Wherever you live on this earth, and whatever your life's

The apostle Dieter F. Uchtdorf proclaimed with the certainty of one who has tasted both trial and triumph: “Wherever you live on this earth, and whatever your life's situation may be, I testify to you that the gospel of Jesus Christ has the divine power to lift you to great heights from what appears at times to be an unbearable burden or weakness.” In this solemn witness, he reveals that no valley of sorrow is too deep, no exile too distant, and no trial too crushing for the divine power of the gospel to raise the soul above despair.

The origin of these words lies in the tradition of Christian faith, where the message of Christ has ever been one of transformation—of light breaking into darkness, of grace conquering sin, of hope overcoming despair. Uchtdorf, a man who himself fled war-torn lands in his youth, speaks not from abstraction but from experience. He knew the weight of weakness and the press of burdens, yet he testifies that the gospel has wings to lift the weary beyond their pain, granting not escape from life but strength to endure and transcend it.

History offers us the luminous figure of Harriet Tubman, born in bondage, beaten, and despised by the world’s powers. By all measures, her burdens were unbearable. Yet through her faith in God, she found courage not only to flee her own chains but to return, again and again, to deliver others. What was this if not the divine power of the gospel, lifting a broken woman into the stature of a liberator and a saint? Her life, like Uchtdorf’s words, proves that heaven’s strength can raise mortals to heights they could never reach alone.

The ancients too bore witness to this mystery. The psalmist cried, “He raises the poor out of the dust, and lifts the needy from the ash heap.” The apostle Paul confessed his own weakness, saying, “When I am weak, then am I strong,” for he knew the power of Christ turned frailty into fortitude. From age to age, the faithful have learned that the gospel is not merely words, but a living power, as present in the refugee and the widow as in the king and the conqueror.

Therefore, O children of the future, remember: your trials may seem insurmountable, your burdens too heavy, your weakness too consuming. Yet lift up your heart, for the gospel of Christ offers not only comfort but transformation. It is the wind that bears the weary upward, the strength that makes broken hearts whole, the fire that turns despair into radiant hope. Cling to it, and you too shall be lifted to great heights, higher than fear, higher than sorrow, into the light of God’s eternal love.