How much love did Jesus have?

The defining characteristic of God and Jesus is love. That's most evident by Jesus' sacrifice and death for us. He became like us, felt our sorrows and pains, died for us that we might be allowed to resurrect, all because he loves us. That must be a lot of love.

Paul describes it this way in Romans 5:

7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.

8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet ^asinners, ^bChrist died for us.

Does God see us?

I was reading for our lesson in Sunday School (Jamie and I are subbing this week) and came across these verses in Matthew 10:

29Are not two ^asparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.

30But the very ^ahairs of your head are all numbered.

31Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more ^avalue than many^bsparrows.

Is this true? Does he care for all of us and look out for all of us this much? Yes. My wonderful wife had an experience this week that helped show this.
Life has been a little intense lately (both kids fairly sick, moving, I've been sick, she's been sick, her great-grandma is dying) and that creates stress. Jamie told me yesterday that that stress was being expressed as hard feelings against me (truthfully I'm not around or as helpful as I need to be.

So, she decided to pray and ask for help to get over those feelings building up inside of her (that shows some faith). So, that night she had a dream that dramatically altered her feelings towards me. It was a miracle and happened immediately after she asked for the help.

I have such a great wife. Also, we have a good Heavenly Father. I think he wants to help us as quickly as he can (D.C. 111:11 - I will order all things for your good as fast as ye are able to receive them.) and luckily for us he knows when he can and can't get involved as well as when he should and shouldn't get involved. I trust his judgement and appreciate him answering Jamie's prayer so quickly.

Have a great day.

LaDon

P.S. I share this with Jamie's blessing. She's a humble girl to be willing to let a few of her struggles be known (to the 2 or 3 people who'll read this :) I am very lucky.

God Pays Attention to Us

I was just asked to teach Gospel Doctrine along with Jamie this week, so I'm reading the scriptures in the lesson this morning. Here's what jumped out at me from Matthew 10:

22And ye shall be ^ahated of all men ^bfor my ^cname’s sake: but he that ^dendureth to the end shall be saved.

23But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.

29Are not two ^asparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.

30But the very ^ahairs of your head are all numbered.

31Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more ^avalue than many^bsparrows.

These verses actually seem somewhat opposite of one another. Verses 29-31 say that God is very mindful of the entire world, even sparrows, and by extension, is very mindful of the apostles. Verses 22 and 23 say that the 12 will face extreme opposition.

As a conclusion, we should not equate passing through tough times as a sign that God isn't mindful of us. That is not at all the correct metric.

LaDon