The Plan of Feelings

In the LDS faith, we often hear and use the term "the plan of salvation" or "the plan of happiness"-- that we lived with our Heavenly Father before this life and voted to come to Earth to have a mortal experience so we could become like our Father in Heaven and return to Him.

And sometimes, I struggle with that--the plan of happiness. Because I am not always happy. I have bad days. I hit rough patches on the road of life. Bad things happen. And I feel guilty because I am not 100% happy 100% of the time.

But today at the Associated Sisters in Asia Women's Conference in Hong Kong, Sister Beck (love her!) gave me a new perspective on the plan of salvation, or rather a new term.

The plan of feelings.

When we decided to follow Christ in the pre-mortal existence, we signed up to have an experience. We wanted to become like our Heavenly Father and that required that we had to have our own journey. So we left our Heavenly Father and the comforts of heaven to come to Earth and experience the highs and lows of mortality so we could gain the experience to become gods like our Heavenly Father.

And so we are experiencing a mortal life. And sometimes we feel the wonderful aspects of the mortal experience-- exquisite joy, deep love, excitement, elation. We feel the powerful sensation of being in love or welcoming a new child into the world or getting an A on a midterm exam. But we also feel the lows. Adversity is a requisite in our journey to eternal life. We feel heartbreak, anxiety, depression, anger. We ache over the loss of a loved one. We cry over the frustration of inadequacy. And we punish ourselves while experiencing these lows because we are not picturesquely "happy".

But we have to understand and accept that is okay to feel those lows. It is a part of the plan to experience those feelings.

Because when Jesus atoned for us in Gethsemane, He felt all of our feelings. In Alma 7:12 it states, " And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities..." He felt the pain of death and the guilt of our sins. And he felt our individual, specific feelings.

Why? "...that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities." He felt our feelings so He could be our Comforter, our Savior, our God. 

And we need to feel those feelings so that we in turn can become a god.

But because Jesus performed the Atonement, we don't have to feel those feelings alone. He understands our feelings because He felt our feelings. He says, "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy-laden and I shall give you rest... For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light," (Matt 11:28).

We can give our feelings to the Lord, share them with Him, and He will help us bear them. We never have to be alone.

And luckily, Heavenly Father promises us that (in the grand scheme of things) our feelings and afflictions "shall be but a small moment" (DC 121:7). There is always a light at the end of the tunnel.

So take cheer. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, descended to the lowest depths so He could bring us to the highest heights. He loves us and understands us. And in Him, we shall overcome.