We Can Live With God Again

I have not posted anything on this blog for almost 4 years!  A lot has changed, a lot has stayed the same.  One thing that has changed is I started taking online college classes.  It has been a goal of mine to earn my bachelors degree for a long time.  It has been a LONG time since I've taken any classes, so it feels good to be taking the first steps toward this goal!
 With that said, one of my assignments this week is to post about something I've been learning about in my religion class.  I thought I was going to have to create a whole new blog for this, but then I remembered this rusty old blog sitting in the internet attic.  I don't know if anyone even will even see this... and actually I sort of take comfort in that because discussing religion online is something new to me that I'm not sure how comfortable I am with the idea.  But hopefully something good will come of it, if nothing else I'll have my own thoughts and feelings recorded for myself.
I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Another nickname for our religion is Mormon.  We believe that all mankind existed before this earth life, and that there is life after death.  I recently watched a Mormon Message  called "We Can Live With God Again".  I thought it was really good and it reminded me of one of the first experiences I ever had in my life where I really felt the Holy Ghost testifying to me that death is not the end.  My Grandpa Merrell died when I was 14 years old.  I remember going to his viewing and looking into the casket to see his body there and realizing that he wasn't in there.  His body was there, but he wasn't there.  It was the first time I had witnessed a separation of body and spirit.  There was a picture of Jesus Christ displayed near my Grandpa's casket and as I looked at it, I felt an overwhelming sense of peace and joy amidst the sadness that I felt over losing my Grandpa.  I knew at that moment that because Jesus Christ had overcome death, that this was not the end of my Grandpa. I knew that when I die, it wouldn't be the end of me.  Because of Jesus Christ's atonement and resurrection, we would see each other again.  In the Mormon Message I mentioned earlier, the President of our church, Thomas S. Monson says, "Life beyond the grave is as real, and as certain as is our life here."  I believe that.  There is an afterlife.  Those we love who have died are not far from us.  The promise "all will be well"  doesn't always mean right now.  Many times it is a long term promise.  When my Grandpa got sick, we all prayed and prayed that he would recover.  The fact that he didn't recover, and is now gone from us, doesn't mean that our prayers weren't heard or that God doesn't care for us. It means that he has a plan that is many times bigger that what we understand.  I have hope that the Lord cares for each and every one of us and that when things don't work out the way we want them to right now, they will work out in the end.