“Are You Missing the Miracle of the Gospel?,” Liahona, Oct. 2024.
Young Adults
Are You Missing the Miracle of the Gospel?
I left the Church and didn’t realize what I was missing.
Have you ever taken something for granted, unaware of how it benefited you until it was gone?
I did once—with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Growing up in Mongolia, my family and I were members of the Church. But over time, my parents’ church attendance became less and less frequent. I slowly started to feel indifferent about the gospel too.
I never took what I learned seriously and eventually stopped going altogether. I didn’t think I would miss the gospel, because it had never really seemed to benefit my life anyway.
Illustrations by David Green
Seeing the Light
When I was a young adult, my older sister bumped into some missionaries. They stopped her to ask if she could translate something for them in Mongolian. They had a quick conversation, and when she returned home, she realized who they were.
She wanted to go to church that week and invited me to join her.
I was totally against the idea at first. I thought I was doing fine in life without the Church! But she convinced me to join her just once.
When I walked into sacrament meeting for the first time in years, I wasn’t very happy to be there. However, as I looked around, I saw some friends I had grown up with. The light they emanated was almost tangible. As I watched them, I recalled small inklings of spiritual experiences I had felt at church growing up.
So many truths I had disregarded came flooding back, and I suddenly felt empty and sad. “I’m not like them,” I thought. “Why did I leave this all behind?”
I realized that I had become a different person in the past few years. There was a sense of darkness in my life I had been ignoring. But as I sat there, I heard a peaceful voice in my mind that seemed to say, “You can shine too. It’s not too late.”
I thought of the parable of the lost sheep. The one sheep who the Savior brought back to the fold (see Luke 15:4–7).
I was that sheep. And the Savior was lovingly coming after me because He loved me as much as His other sheep.
He wanted me back.
This brought me so much gratitude for my Savior. Feeling the Spirit for the first time in years, I made the decision to come back to the Church and, this time, to take it seriously.
Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles recently testified, “The moment you decide to return and walk in the way of our Savior and Redeemer, His power will enter your life and transform it [see Alma 34:31].”
I felt that truth and knew that if I put my heart into the gospel, my life was going to change.
Don’t Look beyond Jesus Christ
As I started living the gospel, I found purpose in my life again. I finally believed that Heavenly Father loves each of His children and that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the key to returning to our heavenly home.
This means everything to me now.
Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught:
“We too can be prone to look beyond the mark. We need to guard against this tendency lest we miss Jesus Christ in our lives and fail to recognize the many blessings He offers us. We need Him. …
“He is our mark. If we incorrectly imagine that there is a need for something beyond what He offers, we deny or diminish the scope and power He can have in our lives.”
I had been looking beyond what Jesus Christ offers me, and now I can’t imagine giving up the joy I feel because of Him.
If you feel like you’re unworthy, if you’re struggling with unanswered questions, or if you think being a disciple of Christ asks too much of you, look closer at the miracles our Savior offers us. I know that Heavenly Father is aware of you. He will help you hold on to your faith as you turn to Him.
Don’t give up the Savior’s greatest gift and miracle in favor of something less worthy. You are worth everything to Him.
I have personally witnessed how much the gospel of Jesus Christ truly enriches the lives of those who follow Him.
It continues to enrich mine.
The author lives in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.