This scripture really helped me, because a few years ago, I wanted to know if my Heavenly Father knew me personally and if he loved me. And I was starting scripture mastery for seminary, and I came across Moroni 10, verses 4 through 5. And in it, it says that if I would ask my Heavenly Father with faith wanting to know the answer, that I would receive an answer through the Holy Ghost. So I prayed to my Heavenly Father. And later at EFY, we were singing "I'm a Child of God." And the Spirit was so strong, and I knew at that moment that I was a child of Heavenly Father and that He loved me and that He would always be there for me. And I know that our Heavenly Father does answer our prayers and that he loves us.

People were making fun of me a lot, and I didn't have a lot of close friends. And I felt really alone in the world, like nobody cared. I kept up and maintained a relationship with God, but I just felt like nobody in the world even cared about me. And one day, the bullying was especially hard, and I went home, and I couldn't help but break down and cry. And I was sitting there in my room alone, and a voice told me to pick up my scriptures and read. So I just opened to Doctrine and Covenants where I had last read, and it was Doctrine and Covenants 18:10, where it said, "The worth of souls is great in the sight of God." And it just helped me remember that it doesn't matter what anybody else thought of me, as long as my God knew I was worth something.

I have a nonmember friend, and we always used to ride the bus home together. And one time he was asking me about seminary and stuff, and I was telling him. And then he was talking about how he thinks that God is just like a being out there that just floats around. He didn't exactly understand, so I used Genesis 1:26-27 that says, "God created man in his own image." And I told them that we believe that we are literal sons and daughters of Heavenly Father. And I told them that we are all children of God. And even if he wasn't going to become a member right then, I knew that that could affect his life and help him truly just feel happiness. And I know that this is true. And I know that I'm a child of God.

One scripture mastery that has really had an effect on my life is in 2 Nephi 32:8-9. And in it, it states that "you must pray always, and not faint; that you must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place you shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ." And I had an experience recently with this that I was trying to decide if I needed to go on a mission and if it was okay with Heavenly Father if I was able to go. And I prayed to Him and asked Him. And I got an answer in D&C 31:3. And it says, "Lift up your heart and rejoice, for the hour of your mission is come." And I knew that that answer was straight from Heavenly Father. I felt the Spirit so strong. And I know that Heavenly Father will answer all of our prayers, and He's with us all the time, and that He wants us to do the things that we want to do, but we must make sure that it's okay with Him too.

A couple of years ago, I didn't feel happy at school. I didn't know why because I love to learn. I just felt like no matter how much I did, no matter what I did it, I didn't come close to what I needed to do. And that year in seminary, we were going over some of the scripture mastery verses in 2 Nephi, chapter 2, verses 25 and 27, the first of which states at the end that "men are, that they might have joy." And the second one describes how we are free to choose whether or not we can have "liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator," or to "choose captivity and death," according to the "power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself." And I realized at that moment that I was free to be happy, and I was meant to be happy through Jesus Christ, our Savior. And I am so grateful for these scripture mastery verses that touched my life and taught me that I have the choice to be happy.