What is Our Purpose?

"How grateful we should be that a wise Creator fashioned an earth and placed us here, with a veil of forgetfulness of our previous existence so that we might experience a time of testing, an opportunity to prove ourselves in order to qualify for all that God has prepared for us to receive."

-Thomas S. Monson (The Race of Life, April 2012)

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What is our purpose of life? Why are we here? This is a question I end up asking myself quite often. I get so overwhelmed with my day to day life that I question "Why am I doing this? Why am I in college when I struggle so much?" I get so caught up in the worldly definition of life sometimes and I forget why we are here. Our lives have a divine purpose on this earth. We all have a mission in life, and Heavenly Father has such a great plan in store for us. This life is a gift, and we have so many opportunities he has blessed us with. Our purpose in this life is to gain physical bodies, find joy, to be tried and tested, and help build His kingdom. These opportunities that we have been blessed with will help us become more like our Heavenly Father, which is one of our main goals on this earth. 

Joy

In the Book of Mormon,  2 Nephi 2:25 it is written:

"Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy."

I know that this is such a short and simple scripture, but one of our purposes on this Earth is to have joy. Heavenly Father has created this life for us so that we can experience all the things that can bring us joy like love, eternal marriage, parenthood, and family. 

Eternal Life

We are also here because Heavenly Father wanted us to be able to live eternally with him again. This gift of eternal life is one of the greatest gifts He has ever given to us, each and everyone of his children, to obtain this blessing he has promised us if we live righteously.

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf gave a talk in the April 2010 General Conference about living happily ever after. He told us that the greatest gift at all on this life is eternal life. We all have the opportunity to create our own "happily ever after." Uchtdorf stated in his talk "Your Happily Ever After," 

"Isn’t it remarkable to know that our eternal Heavenly Father knows you, hears you, watches over you, and loves you with an infinite love? In fact, His love for you is so great that He has granted you this earthly life as a precious gift of  'once upon a time,' complete with your own true story of adventure, trial, and opportunities for greatness, nobility, courage, and love. And, most glorious of all, He offers you a gift beyond price and comprehension. Heavenly Father offers to you the greatest gift of all—eternal life—and the opportunity and infinite blessing of your own 'happily ever after.' "

Tried & Tested

Alma 12:24

 "24 And we see that death comes upon mankind, yea, the death which has been spoken of by Amulek, which is the temporal death; nevertheless there was a space granted unto man in which he might repent; therefore this life became a probationary state; a time to prepare to meet God; a time to prepare for that endless state which has been spoken of by us, which is after the resurrection of the dead."

Another reason we are here on this earth is to be tried and tested. We may not be able to choose our trials and understand why we have to go through them, but we can choose our attitude and how we get through them. It is a hard thing to understand why we are here, and why me, when we are going through them, but we came down to this earth knowing that we would have these hardships and we told our Father that we would endure to the end and we would return to Him. These trials that we go through in this life are to help us develop and learn. I will go more into depth about trials in a post to come, but one of our purposes on this earth is to be tempted and faced with hard things to prepare ourselves to meet God. 

This life here is very sacred and we have a divine duty to prepare ourselves so that we can live with our Father in Heaven again and as the eternal families we have built on this earth. Many people on this earth question their purpose, where they go after death, and if God is really God. We are so blessed to have the truth and knowledge that we are here for a purpose, we know that we we have a Heavenly Father who loves us and we know that we will see our loved ones and God again because of this gospel.

I want to end this with a quote from our beloved prohpet, Thomas S. Monson's talk in April 2012 called "The Race of Life."

"Our Heavenly Father did not launch us on our eternal voyage without providing the means whereby we could receive from Him guidance to ensure our safe return. I speak of prayer.I speak too of the whisperings from that still, small voice; and I do not overlook the holy scriptures, which contain the word o the Lord and the words of the prophets-- provided to us to help us successfully cross the finish line."

Here are some other talks I recommend if you want to learn more in depth about our divine purpose on this earth: 

"Thomas S. Monson, "The Race of Life," Ensign or Liahona, May 2012, 90-93

"The Family: A Proclamation to the World," Ensign or Liahona, May 2010, 127-27

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "Your Happily Ever After," Ensign or Liahona, May 2010, 124-27