Weatherford T. Clayton - The Plan of Salvation - April 2017

Elder Weatherford T. Clayton speaks about the plan of salvation and the role each of us had in the premortal world, our birth and life on earth and the blesses that await us if we are faithful to the commandments while on earth.

• The world sees birth and death as the beginning and the end. But because of God’s holy plan, we know that birth and death are actually just milestones on our journey to eternal life with our Heavenly Father.
  
• Because Heavenly Father loves us, He wants us to have the greatest gift He can give, the gift of eternal life. He could not simply give us this gift; we had to receive it by choosing Him and His ways. This required that we leave His presence and begin a wonderful and challenging journey of faith, growth, and becoming. The journey our Father prepared for us is called the plan of salvation or the plan of happiness.
  

He speaks of three pillars or stages that have had to take place for us to have the chance to obtain eternal life.

• The first pillar is the Creation of the earth, the setting for our mortal journey.
  
• The second pillar is the Fall of our first earthly parents, Adam and Eve. Because of the Fall, some marvelous things were given to us. We were able to be born and receive a physical body.
  
  • God also gave us moral agency—the ability and privilege of choosing and acting for ourselves. To help us choose well, Heavenly Father gave us commandments. Each day, as we keep His commandments, we show God that we love Him, and He blesses our lives.
    
• Knowing that we would not always choose well—or in other words, sin—Father gave us the third pillar: the Savior Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Through His suffering, Christ paid the price for both physical death and sin.
  

He shares his testimony of the Savior and the literal rising from the tomb that took place after His death.

• I testify that Christ did indeed rise from the tomb. But to rise from that tomb, He first had to die. And so must we.
  

He shares that our suffering on earth is understood by the Savior due to His atonement.  We can bring our pains, concerns, and questions to Him and he will help us through them.

• Even in our moments of deepest grief, in the moments when time stands still and life seems so unfair, we can find comfort in our Savior because He suffered as well.
  

He shares that he has only spoken about the basics of the gospel and that there is so much more that awaits us if we come unto Christ.

• There is so much more to our existence than just what happens between birth and death. I invite you to come and follow Christ.
  

Elder Clayton concludes with his testimony of the Savior and His ability to heal our sins and all our worldly pains.

• I testify that Christ has the power to answer your questions, heal your pains and sorrows, and forgive your sins. I know this is true.
  

The plan of salvation truly is a plan of happiness.  Through the atonement, Christ learned about each of us and suffered for each of our sins so you and I don't need to suffer.  He completed a perfect plan, laid out by our Heavenly Father in the premortal world.  Our obligation is to stay true and faithful to the covenants we have made so we can return to Him, and He will be able to give to us the greatest of all gifts, the chance to live throughout eternity with our Heavenly Father.