The plan of redemption. The plan of happiness. How wonderful is this plan of our great God! Generally, and rightfully, we focus on the blessings and promises of that plan. But let us not forget an indispensable word in those descriptive titles: plan. This word is vitally important to our understanding of our Heavenly Father, who knows the end from the beginning. In a remarkable prophecy, Joseph Smith said that “persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”1
Indeed, God knows the end from the beginning, and He has always had a plan in place to accomplish His goals. In a miraculous vision to the prophet Daniel, God revealed His plan for the future to Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel told the king that he had seen a stone “that was cut out without hands . . . and became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth” (Daniel 2:34–35). Yet long before that promised day would arrive, things needed to be put in place to accomplish so great a task. It may have begun with Peter when God showed him in vision “a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to earth” (Acts 10:11). As Peter sat pondering this vision, men sent by a Gentile named Cornelius arrived and the Spirit said to Peter, “Get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing. For I have sent them” (Acts 10:20). Then, after Peter entered the home of Cornelius, it was witnessed that “the Holy Ghost fell on all of them which heard the word” (Acts 10:44). And so began the great work of teaching “all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19).
Yet this work cannot be accomplished without great sacrifice from all who embark on the magnificent cause of Christ. While serving a mission on the Fox Islands, Wilford Woodruff wrote in his journal what would become a familiar experience: “We felt as though the powers of darkness was great among the gentiles upon every side of us both on the Islands & maine land & that the people were deluged in unbelief.”2 Despite opposition then and now, God’s plan remains undeterred. With our limited mortal views of life we might become discouraged, thinking the opposition is winning. But we would be wrong! God’s plan for us is never frustrated.
Today we see the fruits of the sacrifices of people like Wilford Woodruff and the waves of faithful men and women who gave up all they had to join the Church, with millions of faithful Saints and hundreds of temples dotting the earth, all in preparation for the glorious return of the Savior Jesus Christ. As prophesied from the beginning, the word of God has indeed grown and multiplied (see Acts 12:24), and it will soon fill the earth. For God’s wondrous plan, I add my eternal gratitude, with countless others, to our Heavenly Father and His beloved Son, Jesus Christ.
Craig Lindquist is an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is a father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, happily married to Dianna for the past 46 years. By trade he is a cabinetmaker, actor, and writer. He lives in Henderson, Nevada, except when he travels to film or to work on the construction of temples.
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