But, To The Man of Faith...

How bitter must be the suffering and grief of those who see nothing beyond the grave except the beginning of eternal night and oblivion. For them that thus believe, death has its sting and the grave its victory. To them, even the glory of this earth is but the last flickering of a candle in unending blackness.

But, to the man of faith, death is but the taking up again of the life he broke off when he came to this earth.

-Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Heber J. Grant

I am eternally grateful to my mother for raising me with the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Because of this I know that families can be together forever. I know that following commandments yields blessings and not following commandments yields you being on your own. (Simple, yet so hard to get sometimes.)

Heavenly Father tells us what we should and shouldn't do to take care of our bodies. Doctors on this earth sometimes tell us things are okay that Heavenly Father says are not. I'm going to go with the guy who created my body and knows how it works.

This life is for us to experience and make choices. We may suffer the consequences of others' choices, and we will be judged on how we react and handle what we've been given. Do not let your heart be overwhelmed by sorrow, anger or hurt, because it is so easy in this situation. Believe me. (Maybe this is a personal post-it for myself.)

Heavenly Father does not want us to be unhappy and He has given us this gospel so we can be as happy as possible. (Once again, He made the earth and made us and knows how it's all supposed to work...gave us a user's manual and everything.) He gave us our agency so we can make choices and be held responsible. I believe that, like any parent, He is ecstatic when we make right choices and feels bad when we make wrong ones. We are supposed to learn from our experiences on this earth, including learning to better ourselves, and then leave and continue the life we had before we came here. That's the whole point.