The first weekend in both October and April our church has a General Conference for the church worldwide. Our prophet, his two counselors (above) and the 12 apostles (below) and other general leaders speak to us about a variety of topics such as faith, repentance, obedience and eternal families. I look forward to this conference every six months. And although I heard maybe 25% of what was said (due to a certain 2 year old and 9 month old!) I still came away feeling extremely uplifted, edified and excited, grateful and happy to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and to know that God knows and loves me and Jesus Christ is my Savior. (I am glad I can watch them again on-line and read them later)
Second counselor in the First Presidency, Dieter F. Uchtdorf gave an inspiring talk on hope Saturday morning. Here are a couple of snippets I found especially comforting.
Hope… is like the beam of sunlight, rising up and above the horizon of our present circumstances, it pierces the darkness with a brilliant dawn. It encourages, inspires us to place our trust in the loving care of an Eternal Heavenly Father who has prepared a way for those who seek for eternal truth in a world of relativism, confusion and of fear.
Hope is not knowledge but rather the abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promise to us. It is confidence that if we live according to God’s laws and the words of His prophets now we will receive desired blessings in the future. It is believing and expecting that our prayers will be answered. It is manifested in confidence, optimism, enthusiasm and patient perseverance. In the language of the gospel, this hope is sure, unwavering and active. The prophets of old speak of a firm hope and a lively hope. It is a hope glorifying God through good works. With hope comes joy and happiness. With hope we can have patience and bear our afflictions.
We hope in Jesus Christ, in the goodness of God, in the manifestations of the Holy spirit, in the knowledge that prayers are heard and answered. Because God has been faithful and kept His promises in the past we can hope with confidence that God will keep His promises to us in the present and in the future. In times of distress we can hold tightly to the hope that things will work together for our good as we follow the counsel of God’s prophets. This type of hope in God, His goodness and His power refreshes us with courage during difficult challenges and gives us strength to those who feel threatened by enclosing walls of fear, doubt and despair.
