You are Here on Earth at This Time for a Reason!

By Dina Alexander 

We are living in strange and perilous times and I love being alive at this time on earth. With all of the challenges and frustrations around us, we are incredibly blessed to be here during these latter-days. I truly believe that we were saved to come at “such a time as this.” Just as Queen Esther was needed at her time in history. Just as our founding fathers were needed in their day. We are here now for a reason. Our Heavenly Parents know you, and they could have sent Enoch or Noah, Moroni or Mary at this time, but they didn’t. They sent you and me. 

It’s No Accident That You Were Saved to Come to Earth at This Time 

God did not leave these last days to chance. He didn’t just randomly assign you to some family in the world and hope it all worked out okay. He didn’t just send anybody at this time.The God who cares about sparrows falling is a planner! The God that tells us that not one hair of our head will be lost in the resurrection doesn’t deal in the arbitrary when it comes to the big stuff in our lives. 

• Why would they send you and me in this eleventh hour? 
• What is it about you and me that is needed right now? 

• What talents and skills do you have that our Heavenly Parents knew were needed in these last days? 

Let’s come back to that later. 

Now, because the Lord has kept us in reserve to come now, Satan knows how powerful we are and he knows of our great potential. He knows he only has a short time left to disturb the work of God. So he continues to do everything he can to war against us. One of the best tools Satan uses against us is confusion and misinformation. All of us are susceptible and all of us have fallen prey to it. 

What’s his goal with this turmoil and confusion? Let’s think about this for a minute.

What is his goal? Is it to get us frustrated and angry? Is it to get us totally disconnected and divided? Or is it to get us distracted? 

I think it is all of these! To get us divided and totally distracted. When we are divided from one another and distracted he can get us to forget who we are AND who we have always been. Why would he do this?

If Satan can get us to forget our identity as sons and daughters of God, he can get us to forget a lot more!

He can get us to ignore commandments, and to ignore the value of others.  He can get us to be incredibly selfish, to see ourselves as mere men and women—just a step above animals—”needing” to fill any physical appetite we want.

He can also get us to forget about our missions and the work we have to do here on earth. 

But knowing who we are gives us the strength to overcome Satan’s temptations. It gives us the power to walk away from the world. And that is the last thing Satan wants. He knows that people who know they are children of God are formidable!

When your spirit starts to understand who you really are, it changes the way you see others, it changes the way you look at school, work, and family. It affects the way we behave, the way we deal with trials and disappointments, and the way we make choices. In other words, it changes how we live our lives.

So, what are we to do? How can we combat his efforts to get us to forget who we are and our missions here on earth?

There are several things, but I will share just two: 

• We must be continually strengthened with truth.
• We must learn to hear the Voice of the Spirit—so that we can understand personal revelation.

Living in an age of information, we know that so much of it is useless or untrue. So we must fill our hearts and minds with truth! Truth that can be found in ancient and modern scripture. From the Book of Mormon, Bible, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, and from living prophets. General conference talks, BYU devotionals and other church publications are also amazing resources.

It is no accident that in Lehi’s dream a rod of iron was used to represent the word of God—truth! It was the only observable thing keeping people on the path!  We must cling to truth. 

As Russell M. Nelson said, “There has never been a time in the history of the world when knowledge of our Savior is more personally vital and relevant to every human soul.” 

“There really is absolute truth—eternal truth. One of the plagues of our day is that too few people know where to turn for truth.

Hearing the Voice of the Spirit

As Sheri Dew taught in her book, No Doubt About It, we must learn to hear the voice of the Spirit. You may wonder, how will hearing the voice of the Spirit and understanding personal revelation help us against Satan? It is the Spirit who reveals to us our true identity—this isn’t just who we are now, but who we have always been! It is the Spirit that helps our spirits  remember. He reminds us that we really are children of God.  

We need the influence of the Holy Ghost in our daily lives! As Bonnie Cordon shared, when President Nelson called her to be the General Young Women’s President. He asked, “‘Bonnie, what’s the most important thing the [youth] need to know?’

‘I pondered for a moment and said, ‘They need to know who they are.’

‘YES!’ he exclaimed, ‘and they need to know their purpose.’”

Now that you know how important it is to have the Spirit in your life, please take time, as often as you can, to teach your children how to hear and understand the Voice of the Holy Ghost. If you are looking for a great resource to teach your child this very thing, check out my book , available on Amazon. In it, I discuss how to prepare to hear the Spirit, how to understand Him, and how to ask God for answers.

Dina Alexander is the founder of Educate and Empower Kids (educateempowerkids.org), an organization determined to strengthen families by teaching digital citizenship, media literacy, and healthy sexuality education—including education about the dangers of online porn. She is the creator of How to Talk to Your Kids About Pornography and the 30 Days of Sex Talks and 30 Days to a Stronger Child programs. She is also the author of Noah’s New Phone: A Story About Using Technology for Good and Petra’s Power to See: A Media Literacy Adventure. 

Most recently she has published The Powers of Heaven, A Priesthood Guide for Latter-day Saint Girls and Boys, Chloe has a Question, a Very Important Question and This is the Spirit of Revelationfor Latter-day Saint children.