Identity Crisis - Solved

Bishop Dean M. Davies, Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, spoke of an earthquake that occurred in San Francisco while he was visiting. The earthquake destroyed many homes, many of which were built of shaky foundations. Then Bishop Davies quoted Helaman's advice to his sons, that "It is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that [we] must build [our] foundation."

This talk answered a question of mine, which was raised in my blog post called Identity Crisis. At that time, I wanted to know how I should define myself, what my identity is. During this talk, I came to realize that if I defined myself by who I think I am or who I want to be, my foundation will be too shaky to give me a lasting identity. Rather, I should identify myself, first and foremost, as a son of God.

Right after Bishop Davies' talk, Sister Elaine S. Dalton, the Young Women General President, spoke. She reminded me that in the Young Women's theme, the Young Women of our church identify themselves as "daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we love Him." This gives them a strong spirit of unity, identity, and love.

This is the kind of foundation that I would like for myself. I know that I will always be a Son of God, so I can define myself as that, knowing that that identity will never change. I also know that I have the potential to become like Him, so learning more about Him will help me understand my identity, not just because He's my Father, but also because He is my future.

This brings me back to the subject of faith and how I'd like to increase my faith, which I spoke about a few days ago. Fortunately, this subject was also covered early on in Conference. I look forward to sharing what I've learned on faith in later blog posts.

I'm grateful that my Heavenly Father knows me and my needs and wants. I'm grateful that He inspired so many of the speakers to talk on matters that would be directly relevant to me. I'm sure these messages helped many others, and they weren't designed for me specifically, but I'm glad God included me in the group of people these messages were meant to help. I'm grateful that God is still watching out for me and helping me along, even when I need more help than I feel like I'm worth. Basically, I'm glad God loves me. I'm glad I have Him for a Father.