. "Where did I come from and why? So what is Life all About !!

It’s hard to move forward when you don’t know where you’re headed or why. God’s plan gives us the answers to life’s most basic questions like, "Where did I come from?" "What’s my purpose here?" And, "What happens when I die?" Knowing the answers gives us hope and helps us find peace and joy.

Your life didn’t begin at birth and it won’t end at death. Before you came to earth, your spirit lived with Heavenly Father who created you. You knew Him, and He knew and loved you. It was a happy time during which you were taught God’s plan of happiness and the path to true joy. But just as most of us leave our home and parents when we grow up, God knew you needed to do the same. He knew you couldn’t progress unless you left for a while. So he allowed you to come to earth to experience the joy—as well as pain—of a physical body.

One thing that makes this life so hard sometimes is that we’re out of God’s physical presence. Not only that, but we can’t remember our pre-earth life which means we have to operate by faith rather than sight. God didn’t say it would be easy, but He promised His spirit would be there when we needed Him. Even though it feels like it sometimes, we’re not alone in our journey.

God’s plan for you is beautiful and simple. He wants you to have joy and to become more like Him.

That doesn’t mean He expects you to be perfect. He knows you won’t be. But He does expect that while you’re here on earth you try to the best of your ability to be more like Him and that you learn and grow from your mistakes. Each time you make a poor choice with painful consequences, that decision leads to unhappiness—sometimes immediately, sometimes much later. Likewise, choosing good eventually leads to happiness and helps you become more like Heavenly Father.

Just as God created the earth as a place for you to live and gain experience, He created you. And gave you a body of flesh and blood in the likeness of His glorified body. In the Old Testament God said, "Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness" (Genesis 1:26). Jacob declared that he had seen God "face to face"(Genesis 32:30). Moses also spoke with God "face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend" (Exodus 33:11). In the New Testament, when the resurrected Christ appeared to His Apostles, He told them, "Handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have" (Luke 24:39).

THE SECRET OF HAPPINESS

Regardless of what you do or don’t have in this life, your deepest, most lasting happiness will come from knowing God’s plan and following it.

We often fall into the trap of thinking a new car, job promotion, beauty makeover, or some level of fame will make us happy. And often they do—for a time. But it never lasts because wealth, power, beauty and fame simply don’t bring lasting happiness, as much as we wish they would. Rather, true happiness comes from following Christ’s example and developing Godlike attributes such as goodness, love, justice and mercy. It comes from serving others and helping them to follow the example and teachings of Jesus Christ. It comes from overcoming the appetites of our human bodies and instead following the promptings of the Spirit. It comes from working hard and having a healthy lifestyle, friends, family, and personal achievements. Regardless of what you do or don’t have in this life, your deepest, most lasting happiness will come from knowing God’s plan and following it.

Heavenly Father knew you would make mistakes in this mortal life.

Your mistakes might be as simple as hurting your friend’s feelings, or a sin far more serious. Seeing the pain we’ve caused and feeling the misery of remorse, shame and guilt can sometimes be overwhelming and devastating. We wonder if we can ever overcome our mistakes and feel the peace of being forgiven. We unequivocally can, because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the process of repentance. We can confess our sins to God and ask His forgiveness. And he’s promised that He’ll "remember them no more" (Doctrine and Covenants 58:42). It works because Heavenly Father sent his son, Jesus Christ, to voluntarily suffer and pay for our sins and sorrows by atoning for them Himself. We can’t fully understand how Jesus suffered for our sins. But we know that in the Garden of Gethsemane, the weight of our sins caused Him such agony that He bled from every pore (Luke 22:39-44) . Later, as He hung upon the cross, Jesus willingly suffered painful death by one of the cruelest methods ever known (Alma 7:11).

However, His mental and spiritual anguish went well beyond the pains of the cross. The Savior tells us, "For behold, I . . . have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer . . . even as I" (Doctrine and Covenants 19:16–17).

In addition to asking God’s forgiveness, He also wants us to ask forgiveness of those we’ve harmed, see if we can repair the damage, and promise not to repeat the same mistakes. Then we can move forward feeling God’s love and the incredible peace and joy that come from being fully forgiven.

To make His Atonement fully effective in your life, you need to:

·         Exercise faith in Him.

·         Repent.

·         Be baptized.

·         Receive the Holy Ghost.

·         Choose to follow His teachings for the rest of your life.