We loved listening to general conference. This was one of the best conferences as far as listening goes. We had it playing on every TV. The kids played downstairs and listened. I stayed in the kitchen and worked on dinner and could listen. I listen better when my hands are busy so I got way more out of it then when I just sit on the couch and watch.
I gave a talk in church a week ago about the blessings of modern day prophets and I wanted to include it in this post. General Conference is a huge blessing and can continually help us each day.
1. The first blessing of having modern day prophets is general conference. How thankful I am for a weekend of spiritual feasting. I really love analogies so I'm going to compare listening to general conference to food storage. When you stock up on food storage you get lots of different kinds of food, with conference there are many different topics of talks. You listen to them and stock up spiritually. Then you have to cycle through your food storage and use it. What a waste to buy food storage and never use it. It would also be a waste to listen to general conference but never go back and study it again or think about it again.
Food storage is important to have during an emergency. Spiritual food storage is also necessary during spiritual emergencies.
I remember listening to the talk by Elder Wirthlin in October 2008, Come What May. At the time life was very easy for us. James was a baby and we had not really had any trials as a family. I loved Elder Wirthlin's talk and it stayed in my memory. Then a year later Marshall was laid off from his job and I went back to work full time. Both our parents were serving missions and life started to have trials. We were expecting Lynnlee and when I was 28 weeks along we found out she had a heart defect. Thank goodness for modern technology though because through a fetal echocardiogram, basically an ultrasound of her heart in my womb they could tell the exact defect. She has tricuspid atresia. When we left the hospital that day we knew the game plan for the first 3 years of her life. I was grateful to know all that but it was a very heavy and emotional day. It was yet another trial.
I remember that talk from my spiritual food storage. I looked it up and read it often during that time. In that talk Elder Wirthlin reminds us “the Lord in His wisdom does not shield anyone from grief or sadness.” If we approach adversities wisely, our hardest times can be times of greatest growth. These experiences while often difficult to bear at the time, are precisely the kinds of experiences that stretch our understanding, build our character and increase our compassion for others. We need to trust in our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. He will comfort and uphold us. He will strengthen us in our weakness and fortify us in our distress. He will make weak things become strong.
Now Lynnlee is a thriving 7-year-old. At some point she will need a heart transplant but we are so grateful for the good health that she has been blessed with. We will continue to put our trust in the Lord.
Sometimes with food storage it is good to share with others. Same with spiritual food storage. I was so grateful to my mom when she shared a talk with me during a very trying time two years ago when we were dealing with a difficult renter. Right before Marshall lost his job we moved to American Fork from Bountiful. We owned a town home in Bountiful but weren't able to sell it. We rented it out for a few years and had very good renters. Then we had some difficult renters. The last renter we had did not pay her rent. We didn’t know at the time that she had done this many times before. We began the process of evicting her hoping it would be quick. It ended up being 6 long months before she moved out. It was a huge financial burden on our family. From the minute I woke up each day to when I finally fell asleep I was stressed and couldn’t stop thinking about it. I talked to my parents often and one day my mom shared this talk with me. It was just what I needed. She shared with me a talk by Elder Bednar titled In the Strength of the Lord. It is about the enabling power of the atonement. He said, “The enabling and strengthening aspect of the Atonement helps us to see and to do and to become good in ways that we could never recognize or accomplish with our limited mortal capacity.” That talk helped me through those long days.
In order to get food storage you have to go to the store and purchase it. Obtaining spiritual food storage is similar. We have to build it little by little. Running is a huge part of my life and when I injured my foot a year and a half ago it was a hard trial for me. Something good thing came out of this trial. I went to physical therapy and learned that I needed to warm my foot up for 20 minutes before each run. So I started riding my bike to warm the muscles. I usually listen to music or a book but I decided I would listen to a conference talk each time. When you think about the time in a day you spend looking at your phone, listening to music, book or watching a show- Listening to a ten minute talk is a small commitment. It has helped strengthen my testimony and keep my heart soft by listening to a conference talk each day.
2.The next blessing of modern day prophets and revelations is that we can get answers to our questions. We all have questions at some point. There's lots of places to get answers but you have to go to the right source. You wouldn't ask a mechanic for advice about your health. You wouldn't ask a doctor to fix a broken appliance. Just as you would talk to IT for help with your computer, if you have a question about the gospel than you go to the doctrine. The prophet, apostles, and scriptures are true sources.
One summer I was talking to some friends and they talked of some rumors that came up about Joseph Smith. I knew that they weren't true but it was in the back of my mind and would bother me at times. When it came time for fall conference I said a prayer that I would be able to have peace and know that those rumors weren't true so it would leave my mind. There was a wonderful talk that answered my prayer. Elder Craig Christensen’s talk “A Choice Seer Will I Raise Up.” He talked about Moroni’s warning that Joseph’s name should be had for good and evil among all nations. We have seen the fulfillment of that prophecy. In the war between good and evil, the Restoration of the gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith has both inspired believers who follow him and also provoked antagonists who fight furiously against the cause of Zion and against Joseph himself. This battle is not new. It began soon after young Joseph walked into the Sacred Grove and continues today with added visibility on the internet.
Questions can help us grow closer or apart. Having questions and then getting answers from a true source helped strengthen my testimony. I think about how fast weeds can take over grass just like how fast questions can turn into doubts and take down your testimony. If we have questions then we should give priority to getting them answered before our doubts increase and our testimony diminishes. Modern day revelation is truly a blessing in answering our questions.
We live in a day where if something isn’t working you replace it instead of fixing it and working it out. So many things are indispensable and the mentality has changed. Our fridge was broken and the first thought was to replace If the gospel isn’t working for you don’t replace it with something else but take time to take time to fix it and make it work.
3. The third blessing of modern day revelation is that it helps us endure to the end- Elder Pearson gave a talk in April 2015 conference titled Stay by the Tree. He said: Shortly before President Heber J. Grant passed away, one of the Brethren visited his home. Before he left, President Grant prayed, “O God, bless me that I shall not lose my testimony and keep faithful to the end!”1 After nearly 27 years as President of the Church, this was his fervent prayer. His example is a striking reminder that no one, at any age, is immune from Satan’s influence. Two of Satan’s most powerful tools are distraction and deception. Enduring to the end is a hallmark of true discipleship and is essential to eternal life. Enduring to the end means constantly coming unto Christ and being perfected in Him.
We are so blessed to live with the fullness of the gospel. We are blessed to know that if we pray, study the scriptures and following the prophet we can endure to the end.
4. Modern day revelation helps us see the good in the world. The events happening in the world today can be discouraging but with the hope that comes from our knowledge of the plan of salvation, we can focus on the good. In a talk by Elder Anderson titled Thy Kingdom Come he gave examples of how the Lord’s work is moving forward. Sometimes it’s hard to see the hand of the Lord in our lives but if we pray for help we will be able to see his hand throughout the world and in our own lives.
These are some of the few blessings of modern day prophets and revelation. I have a testimony of my Savior, Jesus Christ and I know he really lived. I’m so grateful to Joseph Smith for restoring the gospel on the earth. I pray that our hearts can always be soft.
