetness we must know bitter. In order to have the most joy, we must suffer the most bitter things life could dole out to us.

Reason #2:
Humility.

We need to go through this roller coaster ride so that we don't elevate ourselves beyond ourselves. That is a very important thing in order to prove our ability to become like God.

Think for a moment- There is this Being with all knowledge, all power, all abilities. He needs to be the one the most in control of Himself out of anybody in the universe. He holds gazillions of lives in his hands and He could wipe them all out single-handedly. However, he has already proven himself capable of that self-control. In fact, He gets so angry if we mess with another's agency (or if we exert unrighteous dominion over another). This leads us to...

Reason #3:
Charity.

We all know that "charity is the pure love of Christ." Most of the time we associate that with service.. usually the part about service where we are doing the serving. However, that misses the other half of service- the ones being served.

YES! We need to have moments of time, and sometimes all too frequently, where we are to be served. For those who like giving the service, this aspect can be especially hard. It especially can make us more depressed if we feel like we're being so self-absorbed that we can't serve others. However, this is all part of the grand design. Heavenly Father was soooo wise to make this a part of the equation. For, if we never had to be served, we first of all wouldn't be loving or empathetic to others. Our love for our human family would be very small, if at all. Just think of the amazing gratitude that comes when someone is willing to help us in an emergency. Sometimes it's like you feel so overwhelmed and horrible in the moment of panic, it's such a relief when someone is there to stop and help you. Even if it's the smallest thing they could possibly do, like lending a cell phone for you to make a call for greater help.

A big part of charity, having love for our human family, is learning to accept gifts graciously. Our Father wants to give us the greatest gift imaginable. We have to learn how to accept our stewardships when the time comes.

Life is hard. But with the gospel, we can be tough. We have a handle to grab on to, even if we're just hanging. We have a life-support system, when it seems we're running out of oxygen.

And then when we finally get strong enough to get up and out of the slumps, we can be there to help others. Perhaps even the very same people that helped us. It's a beautiful plan. Heavenly Father knows what He's doing. He gives us weaknesses that we may be made strong in Him. Just hold on and you will come through.

One last thing before I end this. Sometimes depression or pain comes as a gift to us. Sometimes it is self-inflicted. Whatever the cause, Christ is there to pull us through it. There's no simple way out of it, but, when we do the things he has shown us to do, we will come off conquerer. What are those things? Pray (our life-line), read the scriptures (life's instruction manual for life itself), go to church (where we can practice charity for others and they for us), keep the commandments which he has given us (specifically to keep us from getting too wounded from life's journey), follow the prophet (God's two-way communication line), stay close to the spirit (our own personal compass).
It is possible. It is ours to have. All is ours to have. Remember who you are. Rejoice that we can have joy and peace. And know that God loves you.-Staci