Isn't it Wonderful?

"ALL HUMAN BEINGS—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny." -The Family: A Proclamation to the World

About a month and a half ago, I was in another country. A totally different country with totally different people and I was the minority in a large majority of people. Now I look back and see China (the country I was talking about) as my second home. Sometimes I ask myself, what did I learn while I was there? What was the biggest lesson that I learned? While there are way too many things that would take way too long to talk about in one blog post, there is something that I did learn:

I, as well as everyone else that has existed, who does exist, and who have yet to exist, are children of God.

Like, we are literally all children of the most powerful being in the known universe. Isn't that absolutely incredible? So to go over a little bit of what I learned, I will share how I came to have a stronger testimony of myself as a child of God, as well as the rest of the world as children of God.

For myself, sometimes I feel that I am my worst enemy. I allow Satan to tortue me through my own negativity and sometimes it gets the best of me. "Brin, you're not good enough, there's no one who really loves you." I know that's not true anymore. While times would get tough and life's armies seemed all but too much, I know that above all, I have a Heavenly Father who created me and everything and everyone that I have come to love who will also stand by me and provide and protect me through the easiest and most difficult times of my life.

I think that this testimony was a slow and steady experience. I didn't understand it all at once. In fact, I still believe that I have a lot of learning yet to do. But throughout my course in China was the time when my testimony of this principle grew the fastest.

Time in China had usually been tough. Being by yourself a majority of the time will cause you to create your own life dramas, which can be almost as equally traumatizing as life dramas with other people. The good thing about it is that nobody else gets hurt. The bad thing is that you usually don't have anyone else to turn to.

I beat myself up for quite a few reasons based on life events that were happening when I really had no reason to. I was doing everything that I was supposed to, I was trying hard to be better. With a lack of the Savior in my life more than ever, things started to churn and create tragedies that should have never happened.

However much my life had taken a turn, I am forever grateful for the people in my life who influenced me for the better. I had roommates who helped me grow and who had been through similar experiences that I had been through. I had friends close by who would invite me to spend time with them traveling and exploring different sites in China. I had a wonderful family who would always check up on me and friends who would send me uplifting messages. Most importantly, I had the Chinese people I would run into everyday who would love me unconditionally without cause, and the students that I taught who adored me and kept me smiling.

I know now more than ever that I am worth more than I think I am. I am a daughter of God and Heavenly Father puts me in people's lives so that I have the opportunity to do good and to influence them for better. I have a divine purpose and a destiny to become more than I ever thought I would be and fufill what God has planned for me.

On the other hand, I learned that every human being on this entire planet are sons and daughters of a loving Heavenly Father.

In China, Christianity is basically illegal. There is no proselyting or affiliation with national and international members of the same church in religious activities. It's heartbreaking to meet and get to know so many people who may never have the opportunity to hear the sweetness of the gospel.

At first, the idea of this was extremely discouraging. What was the point of getting to know people that I may never get to see again, be it in this life or the next.

It was one day, one moment when it all hit me and I realized the truth: they are all children of God and He wants me to love them no matter what.

My entire perspective was changed from that moment on. I realized that I was placed in their life for a reason, and they were placed in my life for a reason. We are all here to help each other, as children of God. We go through the same experiences as each other so we can help one another. We learn from each other, we grow with each other.

I will most likely never see any of my Chinese friends or students again. I know that now and I know that there is not a lot I can do to fix that. But I am confident that I did all that I could to show them kindness and love.

I will tell you that I used to be really shy. I wouldn't talk to anybody even if they spoke to me. I would avoid people like the plague. I was fearful and in the long run, it hurt me and everyone around me. Since China, I have gained a new perspective. You only get the people around you for a couple months, years, or even hours. One of our biggest purposes here on earth is to love and help one another. I have decided to do just that to everyone that I meet.

We are all children of God. We are all going through hard things. And we all deserve love.

#FamilyFoundations #FamilyProclamation #LDS