HE WILL PLACE YOU ON HIS SHOULDERS AND CARRY YOU HOME, An Address by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf from April 2016 General Conference

"Just as the Good Shepherd finds His lost sheep, if you will only lift up your heart to the Savior of the world. He will find you."

This is our lesson given on August 28, 2016:

Sister Cindy Johnson conducted our meeting today and our lesson was given by Sister Marilyn Petersen, substituting for Sister Marylyn Murray who is out of town.

We heard how, during WWII, President Uchtdorf and his family had to evacuate to bomb shelters in the middle of the night when bombing raids were conducted over the town where they lived in East Germany, not far from the beautiful city of Dresden. That city, known as the "Jewel Box", was more than 90 percent destroyed during the bombing and was reduced to nothing but rubble and ash. The beautiful Lutheran church Frauenkirche, The Church of Our Lady, originally built in the 1700s had been reduced to a pile of stones and rubble and remained that way for years. As Sister Petersen mentioned, this being East Germany and under Communist rule, restoration of religious places was of low priority, but finally it was determined that Frauenkirche would be restored. The stones from the destroyed church had been stored and cataloged and when possible, were used in the reconstruction. When President Uchtdorf again visited Dresden, 70 years after the war, he says that the ruins have been cleared and the city is restored to be, once again, a "Jewel Box".  The Frauenkirche stands once again with 'scars' of the fire-blackened stones pockmarking the outer walls adding to its beauty as, not only a reminder of the war history, but also a monument to hope - "a magnificent symbol of man's ability to create new life from ashes."

President Uchtdorf says that, as he marveled at the ingenuity and resolve of those who restored what had been so completely destroyed, he felt moved by the spirit of the Holy Ghost. He says that, "if man can take the . . . remains of a broken city and rebuild an awe-inspiring structure . . . how much more capable is our Almighty Father to restore his children who have fallen, struggled, or become lost?"

He tells us that it does not matter how completely ruined our lives may seem to us, except for those few sons of perdition, there is "no life so shattered that it cannot be restored."

Sister Anika Trockle read: "The joyous news of the gospel is this: because of the eternal plan of happiness provided by our loving Heavenly Father and through the infinite sacrifice of Jesus the Christ, we can not only be redeemed from our fallen state and restored to purity, but we can also transcend mortal imagination and become heirs of eternal life and partakers of God's indescribable glory."

We were reminded that in the days of Christ's ministry, the religious leaders did not approve of Jesus spending time with 'sinners'. At one time, when he was speaking with a group of Pharisees, He may have wanted to put into perspective the fact that all are worthy to be brought home and he shared with them the Parable of the Lost Sheep, saying, "What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

"And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing."

President Uchtdorf tells us that, traditionally, this parable has been interpreted as a call to us to seek out and bring back the lost sheep and to reach out to those who are lost. He suggests that perhaps there is more to it than that:

"Is it possible that Jesus's purpose, first and foremost, was to teach about the work of the Good Shepherd?

"Is it possible that he was testifying of God's love for his wayward children?

"Is is possible that the Savior's message was that God is fully aware of those who are lost - and that He will find them, that He will reach out to them, and that He will rescue them?"

He asks if the lost sheep must do anything in particular or extraordinary to qualify for this divine help. The answer is, "No, certainly not!" The sheep is worthy of divine rescue simply because it is loved by the Good Shepherd."

President Uchtdorf says that, to him, this parable is one of the most hopeful passages of all scripture. He tells us that Our Savior, The Good Shepherd, knows and loves us. He knows where we are, He knows when we are lost, He knows our grief, our sorrows, our fears and our tears. It doesn't matter how we become lost, "What matters is that you are His child. And He loves you. He loves His children."

Sister Carmel Lemmer read, "Because he loves you, He will find you. He will place you upon his shoulders, rejoicing. And when He brings you home, He will say to one and all,  'Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost."  She explained that this quote applies to her personally. When she was introduced to the Gospel, she was not looking for aother church, but she got found, whether she wanted to or not, and she was lead to a member who was the perfect example of a latter-day saint. Subsequently, this lead to her meeting with the missionaries and being baptized a member of the Church. She says, she always feels really happy when she attends church.

What must we do? Is there a catch? Surely we have to do more than simply wait to be rescued.

At Sister Petersen's request, the class sang "Know This That Every Soul is Free", Hymn #240.

This hymn reminds us very clearly that our Heavenly Father wishes for each and every one of His children to return to Him, but he will force no one to heaven.

Sister Margie Deegan read from the book of Joel 2:12-13

"Therefore also now, said the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:

And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful and slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil."

President Uchtdorf explains how simple the invitation is:

"Turn . . . to me."
"Come unto me."
"Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you."

While this requires a little faith, President Uchtdorf tells us not to despair. If we cannot muster faith right now, begin with hope.

He says, "If you cannot say you know God is there, you can hope that He is. You can desire to believe. That is enough to start."

Act on that hope. Reach out to Heavenly Father. God will extend His love to you and His work of rescue and transformation will begin. Gradually, over time, you will recognize His hand in your life. "You will feel His love. And the desire to walk in His light and follow His way will grow with every step of faith you take."

Sister Mercedes Schramm noted that Heavenly Father does not ask something that is impossible. This is something we all can do: Love and Obedience.

President Uchtdorf reminds us that "obedience is a cherished concept in the gospel of Jesus Christ because we know that 'through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.'"

In Matthew 11:29, we read: "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls."

Christ is saying to each of us, believe, come to me, I will be there to lift your burden.

Sister Petersen spoke of a conversation with a non-member friend in which she was able to give comfort by reminding the friend that there is indeed life after death and that when you love someone, the love doesn't die after the person is gone. Love doesn't end, it is eternal which means there must be life after this.

Sister Annetta Taylor read from Alma 32:27-28, concerning faith:

"But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.

"Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if he do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts, and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves - It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me."

Have faith, sisters. Keep going!

Sister Petersen related that, while not a member of the Church, she grew up in a home with a very spiritual mother and a grandfather who had studied to become a minister, though he never received his degree. A friend had given the family a Bible, so she became familiar with scriptures. Shortly after she married, Marilyn had a day of extreme stress and prayed out loud asking for God to let her know that he exists. She had a dream that night that actually put her on the path to becoming a member of the Church.

Sister Terri Josephs remarked that she also had a dream in which she was admonished not to worry about Jerry, but that if she did not take this step (baptism) she would be lost.

The Third Article of Faith speaks directly to obedience:

"We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel."

Sister Lexi Ricks read from President Uchtdorf's talk:

"You and I may speak most eloquently of spiritual things. We may impress people withour keen intellectual interpretation of religious topics. We may rhapsodize about religion and'"dream of (our) mansion above.' But if our faith does not change the way we live - if our beliefs do not influence our daily decisions - our religion is vain, and our faith, if not dead, is certainly not well and is in danger of eventually flatlining.

"Obedience is the lifeblood of faith. It is by obedience that we gather light into our souls."

If we only intellectualize the gospel, but do not live it, what good is it? Do we really have the fulness?

Obedience means to follow the rules. Some say obedience is restricting, but we are, in fact, free.

President Uchtdorf says that: "Perhaps there is a different metaphor that can explain why we obey the commandments of Bod. Maybe obedience is . . . the process by which we discover what we are truly made of."

"We are made of supernal material most precious and highly refined, and thus we carry within ourselves the substance of divinity."

"The love of God fills our hearts, the light of truth fills our minds, we start to lose the desire to sin, and we do not want to walk any longer in darkness."

"We come to see obedience not as a punishment but as a liberating path to our divine destiny."

Sister Terri Josephs read John 8:12 - "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."

There is a light in the darkness that will lead us out of the tunnel.

We have President Uchtdorf's testimony that, "God sees us as we truly are and He sees us worthy of rescue."

No matter how ruined you believe your life may be, ". . . just as the Good Shepherd finds His lost sheep, if you will only lift up your heart to the Savior of the world, he will find you."

"He will rescue you."

"He will lift you up and place you on His shoulders."

"He will carry you home."

". . . His plan is to build us into something far greater than what we were - far greater than what we can ever imagine.

"With each step of faith on the path of discipleship, we grow into the beings of eternal glory and infinite joy we were designed to become."

May we be participants in receiving these amazing blessings.

Your bloggess,

Karen