I am a believer in Jesus Christ. His teachings and example guide every aspect of my life. I am not always true to them, as I am imperfect, but I hope to become better each day as I repent and change. His gospel teaches hope for all of us. There is truth, and he is the truth. If I love the Lord my God with all my heart, might, mind, and strength, I can make it back to my heavenly home with peace and love inside of me. And I need to love all others, as well as myself in the way he loves us and forgives us.
Saying this is a prelude to how I am feeling about living in the United States at this time.
I believe that in order to restore his gospel to the earth, the Lord needed a place where someone would be free to establish his religion. It took a long time, but the US became that place. I am so grateful to the Lord and all those who left their comfort zones to make this country a place of freedom. It wasn't a perfect place, and still isn't, but that freedom was so important to the gospel being brought back in its fulness. It also has provided other countries with freedom as they have benefitted from the USA's model.
Now, this model of freedom has allowed for people to choose how they will behave. But with this choice, comes responsibility to live within the laws and the Constitution of the land. And to face the consequences that are inherent to breaking those laws. True freedom isn't license to do whatever we want with no consequences. Living in the USA doesn't mean that if you put your hand in a fire it will not get burned, or that if you steal something you will not be arrested and held accountable, or even that if you unknowingly walk onto a street you won't get hit by a car and killed. The freedom we have is the opportunities to make the correct choices. No one should hold your hand to the fire, or force you to steal something, or push you into a busy street to be killed. YOU CHOOSE, even when you don't realize it. The wonderful thing about choices is that when you make correct and truly right choices, you still retain your freedom to choose. When you make even small incorrect or wrong choices, your freedom becomes limited (even if you don't realize that you made the wrong choice). So, within our country, people making choices is allowed. Otherwise, we are forced to be good, which is Satan's plan. We also must follow through on the consequences of our laws, but naturally the laws of God will always have a follow through. And thus we see people living in unhappiness, even in a country that allows freedom to choose. The freedom doesn't make them unhappy, but their choices do. And if their consequences don't seem to happen, they will eventually. With freedom comes UNCOMFORTABLENESS. GROWTH. HARD WORK. CHANGING NATURES. PATIENCE. REPENTANCE (which allows us to try again). It isn't the easier road, but it is the only road to true happiness.
So I come to a choice that is facing all Americans this November. We have two main candidates to vote for to be our President. They are human and imperfect, but men who would like to make this country better. In order to choose, I need to realize that there are pluses and minuses to each candidate. I still only worship God, but I need to choose one of them to lead this country. I have never seen such polarization in this country as this time. Even with a worldwide pandemic that could unify us, it hasn't. People are so worried about their own state of being that they don't have compassion on someone who doesn't agree with them. I am so disappointed in all of us. I am trying to let others have their opinions, and I hope they will let me have mine. I am grateful that I can still cast my vote.
The good thing is I can always have the freedom to believe how I want to, whether or not I can express it. The Lord guaranteed that when he created us. I will choose to love him and love my neighbor as myself as long as I live. I will always choose HOPE. I will always choose FAITH. I will always choose CHARITY. If I fail, I will choose REPENTENCE and begin again. I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who gave me this opportunity to live in such a difficult time, to test his plan, and to choose to follow Him.
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