God Knows Us Better Than We Know Ourselves

Most of the time our Heavenly Father calls us to serve when we, ourselves, are in great need of something or are going through something that heavily taxes us. That was my experience when I was called to be a bishop. I was going through bankruptcy, I was losing my house and I was going through great financial difficulties, not to mention a supreme level of stress. To top it off, one of our daughters was going through one of those dark moments that youth have and was not making things any easier. Let me tell tell you that the calling at that moment made me feel a strong impression that our Lord was talking to me and saying, you have a testimony I want you to show me, and yourself, how strong it is and how you can put into practice what you have been learning all these years. I took the challenge after some struggle, and knowing that He had great blessings in store if I did that. I could feel that God was preparing me for a higher level in my spirituality. You have no idea how much we pleaded to heaven, in prayer, to be delivered from such chaos. 

Fast forward to today; I can see my life much more centered in Him. My daughter just married in the temple, one day ago, and even though I don't have the house back, my feelings for our Heavenly Father have never been so strong. I can testify you that God really looks after all of us, and is always there to lift us when we think we can not go an inch further. He really knows us. I know that by obeying his will, we receive magnificent blessings that we could not obtain otherwise. 

The gospel is simple but at the same time complex, repetitive (we hear the same messages all the time) but vibrant (when you really start feeling it and listening it, in truth it turns into a complete new experience every time, even if it's the same message), serene but lively; requires faith (something you can't touch or see but feel) but at the same it gives you a security that goes beyond the physical. It makes you feels that God is personal and a very close being that is across a very thin veil. It makes you feel so good all day.

Al Cordova
Otay River Ward