Growing up is weird. Time speeds up but everything takes longer.

Today I am 8,998 days (24.65 years) old. I’ve been working full-time for a little over a year now. I have been financially independent for 13 months. It’s been four years since I returned from my mission and six years since I moved out of my parent’s house.

The Gospel explains that we are on Earth to experience mortality – a period of time separated from the presence of God with no memory of our pre-mortal life – to learn and grow for ourselves, to be tempted and tried, to choose good or evil, and to be organized into families for time and all eternity. Every person who has lived or will live on this Earth chose to accept our Heavenly Father’s plan, wherein we would have agency to choose righteousness or sin; risking our eternal potential for the greater potential to truly become like God. God’s plan required a Fall and an Atonement. Jesus Christ was chosen and accepted the call to be our Savior and Redeemer – the only one willing, able, and authorized to perform the pivotal act of salvation for all of Heavenly Father’s spirit children – thus placing himself as mediator between God and man; fulfilling the demands of justice so that He can be merciful. He asks us to follow His commandments, not to pay the price of justice, but so that we may improve. He offers us the Gift of the Holy Ghost to guide, cleanse, and protect us along the way. Each individual has unique challenges to overcome, whether caused by the acts of others or due to weaknesses given that we may humble ourselves and accept the strengthening power of the Atonement. Through personal revelation, the guidance of our leaders, and the grace of God, we can overcome all things and return to our heavenly home, seeing Christ and our Father as they are, for we shall be like Them.

Lately I’ve started to see an overarching theme in the promptings I’ve received and the lessons I’ve been taught:

You can’t do this alone, but you are never alone.

I joked on my mission that the Lord was “beating me into submission” to teach me the first part of this lesson. I felt as if I never went any decent stretch of time without being in some kind of trouble. Back then, though I considered myself to be mature, I did not understand my desperate need for Christ. The lesson continued in the background throughout my years at BYU slowly descending down a spiral of destruction, until it sunk deep enough to reach my weakened soul. I finally started looking for others to accompany me in my journey. I went back to church because I wanted to. I saw the threads the Lord had pulled throughout my life to place me where I am. I found a place where I belonged and some of my deepest worries and problems faded into the mist.

Now I tread an interesting path. I know what my mission is and what is required to go about it. I have a vision of my future, but I must find out how to get there. I have the whole spectrum of human experience in front of me. I’ve just barely started to live.