This will be a short post;  I must confess that over the years, I don’t think I was drawn to Pres. Faust and his teachings the way I have been to other General Authorities of the Church.  But years ago, he gave a talk with a quote that always endeared me to him:

Only as we seek to be purged of selfishness and of concern for recognition and wealth can we find some sweet relief from the anxieties, hurts, pains, miseries, and concerns of this world. In this manner, as President J. Reuben Clark said, we can bring “to flower and fruitage the latent richness of the spirit.” God can not only help us find a sublime and everlasting joy and contentment, but He will change us so that we can become heirs of the kingdom of God.

This is really the recovery of the sacred within us. We have the authority in our beings to respond to challenges of life any way we choose. Thus we gain mastery in any circumstance. As the Savior said to the diseased woman, “Thy faith hath made thee whole.”

Mine is the certain knowledge that Jesus is our divine Savior, Redeemer, and the Son of God the Father. I know of his reality by a sure perception so sacred I cannot give utterance to it. I know and testify with an absolute awareness that Joseph Smith restored the keys of the fulness of times and that every President of the Church has held these keys, as does President Gordon B. Hinckley today…

James E. Faust, “Heirs to the Kingdom of God,” Ensign, May 1995,  61