General Conference April 2017 Peace in Adversity
General Conference. The short definition is that two times a year the leaders of our church share messages with us to bless our lives and uplift our souls, messages that they were inspired to deliver by God. I firmly believe that no matter what faith you are of, you will find a talk in General Conference that will help you.
All the talks are wonderful and a few really struck me but one phrase in particular was the answer to the plea I didn't know I had. Sometimes lately life has felt hard. Work gets stressful. I'm sleep deprived. I have big decisions to make and have no idea what I'm going to do. You know the feeling. Well, for a while there it was so much that daily I knelt down in my room and asked God what I'd done wrong. I felt like my life must be hard and so NOT peaceful because I'd somehow offended God. Yet, I feel like I've been doing pretty good. I'm in no way perfect. Sometimes my prayers are short, my scripture study is kind of basic, I fall asleep in church, etc. But I'm TRYING my best. I thought that would be enough.
Then Elder Quentin L Cook, a joyful little man whose bright, round face and greeting alone make me happy, said something wonderful. I was coloring an octopus (it helps my mind focus on the speakers and not the other people around me) and as I finished shading in a tentacle I looked up and he said:
It was almost as if God were speaking to me. After that I thought back to the past few months and realized that my trials, although anything but fun, have driven me to pray and study harder. They've instilled in my soul a greater desire for peace and heaven. They've moved me to open up to friends and family for love and support (something I'm not always very good at doing). Most importantly they've made me a more faithful and dedicated disciple of Christ. Because I felt I was lacking, I gave my ALL to being more like Christ so I could find the peace I needed. Two things happened:
First, I became more Christlike.
Second, I found that peace I wanted.
Than you Elder Cook. Thank you Christ. Thank you Father.
All the talks are wonderful and a few really struck me but one phrase in particular was the answer to the plea I didn't know I had. Sometimes lately life has felt hard. Work gets stressful. I'm sleep deprived. I have big decisions to make and have no idea what I'm going to do. You know the feeling. Well, for a while there it was so much that daily I knelt down in my room and asked God what I'd done wrong. I felt like my life must be hard and so NOT peaceful because I'd somehow offended God. Yet, I feel like I've been doing pretty good. I'm in no way perfect. Sometimes my prayers are short, my scripture study is kind of basic, I fall asleep in church, etc. But I'm TRYING my best. I thought that would be enough.
Then Elder Quentin L Cook, a joyful little man whose bright, round face and greeting alone make me happy, said something wonderful. I was coloring an octopus (it helps my mind focus on the speakers and not the other people around me) and as I finished shading in a tentacle I looked up and he said:
It was almost as if God were speaking to me. After that I thought back to the past few months and realized that my trials, although anything but fun, have driven me to pray and study harder. They've instilled in my soul a greater desire for peace and heaven. They've moved me to open up to friends and family for love and support (something I'm not always very good at doing). Most importantly they've made me a more faithful and dedicated disciple of Christ. Because I felt I was lacking, I gave my ALL to being more like Christ so I could find the peace I needed. Two things happened:
First, I became more Christlike.
Second, I found that peace I wanted.
Than you Elder Cook. Thank you Christ. Thank you Father.
Comments
Post a Comment