Divine Potential

We believe that all people are literal children of heavenly parents. As children of Deity, we have divine potential, or the capacity to become like our heavenly parents. Before this life, we were known, taught, and loved by our Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother. We accepted their plan of salvation and chose to experience mortality so that we could become more like them and return and live with them again. As we follow our Savior Jesus Christ by repenting, serving, making covenants, and developing our potential, we become heirs to the blessings of eternal life.

Part of developing our divine potential is recognizing it in others. Because every person on earth is a beloved and divine child of heavenly parents, we must love, forgive, and care for each other. We should also respect and recognize that divine potential in ourselves and be kind to ourselves as we do our imperfect best to follow the Savior’s perfect example. We are not expected—or even meant—to achieve our full potential in this life; rather, we are here to begin our journey toward becoming more like our heavenly parents. As we follow Christ’s example and rely on His grace, we will come to better understand and live up to our divine potential.

The speeches in this topic come from a variety of speakers and include many disciplines. Some speeches reference our divine potential to remind us of our heavenly parentage. Others focus on how understanding our divine potential can help us lead a purposeful, abundant life. Still others address how our divine potential inspires us with an eternal perspective on education and personal growth. We know that as you read, listen to, or watch the devotionals in this topic, your understanding of your own divine potential will grow.