Leaving the peace and security of heaven to come the earth was a willing sacrifice on our part. We agreed to the sacrifice for the same reasons we spend thousands of dollars and years of effort to graduate from college. And as long as we have life here, we are learning, our spirits are growing, and we are coming closer to the divine, even by the things we suffer. We may not always know what to do in our lives, we may be troubled and in pain, but be assured, we are here for divine purposes. And the greatest divine purpose of all is to love. Even when we are confused or imprisoned by choices we have made, we can always learn to love.

Although I cannot imagine what I am to do, I can love, and I will continue to think positively, and this may help me with my purpose. No longer does life look routine, but filled with great possibilities. I may never know if I accomplished my goal—like the drunken man in Embraced By The Light—but I understand that we are all here for a reason.

Yes, each one of us came to earth on a personal mission to be loved or to give love. We are to learn the value and price of love. Other parts of our mission include learning patience, self-discipline, and humility. These attributes are parts of love. I saw in heaven that those spirits who were to become slaves on earth knew it before coming. I understood that they may have chosen to teach compassion or to learn humility in this life, even though it would come in such a degrading way. They volunteered for their terrible stations in life, sacrificing much else they might have accomplished for the sake of a deeper spiritual growth born of the offenses they would suffer. I recall Christ's words in the New Testament: "Woe unto the world because of offenses! for it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh!" (Matthew 18:7.) It is not God's will that we enslave one another, or beat or kill or hurt one another. But the facts of this life are known to God before they happen, and in his fore-knowledge he helps us plan those missions in life that best meet our needs. Surely there are more positive, more noble ways to teach compassion or to learn humility than through slavery, but slavery is what mankind made available to God to work with on earth. Children are born—some into slavery, some into wars, some into starvation—but all came with a mission to fulfill.
Our sufferings come not only with a price, but with a reward. How far will we grow in God's love through the benefit of our trials? Some may be here to break a family's cycle of addiction. Others, to support a family member or friend in their difficult mission. Some come to earth only briefly, but in their few minutes or hours may touch a life for eternity. One reader writes:

If we all have a mission, why do some of us die through murder or accident at an early age? What mission could a six-month-old have fulfilled?

Babies and young children embody unconditional love. Having not yet been conditioned to fear, they trust absolutely, allowing themselves to be cared for, or hurt, by those with power over them. For some spirits, to surrender all their love unconditionally in the arms of a loving parent is all that is required. After sharing their innocence and pure love briefly, they are taken home. Other spirits may be here to assist another child at a particular point in its life. Some may come only to gain bodies in order to provide organs which allow other children to fulfill their missions. Our purposes are countless but always include serving one another and glorifying God.