love of local in Utah
General Conference 2012 Highlights
Yes, lets talk about General Conference. I have not been terribly emotional this pregnancy yet while watching it, it donned on me that I am quite pregnant and that the amount of crying I was doing was not normal! At one point Tyler asked me to summarize one of the talks and I just burst out in tears. He was really confused, oh the poor poor man.
So as I said some of the talks had me bawling like a baby, some of them left me with questions and worries, some left me inspired to do better, and some left me wanting to gain a greater testimony in that area.
Can we discuss these things? I will narrow it down to just a few, I promise.
#1 My crying wasn’t that bad, I only cried during two talks. One of them being President Henry B. Eyring, how lucky are we to be able to look into his eyes, hear the love in his voice and be able to absolutely KNOW with everything in us that he is conveying the love and worry from our Father in Heaven and brother Jesus Christ?
Please please please listen to this talk, watch it in video form down below. So you can see in his eyes, hear in his voice how much he loves you and how much God loves you. That God promises angels in our time of need, that our Savior knows your pain and what you are going through, that you are oh so very important.
Promise you will? Here it is:
#2 My love and appreciation to Julie B. Beck for having a voice of courage and telling us strongly what God wants us to hear. She has been a huge influence in my life on motherhood and womanhood. In her talk I did realize that I need to work on my testimony of Relief Society. I can tell that it means a lot to her, and more importantly God and I need to strengthen and grow my testimony in this area. I often think about, re-read, and find courage in her Mothers Who Know talk for a couple of conferences ago. I was very sad to see her go, but excited to hear something from the new presidency.
#3 “If you come upon a person that is drowning, would you ask if he needs help, or would it be better to just jump in and save him from the deepening waters? The offer while well meaning, and often given, Let me know if I can help, is really no help at all. We continue to learn the important value of being aware and interested in the lives of those around us. Learning not only the importance of giving help but also the overwhelming joy that come from helping others.” -Elder Ronald A. Rasband
May I add my own quote? Be the friend, neighbor, person in the ward that you would love to have. I have a hard time with people that complain that they have no one that notices them, no one that invites them anywhere or no one that cares about them. Because I want to scream, “Well when is the last time you reached out to someone?” Although that probably isn’t the right thing to say to someone having a hard time, which is probably why along with 1 million other reasons that I am not the person giving a conference addresses! 😉
#4 President Uchtdorf’s talk, his wonderful talk, have you already seen the STOP IT! graphics floating around in emails, twitter, facebook, pinterest? The talk was wonderful, the talk was true, the talk was from God, the talk was very important to hear. Although I am a bit saddened by the take people are taking on it. I have seen to many little “digs” thrown out there using the quotes, talk, STOP IT motto. Meaning people are complaining about their family or issues with people and then linking to it and quoting it. I am positive that is not what he wanted done with this message. I am sure it was meant for us PERSONALLY to listen to, read, ponder and be honest with ourselves and see if we need to take his stern but loving sermon, STOP IT. Using it to prove to others a point, or get in a dig I am positive is the exact opposite effect he wanted his talk to have on people.
This is also the talk that left me with many questions. How can you forgive someone, stop judging them, love them -from afar- but still know with your own personal revelation and discernment that a relationship will not work (or even for just a time not work). How do you deal with loving and trying to be helpful people always questioning it? How do you deal with accusations that you are not being Christ-like, that your are unrighteously justifying your judgements, not being forgiving, etc.? I don’t know, sometimes it really can frustrate and hurt me. I am not sure the answer to this and that is why his talk also left me with a lot of questions. Am I in need of a “mighty change of heart” like he says in his talk? He brought up the saying, “Don’t judge me because I sin differently than you.” but what if that sinning puts you or your family in danger? Your beautiful children and spouse, the most important thing you are in charge of protecting in this life. I just don’t know. See? Lots of tough questions I have after this talk. My heart goes out to any of you also in this position-on any side of it. Very tough, I am going to re-read and re-listen to his talk to see if I missed something that can help me some more to understand.
Here are all the links to all of the talks I highlighted in this post:
#1 President Henry B. Eyring HERE
#2 Julie B. Beck HERE
#3 Elder Ronald A. Rasband HERE
#4 President Dieter F. Uchtdorf HERE
Happy reading and listening, the video clips are already up and the full written transcriptions of all the talks will be up tomorrow.
