In the ground of existence, God is truth, love, and justice. One’s mind should be continuously acknowledging the presence of God and the power of God in one’s experience. God is I, inasmuch as I am human. Unconditional love is all protective, all-enveloping; because it is unconditional it can also not be controlled or acquired. Its presence gives the loved person a sense of bliss; its absence produces a sense of lostness and utter despair. Since God loves all of his children because they are his children, and not because they are good, obedient, or fulfill his wishes and commands, God’s love is based on equality. All humans are equal, because they are children of God, and because they have been blessed to live on Earth so that they may learn to love others and return to life with their eternal Father. If we exercise our faith and look to God for help, we will not be overwhelmed with the burdens of life. Believe in God; believe that he is wisdom and has all power, both in Heaven and in Earth. We will be strengthened, and our lives will be filled with peace and joy. We will come to realize that most of what we worry about is not of eternal significance—and if it is, the Lord will help us. However, we must have the faith to look up and the courage to follow God’s direction. “Therefore, lift your heads, and rejoice, and put your trust in God (Mosiah 7.19).” #RandolphHarris 1 of 5

Encouraging people to look up is a metaphor for remembering God. As we remember him and trust in his power, we receive strength through him. “I can do all things through God, whom strengthens me (Philippians 4.13).” That means we can be relieved of our stress, burdens, and our suffering. we can be forgiven and healed from the pain of our sins. God has the power to allow us to receive the faith and strength to endure all things. Spiritually looking up is not a one-time experience. We learn from the sacrament prayer that we are to always remember God and to keep his commandments, that we may have his spirit to be with us every day to guide us. The nature of Fatherly love is that God makes demands, establishes principles and laws, and after we pour out our hearts and souls to Heavenly Father in prayer, he leads us to forsake the things of the World, repent, and change. He leads us as we keep his commandments and try to be more like him. And God leads us through the Holy Ghost. We must act on the direction we receive, and as we do, we will cheer up, for God wants us to be happy. God wants to be part of our lives and bless us and help us. He will heal our wounds, dry our tears, and assist us along our path to return to his presence. As we look up to God, he will lead us. #RandolphHarris 2 of 5

Faith is real power, not just an expression of belief.  The acknowledgement of God is a creative act making possible his manifestation in human experience. Let us remember God and not hang down our heads. As we look up to God, our sins are forgiven and burdens are lightened. Spiritual inspiration, understanding, and awareness arise from compassion and virtue. They are aspects of God’s grace that become operational by consent of the seeker’s will. All states of spiritual awareness are actually mystical in that they are subjectively profound and transforming and can procure God’s love. God’s love is grace, the religious attitude is to have faith in this grace, and to make oneself realize that whatever happens to us, God shall rescue us, save us, and forgive us. Needless to say, my love for God and God’s love for me cannot be separated. If your father has passed away, or you never knew your father, simply look up to our Heavenly Father. We live in a World where all children are born of a mother and every last one of them has a Father, they just have to choose to get to know him. God made a covenant with Noah, in which he promises never to destroy the human race again, a covenant by which he has bound himself. #RandolphHarris 3 of 5

Each of us have a personal responsibility to do what is necessary to obtain and keep a strong testimony. Not only is God bound by his promises, he is also bound by his own principle, that of justice, truth, and love. As we study, pray, and seek the truth, we will develop greater patience while seeking answers from the Lord. Willingness to be patient is part of our search for truth and part of God’s pattern of revealing truth. Faith will grow and answers will come. Prayer established a serenity within the soul, enabling it to have confidence in that spirit of acceptance without which the divine gift is never complete. For how can the divine gift become complete until one accepts it? There is no song without a singer. If Aaliyah had never dared to start her music career, the World would have never heard those beautiful ballets. It was not easy, but she persevered because it was her passion and she had something to share with the World. And so, we must learn joyfully to enter into our divine inheritance. We should learn to have confidence in life, to believe in the Eternal Father, and accept the divine bounty. This transformation of thought from negation to affirmation, much like a music career, is seldom instantaneous, so we must maintain flexibility of thought, be willing to bend somewhat before the storms of life, but refuse to break. #RandolphHarris 4 of 5

Our thought should have an elasticity which permits it to spring back in place, but it cannot do so unless it is first fully convinced that it does know in whom it has believed, unless it is completely convinced that the Universe is a spiritual system governed by a beneficent consciousness. It is the nature of faith to believe God upon his bare word. It will not be, says the sense; it cannot be, says reason; it both can and will be, says faith, for I have a promise for it. By some divine interior awareness there is an intuition within human beings which pushes us forward. There is some spark in our souls which have never been entirely extinguished. The prayer of faith and belief, communion of the soul with it source, fans this spark into a divine blaze in whose light allows no dark shadows to lurk. We must not allow challenges of each day to dominate our time and energy because we will neglect the eternal things that matter most.  Heavenly Father’s great plan of happiness includes the doctrine, the ordinances, the covenants, and the exceeding great and precious promises whereby we can become partakers of the divine nature. We should realize that we are today in the Kingdom of Heaven, that today God is our host, and then we would see that wilderness has become paradise. And we have to say, what a wonderful life it is here. #RandolphHarris 5 of 5