Latter-day Saint leaders point to many reasons for hope

Amid an unsettled global atmosphere, it’s hard to find anyone sharing reason to be encouraged and hopeful. Across two days and ten hours of proceedings, the emotional tenor of messages from male and female leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was striking — providing a hopeful counterpoint to what’s going on today.

The joy of what’s coming

Leaders of the church are not naive to current difficulties — or those that may lie ahead. “We do not know the day or the hour of his coming, but I do know that the Lord is prompting me to urge us to get ready for that great and dreadful day,” shared Russell M. Nelson, President of the Church, in the closing session.

Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles recounted a girl in the faith’s Primary youth program telling him she was scared because she had learned “bad things are going to happen before Jesus comes again.”

But he pointed out, “when President Nelson speaks about the second coming, it is always with joyful optimism.” Likewise, those who develop the capacity to abide with the Holy Ghost through “consistent personal, private acts of devotion” don’t have to carry these same emotional burdens, he taught. “When we follow Him, we don’t need to fear or be anxious.”

For those who follow Jesus “it will be a joyful day when our beloved Savior comes again,” the apostle reassured. He promised listeners that if they would follow Jesus Christ and “trust the Holy Ghost as you would a cherished friend,” they too could be “blessed with sufficient hope to enter the rest and joy of the Lord now and in the future” and “join President Nelson in being joyfully optimistic.”

Although many are lamenting the time in which we now live, Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles cited the prophet Joseph Smith in describing God’s unfolding work in the latter-days as “a cause that has interested the people of God in every age” and a “theme upon which prophets, priests and kings have dwelt with peculiar delight.”

“They have looked forward with joyful anticipation to the day in which we live,” he said. “And fired with heavenly and joyful anticipations, they have sung and written and prophesied of this, our day.”

This is the time, he said, in which “things which never have been revealed from the foundation of the world shall be revealed.”

The joy of knowing true identity

Since finding his faith in his mid 20s, Elder Patrick Kearon of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said he has awakened to the realization that he truly is a son of God. “The more fully I internalize this gift, the more keenly I know I am who I am and how completely I am loved,” he said.

Earlier sorrow, pain and grief in his life would have been “reframed, soothed and much of it overcome, had I known this beautiful truth,” he said.

“I invite you to receive, either for the first time or to a greater extent than ever before, the magnificent realization that you truly are God’s beloved child — a child of the most high.”

That truth “is breathtaking, stunning, and is not figurative,” he added. “When you welcome this majestic reality into your very soul and feel both the comfort and the thrill of it, your entire paradigm shifts. You can feel his love, hear His voice, and recognize his hand, no matter what is happening or not happening in your life.”

When you know who you really are, Elder Kearon continued, you can move forward with your “head held high, your arms outstretched and your hands open, ready to receive” all that God is ready to give.

One can be secure and grounded in the knowledge that he or she is a beloved and cherished child of God, “and he has gifted you His perfect, holy son to redeem you, justify you and sanctify you.”

“Will you please accept, open and receive this gift of knowledge and understanding from him? Will you hold it close as the precious treasure it is … and let it transform every aspect of your life?”

The joy of being comforted

There are still many who face difficult emotional and physical health challenges. Those waiting on full healing from physical and emotional struggles can “choose to be made whole by exercising our faith in him,” taught President Camille N. Johnson, Relief Society general president. “We can be whole even while we wait for healing, and as we let our light shine brightly, we can be joyful even while we wait.”

President Johnson cited the ancient apostle Paul’s words about glorifying in his infirmities “that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in distresses, for Christ’s sake.”

“Those who wrestle with mortal struggles and turn to God in faith like Paul can receive the blessings of becoming acquainted with God,” she said. Despite Paul not being healed, “the light of his conversion to and strength from Jesus Christ was shining, and he was joyful” — reflected in his words to the Philippians: “Rejoice in the Lord always.”

“All will be physically and emotionally healed in the resurrection. But will you choose now to be whole in him?”

The joy of growing and changing

“As the world grows more wicked, we need to grow increasingly pure,” Church President Russell M. Nelson taught. “Our thoughts, words and actions need to be unfailingly virtuous and filled with the pure love of Jesus Christ towards all” he said. “The great opportunity before us is to become the people God needs us to be.”

Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught that Jesus “can free us and others from things we or they have said or done that otherwise bind us captive.”

“I’ve learned that if you wait until you’re clean enough or perfect enough to go to the Savior, you’ve missed the whole point,” shared Sister Tamara W. Runia, first counselor in the Young Women General Presidency.

“While God cares about our mistakes, he cares more about what happens after we make a mistake,” she said. “Are we going to turn to him again and again? Are we going to stay in this covenant relationship?”

“When the Lord says, ‘repent ye, repent ye,’ what if you imagined him saying, ‘I love you, I love you.’ Picture him pleading with you to leave behind the behavior causing you pain and inviting you to step out of darkness and turn to his light.”

President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency, taught that “people who imagine commandments as the way God decides who to punish, fail to understand this purpose of God’s loving plan of happiness.”

“Our heavenly Father desires all of his children to return to the celestial kingdom where God and our Savior reside, and to have the kind of life of those who reside in that celestial glory,” he added

Sister Runia said repentance doesn’t burden Jesus Christ. “It brightens his joy,” she said. “And when we’re repenting, God forgives without shaming us, comparing us to anyone else, or scolding us, because this is the same thing we were repenting of last week. He is excited every time he sees us on our knees. He delights to forgive, because to him, we are delightful. Don’t you just feel that’s true?”

“I promise the minute we bring a broken heart courageously towards him, he is immediately there,” she added. “If you saw someone drowning, wouldn’t you reach your hand out to rescue him? Could you imagine your savior rejecting your outstretched hands? I imagine him diving into the water, descending below all things to lift us up so we can take a fresh breath.”

Elder Benjamin M. Z. Tai, a General Authority Seventy, recounted the experience of a friend years after a difficult divorce, who told him recently, “it was obvious that I still held quite a bit of resentment. I knew that I must change, and I’ve been praying all week to do so. Last night in the temple, I literally felt the Spirit remove the resentment from my heart. It was such a relief to be freed from it. An ominous, physical burden bearing down on me has been lifted.”

The joy of believing

President Nelson said, “We all will experience illness, disappointment, temptation and loss” — challenges that can “knock our self confidence.” Yet disciples of Jesus Christ can find a “confidence that is born of the Spirit,” he said.

“Imagine the comfort of having confidence in the presence of God … praying with confidence that Heavenly Father hears us and he understands our needs better than we do … confidence that he loves us more than we can comprehend, that he sends angels to be with us and with those we love …. confidence that He yearns to help each of us reach our highest potential.”

Sister Amy A. Wright, first counselor in the Primary General Presidency, shared: “As Jesus Christ becomes the focus of our lives, what we desire and how we desire it, is forever altered. Conversion changes everything!”

“It changes how we spend our time, our resources; what we read, watch, listen to, and share.”

“We need to infuse the Light of Jesus Christ into every corner of our lives,” she continued. “If we are not testifying to the veracity of His premortal Godhood, His divine mission, and His prison-bursting resurrection in our homes and in every single meeting of this Church, then our messages of love, service, honesty, humility, gratitude, and compassion can become nothing more than a jaunty pep talk of thoughtful living.”

“I want to stay in covenant relationship with Christ, and I’ll tell you why,” Sister Runia added. “Your Savior is the only one who truly knows the difficulty you are (facing)” and “I want a relationship with the one person who gets me.”

The joy of feeling loved and belonging

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is Christ’s New Testament Church restored, taught Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. It is “the instrument by which God will gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him.”

He also called this message “the most important and glorious good news any person anywhere in this world can ever receive — the message that the Lord Jesus Christ has restored his gospel and church in the latter days.”

“I invite all to learn about and prove this message,” he said, promising that “individuals who prayerfully study the message of the restoration and act in faith will be blessed through the power of the Holy Ghost to gain their own witness of its divinity and of its purpose, to prepare the world for the promised second coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

For those people trying to begin to keep covenants with God, Elder Scott D. Whiting, a General Authority Seventy, described thoughts they may have like: “You aren’t strong enough to change your life. You can’t do this. You don’t belong with these people. They will never accept you. You are too weak”

“We plead with you not to heed the accuser’s voice,” he said. “We love you. You can do it…. Don’t be deceived into thinking that we will reject you if you take a step back into your prior lifestyle. Through the matchless power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, you can be made whole again.”

Sister Runia likewise warned about the “voice that beats you up, saying, ‘What were you thinking? Do you ever get anything right?‘”

“You are not the voice in your head or the mistakes you have made,” she added. “On those days when you feel that voice telling you to hide, that you should hide in a dark room all by yourself. I invite you to be brave and believe Christ,” said Sister Runia.

Then, she invited listeners: “Tonight, before you pray, imagine Jesus Christ close by. … Ask yourself, what would my savior say to the father about me? And then become silent. Listen for that voice that says good things about you — the voice of your savior, your finest friend and your Father in heaven, who is really there.”

“Why were we so afraid of the dark and why did we stay there so long?” she suggested people will one day ask themselves.

“May we each find in Jesus Christ’s Atonement, resurrection and restoration, peace, becoming and belonging” Elder Gong concluded — emphasizing the possibility of finding “that which is enduringly real and joyful, happy and forever.”