A Noble and Great One

To my daughter,

                Thousands of years ago a great vision was given to the prophet Abraham. He beheld the premortal world where the Father of us all presented His plan for us to come to earth and chose His Firstborn to become the Savior of all mankind. Abraham recorded what else he saw, “Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones; And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born” (Abraham 3:22-23). He saw “noble and great ones” in the premortal existence who were called to do a great work here on the earth to help “bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). So, who were these noble and great souls? Joseph F. Smith recorded a revelation in which he saw the post-mortal spirit world and saw many prophets such as Adam and Isaiah and Daniel and even his uncle Joseph Smith who were “among the noble and great ones who were chosen in the beginning to be rulers in the Church of God.” He gave us this incredible insight: “Even before they were born, they, with many others, received their first lessons in the world of spirits and were prepared to come forth in the due time of the Lord to labor in his vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men. I beheld that the faithful elders of this dispensation, when they depart from mortal life, continue their labors in the preaching of the gospel of repentance and redemption, through the sacrifice of the Only Begotten Son of God, among those who are in darkness and under the bondage of sin in the great world of the spirits of the dead” (Doctrine and Covenants 138:55-57). I believe that he wanted us to understand that not only were the great prophets part of the noble ones, but all of those who are faithful in this dispensation are. You too received your first lessons—tutored by your Father in Heaven—before you came to this life. This is the thought that Sister Sheri Dew expressed to a group of sixteen-year-old girls probably not too different from you: “Noble and great. Courageous and determined. Faithful and fearless. That is who you are, and that is who you have always been.” I hope that you can feel that deep within your heart—you were a noble and great spirit in the premortal world, chosen to come forth in these last days to perform the miraculous work of the Lord in gathering His children together before the Second Coming of the Savior. Abraham saw you, and you have a great mission to perform on the earth!

                Sister Wendy Nelson taught a similar principle to the youth of the Church. She said, “My dear friends, premortally you and I were each given wonderful missions to fulfill while we are here on earth. We have opportunities to fulfill our mortal missions, but we don’t have to. No one will make us. We have our agency to choose how we spend our time and energy, our talents and resources. In fact, what we choose to do is actually part of our testing. The choice is yours and mine. Will we choose to do whatever it takes to fulfill the wonderful missions for which we were sent to earth?” I know that indeed you have a great mission to fulfill on this earth, but it will take concerted effort and faithful discipleship to do it. You were, as Alma taught, “called and prepared from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God, on account of [your] exceeding faith and good works.” You have already in the premortal world “chosen good, and [exercised exceedingly great faith” and so now in this life you have a “holy calling” to fulfill (Alma 13:3). In that same devotional, President Nelson told the youth of the Church to rise up and be a part of the great gathering of Israel. He invited them in these words, “My… invitation is for you to stand out; be different from the world. You and I know that you are to be a light to the world. Therefore, the Lord needs you to look like, sound like, act like, and dress like a true disciple of Jesus Christ. Yes, you are living in the world, but you have very different standards from the world to help you avoid the stain of the world. With the Holy Ghost as your companion, you can see right through the celebrity culture that has smitten our society. You can be smarter than previous generations have ever been. And if you are sometimes called ‘weird,’ wear that distinction as a badge of honor and be happy that your light is shining brightly in this ever-darkening world! Set a standard for the rest of the world! Embrace being different! The booklet entitled For the Strength of Youth should be your standard. It is the standard that the Lord expects all His youth to uphold. Now, as His humble servant, I plead with you to study this booklet again. Prayerfully read it like you’ve never read it before. Mark it up. Talk about it. Discuss the standards with your friends. Decide how you can live these standards, your standards, with even more exactness.” I urge you to take these words to heart and embrace the joy of living the gospel fully without worry for what others might think. You are a marvelous young woman with enormous potential to do good in this world as you commit to unashamedly following Jesus Christ. He loves you perfectly and is ready to forgive you, purify you, sanctify you, and enable you “through faith” to “work mighty miracles” and become “a great benefit to [your] fellow beings” (Mosiah 8:18).  

Love,

Dad